Finding People: A Research Guide

The resources listed below will get you started on your way to finding old friends, lost family, high school sweethearts and military buddies. Hundreds of free information sources exist to unite you—it's just knowing that they exist and how to access them. Many of the guides and Web sites below will identify online sources or more traditional methods of using the phone and postal mail to find just about anyone. The terms and phrases listed in the subject headings below can be used to search for more materials in the library's catalog and research databases. If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian.

Find Anyone Fast, 3rd ed. by Richard S. Johnson and Debra Johnson Knox. Spartanburg, SC: MIE, 2001. ISBN: 1877639850.
Included are directories of telephone number, voter registration records, death records, and listings for lawyers, doctors, pilots, members of the military, and more. Emphasis on online sources of information.

How to Locate Anyone Anywhere Without Leaving Home, rev. ed. by Ted L. Gunderson. New York: Plume, 1996. ISBN: 0452277426.
Methodical guide to locate missing persons by mail or telephone using hundreds of sources.

How to Locate Anyone Who Is or Has Been in the Military: Armed Forces Locator Guide, 8th ed. by Richard S. Johnson and Debra Johnson Knox. Spartanburg, SC: MIE, 1999. ISBN: 1877639508.
Provides sources of information to assist in searching for former military personnel.

Public Records Online: The National Guide to Private & Government Online Sources of Public Records, 4th ed. edited by Michael L. Sankey and Peter J. Weber. Tempe, AZ: Facts on Demand Press, 2003. ISBN: 1889150371.
Lists thousands of online resources for private and government public information such as address information, bankruptcy, genealogy, real estate, vital records, trade names, tax liens, and fictitious names through county, state and federal government agencies.

National Association of Counties
www.naco.org, About Counties, Find a County
Links to county sites. Search for assessor pages, records clerk, or other departments that may gather information on people.

State and Local Government on the Net
www.statelocalgov.net
Provides links to local municipalities on the Web. Click through to the town clerk's office or the assessor's page to learn more about accessing property information or vital records.

Where to Write for Vital Records
www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm
To use this valuable tool, you must first determine the State or area where the birth, death, marriage, or divorce occurred, then click on that State or area.

Many directories include search by person's or company's name, yellow page heading, or reverse telephone number. These directories may provide postal addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for people.

411locate: www.411locate.com
AnyWho Online Directory: www.anywho.com
Infobel Worldwide Directories: www.infobel.com/teldir/
InfoSpace: www.infospace.com
International White Page Phone Directory: www.whitepages.com/intl_sites.pl
The Ultimates: www.theultimates.com
Yahoo! People Search: http://people.yahoo.com

Many times you can locate someone because they are in a certified profession like accountancy, dentistry, or cosmetology. Many times they are a member of an association that publishes its membership directory on the Web. The resources listed below can help get you started. For more information search the following keywords in the library catalog or your favorite search engine: (profession) and directories (i.e., dentist and directories).

Associations on the Net
www.ipl.org/div/aon/
Search by keyword to identify an association. Many times member directories are published on the Web.

People Spot, Special Directories
www.peoplespot.com/directories/
Lists links to Web pages that provide directories of business executives, dentist, physician, real estate agents, veterinarian, and more.

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National Adoption Directory: State Reunion Directories
http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/database/nadd/naddsearch.cfm
Search by state to find out if yours has a state reunion directory. Allows parties of adoption to enter their names on a central registry, where the two parties may be matched and placed in contact with one another.

PeopleSpot.com
www.peoplespot.com
Large portal site with links to hundreds of relevant sites.