Handley Regional Library

United States

Virginia

Archives and Libraries

Stewart Bell Jr. Archives at Handley Regional Library

Handley Regional Library Contact Information 'E-mail:Hours and Locations in Stewart Bell Jr. Archives at Handley Regional Library.</ref>  archives@handleyregional.org Website: https://www.handleyregional.org/archives Address:100 West Piccadilly St., Winchester, VA 22601 Telephone: 540-662-9041, ext. 17 Reading Room Hours of Operation: SPECIAL NOTICE: The Stewart Bell Jr. Archives will be closed for renovation of its storage area and installation of moveable shelving beginning Monday October 31st until Saturday, December 3rd, 2022. During this period, the Reading Room will be closed to researchers and staff will be unable to undertake any research or reproduction requests. Normal operations are expected to resume Monday, December 5th. Monday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Tuesday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Wednesday: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Thursday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Friday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Closed for lunch daily between 12:30 pm and 1:15 pm Map, directions, and public transportation: Google map and directions All city buses stop within three blocks of the library. The Northside/Salvation Army  and the Northside/Westminster Canterbury  southbound buses stop next to the library. Internet sites and databases: Handley Regional Library services, calendar, beyond books, about us, favorite sites, hot titles, online resources, news. Library catalog search by keywords, title, author, subject, notes, publisher, series, or ISBN, and in WorldCat. Family and Local History photos, finding aids, free blacks, censuses, Internet databases, high school seniors 1921-1974, library's genealogical holdings. Obituary index 1896-1913 (pdf). Collection Description Very large collection about Germans and Scots-Irish who traveled the Great Valley Road from Pennsylvania to Virginia, including manuscripts, newspapers, biographies, and histories, and people of the Lower Shenandoah Valley since 1732, emphasizing Winchester and Frederick County in 4000 books, county court abstracts, county histories, genealogies, regimental histories, battles, newspapers since 1787, censuses, 600 linear feet of manuscripts, maps, photos, and oral history tapes. Tips Use computers for free. Users must have a current Handley Regional Library card to use the Internet. Guides Pathfinders biblographies for Civil War Manuscript Collection; Civil War Manuscripts - Diaries and Letters; Death Records Sources; Fairfax Land Grants. Manuscript inventories brief scope, content, and historical background for hundreds of collections. Alternate Repositories If you cannot visit or find a source at the Handley Regional Library, a similar source may be available at one of the following. Overlapping Collections National Archives at Philadelphia, PA, records of federal agencies and courts for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, military records. Library of Virginia, Richmond, large genealogy collection including births and deaths 1853-1896, marriages before 1936, histories, biographies, newspapers, Bibles, and huge manuscript collection (about half online), military and Civil War records, deeds, wills and other court records. Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, county records, militia lists, bounty lands, tax lists, poll lists, genealogies, newspapers, Bibles, and a huge index to Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky settlers. Similar Collections Bristol Public Library a relatively small family folder collection, but an important resource for settlers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Virginia  along the Great Valley Road into Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Roanoke County Public Library, very good for southwest Virginia, including family folders, books, genealogies, and indexes. Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown, Santa Cruz, Calif., the SCGS's Tina Brayton Collection is equivalent to the Draper Manuscript Collection  but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia  families. Neighboring Collections Office of Vital Records, Richmond, marriage, divorce and death after 50 years, birth after 100 years. Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society, Winchester, promotes sound genealogical practices, especially for Augusta, Berkeley (now WV), Clarke, Jefferson (now WV), Frederick, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page, and Warren counties. Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society operates the archives at Hendley Regional Library. Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center history of the Brethren and Mennonites in settling the Shenandoah Valley, during the Civil War, and early 1900s. City of Winchester, County of Frederick Circuit Court marriages and probate records. Repositories in surrounding counties:  Virginia:  Clarke, Shenandoah, Warren; West Virginia:  Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, and Morgan. Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room is part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, books, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. 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. New York Public Library international genealogy, heraldry, personal and family names (in Roman alphabets), family papers, Dorot Jewish collection, maps, periodicals, American history at national, state, and local levels. Sources