Lending Libraries

If you are like all other genealogist researching one or two families, you may have gotten to the point where you have exhausted the resources in your local library or home library. We all get to this point at sometime or another. This is when we have to think outside the box for resources. It is not easy to do this, but we have to make the effort.

One of the best sources to get the ball rolling once again is a new infusion of untapped resources. The interlibrary resources might be the answer to your needs. Before you approach your local library to help in this effort, you have to know a few things in particular. First, start with the listing of books/resources that have already been helpful in your research. Second, learn the history of the town/county/state you are researching. Looking for sixteenth or seventeenth century in say Missouri will be an extremely difficult challenge. Third, be sure of what you are looking for to fill out your research.

Here are some resources that might be in sight for your approach to fulfill the needs of the family records:

American Genealogical Lending Library – P.O. Box 244 – Bountiful, UT 84011. You might contact them first at 1-801-298-5358 to double check their available records on the area of interest. They do have the Federal census, soundex 1880-1920, military records and passenger lists with some county and other materials.

Interlibrary Loan Department – Mid- Continent Public Library – 15616 East 24 Highway – Independence, MO 64050-2098. There is no charge for the interlibrary services, but your local library might charge for return postage. They do have a catalog of materials available. Contact them at 816-252-0950 to obtain some information about what is available.

In each state, there are usually one or more libraries that have the interlibrary services available. Just to look at one that I have worked with frequently is the Virginia State Library & Archives – 11th Street at Capitol Square – Richmond, VA 23219. This is one of the best sources of any of the interlibrary services. They do have available a microfilm listing of all of the records available. The county records are broken down to the county and records are available from the earliest day that still exist until about the mid-nineteenth century. These records include the usual deeds, wills, administrations, births, deaths and of course marriage records. Sometimes there are military and tax records in the collection. Each county is different with different dates; therefore, one has to consult their website or the microfilm to get the exact reel number for the records you want. What you get are the original records in the original hand written form. Many times there is no index or guide to the records, but you get the original records which are of great value. You can order up to five reels of film at any one time and are given two weeks to view them, but you can request a two week extension on the time.

With the Virginia State Library, you do have some access to the records of West Virginia prior to the early 1860s. This is particularly great for the birth/death/marriages of those counties that existed prior to West Virginia statehood as it was a part of Virginia. Very few records for Kentucky are available from this collection of Virginia records as Kentucky became a state in 1792. There are some records for Kentucky, but these are part of those counties in Virginia that included Kentucky in the early days, namely Fincastle, Montgomery and Washington Counties in Virginia. In dealing with these records, you have to be familiar with the various creeks and rivers in the area of interest and most of the available records are keyed to these creeks and rivers.

Here are a few sources that lend directly to individuals:

Genealogical Center Library – P.O. Box 71343 – Marietta, GA 30007-1343 – 1-404-393-1135 – fee charged for rentals.

Hoenstine Rental Library – P.O. Box 208 – Hollidaysburg, PA 16648 – 1-814-695-0632 – fee charged on rentals.

National Genealogical Society – 4527 17th St. North – Arlington, VA 22207-2399 – lend to members only.

New England Historic Genealogical Society – 101 Newbury St. – Boston, MA 02116 – lend to members only.

Check around the area of your interest and see if there is a lending library to stretch your research in an “Out of the box” approach. You might consult a booklet “Interlibrary Loan Sources: A Guide for Librarians and Genealogist” published by the Mid-Continent Public Library.