Doing Genealogy Research at the Ohio History Center

Last week I wrote about researching at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. My other favorite place in Central Ohio is the Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library. Located on the third floor of the modernistic Ohio History Center (OHC), the Archives/Library holds a massive amount of documents, books, newspapers, photographs, and other materials for family historians.

The Ohio History Center

Stacks of books ring the walls of the library. County histories and record compilations for all Ohio counties, some out-of-state guides, reference works, military indexes, and a large collection of Ohio city and county directories are available for browsing. Some newspapers and atlases are also on display. The majority of the library’s collection, however, consists of materials that must be paged. You’ll need to fill out a request slip for the items you want and a librarian will bring them to you. Because of this, it’s a good idea to consult the library catalog to make sure you don’t miss things of interest to you.

Part of the spacious Archives/Library reading room

The big wood tables provide plenty of space to spread materials out. You can bring your computer, but hand-held scanners are not permitted. In order to take pictures of documents with my digital camera, I signed a brief photography policy agreement and had to keep my flash off. If you want copies of something, the librarians will make them for you.

When I visit, I tend to spend a lot of time in the microfilm room, which feels small and cramped compared to the airy reading room. The library has extensive microfilm holdings of county records, state records, original land grants, and newspapers, among other things. To make the best use of your time, it's essential to use the online catalog to identify what you want and get the film numbers in advance. You load money onto a copy card to make printouts from the readers.

It’s worth noting that the OHS Archives doesn’t hold all the locally-created records for the entire state of Ohio. It’s one of seven facilities in the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers. Each of these regional facilities is the primary repository for certain counties. OHS is the designated repository for eight counties in Central Ohio, as well as 18 counties in Southeastern Ohio that it recently inherited from Alden Library in Athens. For an explanation and listing of all seven facilities, with links and a network map, click here.

The OHS Library/Archives homepage contains a lot of helpful links in various categories. Its online catalog search is a useful tool once you understand its quirks. It helps to ask yourself, “Where would this record have been created?” That will usually be a county or state government office. Enter a term such as “Delaware county births” in the search box (don’t abbreviate county). For land grant records, enter the name of the land office, i.e. “Marietta land office.” If you get a message saying no results were found, try different search terms.

Microfilmed newspapers have their own search tool, the Ohio Newspaper Index, which is not readily apparent on the Archives homepage. A huge number of papers from throughout the state are available.

The Ohio Historical Society, Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Franklin County Genealogical and Historical Society have partnered together to offer some great genealogy classes on various topics. To read about upcoming classes, click here, or select “Genealogy Workshops” on the Archives homepage. 

To visit the Archives, you first need to register for a researcher’s card at the front desk, which is on the ground level. Although there’s a charge to visit the Ohio History Center museum, access to the Archives/Library is free. Parking is also free. On the third floor are ample lockers for bags and coats (you’ll get the quarter back when you return the key). No purses or bags are allowed in the library. OHC is conveniently located right by the I-71 freeway at the 17^th Avenue exit, just north of downtown Columbus. It’s open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am-5 pm (closed Sunday-Tuesday). The phone number is (614) 297-2510.


If you have any time left on your way out, you might want to stop by the gift shop. On my last visit, I picked up some really cool maps--one a reproduction of the first state map in 1804 and another of the Ohio canal system. There's nothing like a good map to give help you visualize the places your family called home.

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Researching at Columbus Metropolitan Library

Researching at Columbus Metropolitan Library: Abundant Genealogy

For Week 8 of her series 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, Amy Coffin asks: Genealogy libraries (and dedicated departments in regular libraries) are true treasures in the family history community. Tell us about your favorite genealogy library. What or who makes it special?

I have two favorite places to do genealogical research in Central Ohio: the Columbus Metropolitan Library main branch and the Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library. To give a more detailed treatment of each, I’ve decided to do two separate posts, with the second one to follow next week.

Columbus Metropolitan Library

The Columbus Metropolitan Library main branch (CML) is where I fell in love with family history research. The classically elegant old building, a legacy of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, has grown with the city over the years. Many years ago, I used to descend the worn marble stairs to the children's department. But the crown jewel of the library for me these days is the third floor in the new addition, home of the  Genealogy, History, and Travel Department.

