Those of us that are lucky enough to have been able to research at the Allen County Public Library are all in agreement, this is one great place to research. It is packed full of books and microfilm and microfiche, they have open stacks, and I have yet to find a book misfiled, which to me is a wonder in of itself, what a daunting chore, rather amazing. I know it has to happen, but of course, however, the staff does an outstanding job.
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| My tablet PC with just a few of the open stacks of county research books available. |
They say this is the second largest genealogical collection in the United States under one roof. I found a reference that stated that the Genealogy Center occupies 42,000 square feet, includes more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items of microfilm and microfiche. (Note that this web site has out of date information concerning the hours of operation, as they are now closed Saturdays during the summer as well as Sundays.)
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| Microfilm and microfiche stored here, LOTS & LOTS of good stuff, vital records, newspapers, directories, military records and of course, CENSUS! |
Want to look at previously written family histories, looking for clues, ACPL has a room full of stacks and stacks of family histories.
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| Just one row, of many, many rows of family histories. |
In another area they have books stored on two long, long rows of these movable stacks, amazing, and space saving too.
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| These movable stacks glide without effort and quietly. |
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| To move the walls/stacks of books, you simply engage the touch buttons. Spacesaver, perfectly named. |
Many of the staff are knowledgeable in genealogy research and have plenty of patience. All in all, a visit to the Allen County Public Library is a great experience.
Fort Wayne is an exciting, vibrant city. It is a favorite city for Man and I to visit. Hotels and motels are close by, within 10 minutes drive time to the library. There are several restaurants close by (for lunch time) and lots out by those hotels/motels (for dinner, like Banditos, yum yum Mexican). (I speak of the west side of town, near I-69.) The city parks here in Fort Wayne are beautiful. There are also several campgrounds within a 20 minute drive of the library if that is your mode of travel. It is hard not to love this place.
Allen County Public Library, if you research, you just MUST visit. I think you will enjoy your visit to the library and the town.
The library is located at 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana.
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4 comments:
Oh Carol,
Your blog post makes me want to go back to Fort Wayne to visit the Allen County Public Library!
I have been there only three times....but now I want to go there again!!
The fact that the library has resources from all over the U.S., and lots of international things too,...makes is such a "one stop" place to visit!
Great photos!
This was the first time I'd seen these many photos at one time, they gave me an excellent idea of what it looks like. Thanks Carol.
So jealous. Richmond is still my #1 dream destination, but Fort Wayne just moved up to #2. Thanks for the overview.
I find misfiled items no matter what library I go to. Even ACPL. It might have to do with the fact that I worked in libraries for 10 years and often shelved books? That doesn't even count the years of volunteering at the kids' school.
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