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Crossroads of Genealogy
Why is Fort Wayne, Indiana a family history hot spot? Its Allen County Public Library is a perfect place to trace your roots, no matter where they lie.
Family history isn't merely a hobby in this Midwestern metropolis, it's a top tourist attraction. Nearly 110,000 people from all over the country—and around the world—travel here each year just to trace their roots.
The reason Fort Wayne is on every researcher's radar: Indiana's second-largest city boasts the second-largest genealogy library in the world, the Fred J. Reynolds Historical Genealogy Department at the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy. Over the past 42 years, the department has amassed a whopping 317,000-plus printed volumes, including 49,000 family histories, and more than 306,000 records in microform. Its collection is surpassed only by the FHL, and it's tops among all public libraries. (Read about the nation's 10 best public libraries for genealogists in the October 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine.)
As a local library, the ACPL doesn't ship its resources across the globe as the FHL does through its branch Family History Centers. The ACPL's genealogy materials don't circulate, so you have to trek to the main library in downtown Fort Wayne to revel in its resources. You'll discover it's worth the trip—but you'll have an easier time finding genealogical bliss here if you get acquainted with the library first.
The genealogy department is on the second floor; you enter in the main reading room, by the orientation area. You can register here to exchange data with other researchers and pick up PathFinder research guides. These 13 pamphlets outline resources for ethnic ancestries (French Canadian, Irish) source types (census, heraldry) and special topics (adoption). Ask to watch the orientation video, which explains library materials and procedures. (Or view it ahead of time on the library's Web site using software such as RealPlayer.)
Inside the main reading room, you'll find printed matter—books, indexes, periodicals. The department has all the standard roots references, from the American Genealogical-Biographical Index to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, plus a supply of statewide references and finding aids. These books are on open shelves for easy access, along with frequently consulted military, international, Native and African-American, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), heraldry, Quaker and Allen County references.
But the shelved materials are just a sampling of the ACPL's stellar book collection. Besides its numerous compiled genealogies, the department owns more than 150,000 local history books: county and town histories (including foreign places) and cemetery, church, court, land, naturalization, probate and vital records. Look for these sources in either the online or card catalog, and then fill out a request slip for the titles you want.
The main reading room also has several shelves of US genealogical-society periodicals. If another researcher published an article about your family, you're in the right place to find it—the ACPL has the world's biggest English-language collection of family and local history periodicals. To help patrons tap these publications' contents, genealogy staff
here developed the Periodical Source Index (PERSI). This index has become the standard reference for genealogy-periodical research everywhere, not just at the ACPL; it's now accessible through an Ancestry.com subscription, on CD-ROM (see the next page) and in its original print format. But you'll still find all the indexed articles at the library.
Of course, genealogy's trademark record format is microfilm, and you'll find plenty of that here, too. The ACPL is one of the few public libraries that has the entire US census: 1790 to 1930 population schedules; 1890 schedules of Civil War Union veterans and widows for half of Kentucky and L through W states (the rest of that census burned); and all statewide indexes and Soundexes (indexes that consolidate similarly spelled names). You can also dig into state and territorial censuses covering 18 states, primarily in the Midwest. For ancestors (and researchers) from up north, the ACPL has every Canadian census from 1666 to 1891.
Those census records are a highlight of the library's great Canada collection, which includes some essential French Canadian and Acadian sources. You'll also find passenger lists from the Canadian ports of Halifax and Quebec among the ACPL's immigration-records stockpile. The library holds most National Archives passenger lists and indexes, so it's a great place to trace immigrant origins.
It's a great place to research military ancestors, too, particularly Civil War soldiers. You'll have access to a bonanza of microfilmed National Archives service and pension records, spanning the Revolutionary War to the Philippine Insurrection. The Civil War collection comprises these films, plus regimental histories on microfiche, microfilmed Confederate records from state archives and printed adjutant generals' reports, lineage society publications, soldier diaries and more regimental histories.
ACPL's other filmed resources include city directories from 1785 to 1935, Sanborn fire insurance maps of Indiana, land ownership maps from the Library of Congress and Colonial newspapers from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
This mother lode of microfilm and microfiche awaits in the microtext archive. Use the microtext catalog—a separate directory of filmed materials—to locate these sources. You'll find census and passenger-list indexes in the microtext index/printer room.
ACPL offers plenty of electronic resources, too. The department has Internet or intranet access to all the FHL's FamilySearch files, along with a long list of reference databases. Like the genealogy materials, these sources can be used only on site, so prepare to spend much of your time in Fort Wayne cramming in research.
For more information on the genealogical treasures of Fort Wayne, see the October 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
By Allison Stacy
Roots researchers reserve the term mecca for Salt Lake City, home of the Family History Library (FHL). But when they describe genealogical nirvana, another destination quickly comes to mind: Fort Wayne, Ind.
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