As if the universe knew what I was searching for, I happened on the Boston Public Library’s website to search for a few Irish history books (particularly The People’s Rising: Wexford, 1798 by Daniel Gahan). Right on the front page was the headline “Boston Public Library Presents the Fall Genealogy Series.”
What makes this incredibly fortuitous for me is that I was about to plan my weekends around traveling to Cambridge for access to Ancestry.com as Cambridge’s public library system provides this as a free benefit to its members (but only if you’re physically at a library). Right before we moved to Boston in 2022, I renewed my Cambridge library card so I could retain membership specifically for this purpose (their e-book selection and check-out process are pretty amazing too when I want to borrow a digital book on my Kindle). However, it turns out the Boston Public Library system has an Ancestry Library Edition subscription as well and is hosting a webinar on how to use it (also only available if you’re physically at a library). Fortunately for me, I live a ten-minute walk from the Roslindale branch, which beats the hell out of traveling on the T for 50ish minutes to Central (assuming there's not some annoying shutdown forcing me to take the bus... yeah, MBTA, I'm looking at you).
I once told my husband that I don’t think I could ever live in an area without a public library. I recognize that’s a pretty privileged statement to make. It’s also a testament to how awesome public libraries are. When I was a freshman in high school back in the early 2000s, my mother was unable to afford a computer, so she would take me to the Blount County Public Library in Maryville, Tennessee so I could complete my homework assignments on the computers there. Compared to my laptop now, those things back then were the desktop towers with the big bulky monitors that took up the entire desk space. I used to spend hours after school and on weekends in that library with my mother. We later ended up moving my sophomore year to an apartment that was a ten-minute walk away from that same library. Even when my mother was able to buy a desktop, I visited that library frequently to borrow DVDs for free rather than pay money at Blockbuster. Fast-forward to today and it’s clear that libraries are still providing me with an enormous benefit.
So, if you haven’t yet tried using your local library’s resources, give it a shot. Perhaps also try contacting the local library where your ancestors once lived. Libraries sometimes keep town and proprietor records or host ancestry events for that specific town/city with local genealogists who collect information/documents/artifacts just waiting for someone like you to ask them about their research. You may be surprised with what they have available for you.
1 comment:
As you know libraries give insight into the spirit and history of a place just as much as the books within. Living in numerous places, libraries became our door into being a part of the community. Each and every one of them are different, yet all provide a magical discovery of knowledge.
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