Gilbert H. Gragg Library

United States Georgia Decatur Archives and Libraries Gilbert H. Gragg Library

Gilbert H. Gragg Library Contact Information E-mail:  librarian@swgrl.org Address: Decatur County - Gilbert H. Gragg Library a Southwest Georgia Regional Library 301 S. Monroe Street Bainbridge, Georgia 39819 Telephone:  229.248.2665 Fax: 229.248.2670 Hours: Mon 9am-8pm; Tue, Wed, Fri 9am-6pm; Thu 9am-7pm; Sat 9am-4pm. Google map: Gilbert H. Gragg Library Internet sites and databases: Gilbert H. Gragg Library events, card, calendar, classes, downloadable materials, policies, and Ask a Librarian. Georgia Pines Catalog online. Search by keyword, title, author, subject, or series. Also available in WorldCat. Collection Description They have very good book, surname folder, genealogy, newspaper, and oral history collections. The genealogy room offers local histories, yearbooks, microfilm of local newspapers, and numerous other helpful resources. Alternate Repositories If you cannot find the record you seek through the Gilbert H. Gragg Library, a similar record may be available at one of the following. Overlapping Collections National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service & pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees. National Archives at Atlanta federal censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty-land, photos, passengers lists, naturalizations, Native Americans, African Americans, and workshops. Federal Records Center, Ellenwood, GA., receives federal agency and court records of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Georgia Archives, Morrow, is the best place to start family history research in Georgia. Genealogies, county histories, newspapers, tax digests, private papers, church records, cemeteries, Bible records, municipal records, census, maps, land plats, photographs, Georgia Confederate service and pension records, colonial, headright & bounty land grants, land lottery, and Georgia county records. Similar Collections Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room book, map, microfilm and archival collection spans the southeastern USA and East Coast, with some New England, vertical files, surname files, and newspapers. Local history holdings include vertical files, surname files and newspapers. Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Central Library, large collection with good coverage of the southeast USA. They have county histories, family histories, will indexes, deeds, military rosters, passenger lists, Atlanta city directories, Georgia censuses 1820-1930, local histories, and newspapers. Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library, Moultrie, emphasizes Scottish immigrants to America, but also has a good basic American genealogy collection. Ladson Genealogical Library, Vidalia, primarily a book collection, but their genealogical sources cover the entire Atlantic seaboard. Also has historic photos and school records of Toombs and Montgomery counties. Washington Memorial Library, Macon, one of the best collections in Georgia for genealogy, African Americans, and local history.  Emphasis on the 13 colonies, American Revolution, and Great Britain. Neighboring Collections Decatur County Clerk of the Probate Court, Bainbridge, county marriages since 1823, and probate records. Decatur County Clerk of the Superior Court, Bainbridge, land records, divorces, and court records since 1823. Decatur County Historical and Genealogical Society, Bainbridge, Facebook page. U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, Albany, recent civil, criminal, and bankruptcy case files of Baker, Ben Hill, Calhoun, Crisp, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Schley, Seminole Sumter, Terrell, Turner, Webster, and Worth counties. Repositories in surrounding counties:  in Georgia: Baker, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, in Florida: Gadsden, and Jackson. Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Atlanta, members, meetings, newsletter, surname queries, links. Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center, extensive Georgia family and county histories, Sons of the American Revolution library, holdings for North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama genealogy. Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia, Atlanta, family histories, immigration, East Europe, Georgia, North America. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths, parish records. Coweta County Genealogical Society Research Library, Newnan, has the best set of family folders in Georgia. DeKalb History Center, Decatur, subject files, biographical files, cemetery index, maps, manuscripts, photographs, rare books, memoirs, yearbooks, and Atlanta City and suburban directories. Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, 4 million manuscripts, photos, papers, military, diaries, plantation records. They have almost as many genealogical sources as the Georgia Archives. Georgia Genealogical Society, Atlanta, events, meetings, membership, publications and index, and research tools, but no library. They provide advice, but do not conduct research for you. Georgia Salzburger Society, Rincon, histories, journals, genealogical records, and church histories. University of Georgia Main Library, Athens, largest collection for early Georgia settlers. Also, they hold county histories, county records, family records, biographies and newspapers. Repositories in other surrounding states: Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 3.1 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, Mormon records. Many Georgia Archives  microfilms are also available at branch FamilySearch Centers  in local LDS churches, and described in their online FamilySearch Catalog. Dallas Public Central Library 111,700 volumes, 64,500 microfilms, 89,000 microfiche, and over 700 maps, marriage, probate, deed, and tax abstracts in book form, or microfilm of originals for some states, and online databases including Georgia and other Southern states. Sources