Allen County Public Library
Allen County Public Library (ACPL) Genealogy CenterContact Information[edit | edit source]E-mail:[1] genealogy@acpl.info Website: http://www.acpl.lib.in.us Blog: http://genealogycenter.wordpress.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Wayne-IN/Genealogy-Center/189683797012 Address:[1]
Telephone:[1] 260-421-1200 Hours:
Directions and public parking map:[1] Internet sites and databases:
Collection Description[edit | edit source]The Fred J. Reynolds Historical Genealogy Collection is the second-largest genealogy collection in the United States[2] and the largest genealogy collection in a public library. Its holdings include more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items on microfilm and microfiche.[3] Users in Fort Wayne also have access, for a small fee, to more than 2 million additional microfilms from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. ACPL creates the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), a subject index to genealogy and local history periodicals from all over the United States and Canada, including French Canadian journals. PERSI is created from the Center's premier collection of more than 5,100 current genealogy periodical subscriptions, as well as runs of numerous ceased serial titles. Major online subscription databases at ACPL that patrons may use onsite include: Ancestry.com · African American Heritage · Footnote.com · HeritageQuestOnline.com · Historical Detroit Free Press · NewEnglandAncestors.org · Origins Network-British, Irish, and Scots · Paper of Record-Historical Newspapers · and WorldVitalRecords.com.[3] The Genealogy Center primarily is a North American collection, with a complementary focus on British Isles and some German materials. It also holds guidebooks, methodology works, heraldry titles and similar items of general focus for other countries. ACPL has more than 50,000 family histories, nearly 200,000 local histories, a significant number of North Carolina records on microfilm, and numerous important collections such as the Draper Manuscripts, the Drouin Collection, the Barber Collection, and many National Archives microfilm collections. The Genealogy Center also has significant resources for Native American and African American research. Specifically, the African American Gateway is a database of several thousand links to African American resources on the Internet, coupled with a bibliography of resources for African American research in the Genealogy Center's holdings. A large collection of early city directories on microfilm complements the hundreds of post-1960 print directories obtained by the Genealogy Center as a repository for the Polk Directory Company. For more details see Genealogy Center and the ACPL catalog. Not surprisingly, because the Genealogy Center physically is located in Allen County, Indiana, the collection includes a vast amount of resources for Fort Wayne, Allen County and the surrounding area. The Center's website features a number of Allen County, Indiana Databases that are freely available to anyone with an Internet connection. Those with ancestors from the local area also will want to peruse the Allen County, Indiana Links posted on the Genealogy Center's homepage. Collection Development The staff bibliographer regularly monitors current journals, booklists and the Internet for newly published genealogy and local history books to add to the collection. In addition, the Genealogy Center welcomes donations of materials such as high school and college yearbooks, church histories and directories, self-published family histories or indexes to local records, or any other publication of interest to genealogists. A number of genealogists have named the Center as the repository for their genealogy book collections as a part of estate planning. The growing popularity and ease of digitization has made it possible for the Center to accept donations of originals or photocopies of many items that were not part of its collection development policy previously, such as photographs and individual documents. In particular, the Center welcomes submissions for Our Military Heritage and Family Bible Records. The Genealogy Center also welcomes the submission of computer databases of records pertaining to any geographic location to be made available to the public on its website. One of the creative ways the Genealogy Center collection grows is through its Photocopy Exchange Program. Individuals submit a manuscript copy of a family or local history they have written and the Genealogy Center photocopies the document twice, placing one hardcover copy in the Center's collection and returning one hardcover copy and the original manuscript pages to the author Services[edit | edit source]The most important resource of the Genealogy Center is the attentive and experienced reference service offered to on-site patrons by its seven full-time reference librarians. They have a combined total of more than 150 years of genealogy research experience. From providing suggestions for untangling a tricky research problem, to aiding in the use of the collection, to instructing how to use the equipment in the Genealogy Center, the librarians are happy to assist patrons. Those who cannot visit the Genealogy Center in person may need copies from specific sources held by the center, broader research done in the collection, or copies of articles found by searching the Periodical Source Index (PERSI). The Genealogy Center has a Research Center arm that provides these services and long-distance patrons may use the Quick Search, Research Request and Article Request forms on the Center's website to request copies or research. Tips for Your Visit[edit | edit source]
Guides[edit | edit source]
Alternate Repositories[edit | edit source]If you cannot visit or find a record at the Allen County Public Library, a similar record may be available at one of the following. Overlapping Collections
Similar Collections
Neighboring Collections
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