Genealogy Libraries - My Faves

One of my newsletters had an inquiry to readers recently asking about favorite or best libraries for research. Several of my favorites were listed, which pleased me.

The big ones are a gimme, so I won't even comment. I was raised in the Intermountain West and had grandparents living in central Utah. I've been in the SLC Family History Library since I was a child - I love it when people talk of their yearnings to go there.
http://newfamilyhistory.googlepages.com/home

My husband and I visited the Allen County, Indiana library on one of our trips through the state - we didn't spend near enough time there, but I wanted to see and breathe it. Now they've remodeled - I guess another trip is called for.
http://friendsofallencounty.org/otherdb.php

My favorite cousin is an historical biographer in his spare time; a history professor by paycheck. He's been one of my best instructors on how and where and who when researching. He introduced me to the National Archives - I've actually leafed through the original pay records of Gen. Pershing from 1917 in Northern Mexico during the campaign against Pancho Villa. Now that's a goosebump.
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/

Preble County, Ohio - It helps the ratings when I have old dead relatives in a place - and find data on them! But Preble County also had one of the primo librarians in the country - she died in an accident just a week before we were there last. The community was in mourning. I don't know how they are doing now, but their record collection is terrific on western Ohio; they were the first library I encountered that would allow you to browse the original document images when you searched on-line; they were helpful, courteous and kind!
http://ohpreble.ohgenweb.net/

El Dorado County Historical Museum - In the late 1990s I became a victim of the Clarksville / Mormon Tavern Cemetery - in a fun way. I met a terrific old gentleman whose family was buried there. He told me the family stories and I decided to publish them - just a little booklet of a few pages and photos, with stories. And then... and then... I met two ladies at the historical museum (Sue and Suzy) who told me to get real. Turns out they had data, information, newspaper clippings, court records, cemetery records, church records, old journal records - we identified names of scores of people buried in the cemetery. They had done some background on who they were and where they came from; I did some more. Eventually, the California Genealogical Society published the book and I still get inquiries about it. http://www.cagenweb.com/eldorado/cemeteries/clarksville.htm Last year an Eagle Scout candidate coordinated with an organization of search & rescue dogs and pinpointed the graves more accurately. http://www.k9forensic.org/ Wow!
http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/Museum/index.html

Maysville, Kentucky Historical Museum - again, records of old dead relatives. The people here were extraordinarily nice and helpful! I went away loving them all. And they have more data than even I could copy. I must return; they are very near the Ohio River and the town was badly flooded a few years ago.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~kymcm/