As a family history researcher, you are probably familiar with genealogy-focused libraries. Maybe you have visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (now called the FamilySearch Library), which is home to one of the largest collections of genealogical records in the world, or you’ve found information at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which has an incredible genealogy center with global records, or the Library of Congress in Washington, DC with its U.S. focused archives.
But sometimes, a large repository may not have the specific records you need. Thankfully there are local, small-town libraries that may be home to just what you are researching.
Have you ever been curious about the history of your ancestor's hometown? A hometown library may be exactly what you need.
You could be surprised by what you will find. For instance, our genealogy library has over 5,000 family books and vertical files. We have select yearbooks for local schools, military books, and select city directories, as well as marriage records for select years. A few items we do not have in our library are school records, land deeds, and birth and death certificates, (we do have the State of Mississippi Death Index for November 1912-December 1943 for ordering a death certificate during that time frame.)
Our genealogy library is also home to the microfilmed copies of the Laurel Leader Call Newspaper, which closed in March 2012.
Be prepared when you visit the local genealogy library. Have a list of specific questions you need answered. Have dates of birth, marriage, and death if possible. If your relative has a common name, John Smith, you will be thankful for being prepared.
The genealogist is on limited time, so you may not find out all the information in one trip. Nothing is more frustrating than getting to a research facility and not remembering what you are looking for.
Researching in local libraries can be extraordinarily fruitful. At the very least, looking through a library’s genealogical offerings can get you thinking more creatively about where to locate important records that could pertain to the ancestors you seek.
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