Thanks to a dedicated staff and the acquisition of several important collections, CML is evolving into a major repository for those tracing their family history. It has resources for all 88 Ohio counties, plus state and county resources for other states. CML also boasts a substantial collection of family histories, military histories and records, city directories, maps and atlases, and lineage society books. Resources for tracing British, Huguenot, and German-speaking ancestors are particularly strong.

The work area features plenty of light and table space. Everything is available to browse in the stacks. Staff members are always wiling to give a quick tour, answer a question, or help a patron find something. That’s a good thing, because the amount of material has really grown. Over the past few years CML has been the recipient of sizable collections from:

• The State Library of Ohio
• Ohio Daughters of the American Revolution
• Ohio Huguenot Society
• Joy Wade Moulton British Isles Collection
• Palatines to America Germanic Genealogy Collection
• Franklin County Genealogical and Historical Society

All of these have been fully integrated into the library’s catalog, which is accessible from the Genealogy Department homepage. The page is loaded with links to other resources and tools. One of my favorites is The Columbus Dispatch Obituary Search, which indexes the years 1931-1997. A number of premium resources, including Heritage Quest, are accessible to library cardholders from home. (Update: in the few days since I published this post, CML changed the look and URLs of its webpages. I’ve changed the screen shot and links to reflect the changes.)

Russ Pollitt, department head, is active in local and state genealogy organizations. He and his staff have been busy digitizing the library’s photographic and postcard collections for the Columbus Memory project.

Russ Pollitt in the Genealogy, History, & Travel Department

A microfilm reading room on the same floor holds collections of over 20 historic newspapers, all censuses for Franklin County, and the Civil War prison records of Camp Chase, among other things. Microfilm printouts are free.

If you plan to go, here's some good things to know: The main Columbus Metropolitan Library is located at 96 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43215; phone (614) 645-2275. There’s an on-site parking garage (take the parking ticket into the library with you; you’ll pay before leaving the building). Photocopies are 10 cents. Computers are available in the department, or bring your own. CML was named Library of the Year by Library Journal in 2010.

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Why I Read Blogs: Abundant Genealogy

Why I Read Blogs: Abundant Genealogy

Amy Coffin has initiated a new series, “52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy,” for 2012. For the first week, she asks:

Blogging is a great way for genealogists to share information with family members, potential cousins and each other. For which blog are you most thankful? Is it one of the earliest blogs you read, or a current one? What is special about the blog and why should others read it?

Great question, Amy! Only problem is, I read a lot of great blogs, and picking just one is too hard. Among them is Amy’s own blog, We Tree Genealogy, which I took a closer look at in a post last August. I subscribe to over 130 blogs in my Google Reader account, and I enjoy every one of them. Some blogs teach me about records or resources; some encourage me to write; some give interesting accounts of their own family history searches and stories; some tell me how to use technology; some deliver announcements; some alert me to webinars and conferences; some comment on recent developments; some help me learn to be a better genealogist; some foster connections with other family historians; some make me laugh—and a great many do a combination of those things.

Blogs provide a pipeline into the heart of the genealogical community. What we’re thinking, what we’re discovering, what we’re doing. They lead me to books, journals, websites, events, webinars, and social media. Blogs connect me with people I’ve never met but share a common passion with. In the virtual community, geneabloggers share triumphs, hardships, goals, and ideas. They explain processes and offer each other support. And this leads to real friendships. When I attended the FGS conference in Springfield, I met people who seemed like old friends within hours because I knew them from their blogs. And an active group of bloggers in Central Ohio are planning to meet in person after becoming acquainted online.

So that’s why picking just one blog is so difficult. To guide you to some of the blogs I’m thankful for, I’ve installed a widget called “Other Blogs You Might Enjoy” on my sidebar. I plan to start highlighting a few at a time on occasional Fridays. I also find a lot of interesting posts from the Follow Friday series on these blogs:

Gena-Musings by Randy Seaver

Adventures in Genealogy by Deb Ruth

Climbing My Family Tree by Jen
Geneabloggers (roll-up) by Thomas MacEntee

If you're new to following blogs, I encourage you to try some that interest you. Most blogs have a subscribe button and/or a place where you can enter your email address. If you're already reading a number of genealogy blogs, I'd be interested to know what you look for in a blog. What attracts you to read and subscribe? What kinds of posts do you like best? And if you're a fellow blogger, thank you for being part of this great community. You're welcome to leave a link to your blog in the comments. Happy reading, all!