By Jessica Layman, Local History and Genealogy Librarian
You may have heard – the Indiana Room has moved to the first floor of the Noblesville library! As part of the construction for our improved Crossroads Discovery Center on the second floor, the Indiana Room collection and staff has temporarily relocated to the first floor.
Indiana Room staff is still here every hour the library is open, and resources are available both to check out and to peruse as reference materials. We also continue to offer our robust online resources, with some available from home. You can find us in the Rotary Reading Room, near the large multi-story windows.
Let’s take a virtual “tour” through the Indiana Room!
First up is our Surname Vertical File Collection. This is a collection of printed research materials on different local families. This research has been done over time by genealogists and Indiana Room staff and is a good place to check for your family if you are local to Hamilton County. We also have Hamilton County Vertical Files, a limited collection of curated newspaper articles and materials on different subjects. If you’re in the library, you can always find more information through our newspapers.com subscription, where we have a huge number of Noblesville and Hamilton County newspapers digitized.
Indiana Room periodicals
We also have a collection of periodicals available to browse in-library, such as Family Tree Magazine, the Indiana Historical Society publications, and Outdoor Indiana. There’s lots of great tips to get started on your genealogy journey or for those who have an interest in Indiana history.
Indiana Room reference collection
Next, we have our reference collection. These are materials that can’t be checked out but still appear in our catalog online. There are sources on a variety of subjects, including Hamilton County cemetery records (also available online), local city directories, books for local records like marriages and naturalizations, reference books on various local populations, and copies of some of our most important Hamilton County and Indiana history books.
The next collection is the Haines Criss-Cross directories. These books act as important records of addresses of individuals and businesses in Indianapolis and the “northern suburban” area, beginning in the late 1970s.
Indiana Room Haines Criss-Cross directories
Our last in-person collection is our circulating collection. Alongside genealogy how-to books, Hamilton County and Indiana history books, and other non-fiction material, we also have some Indiana author fiction books and biographies of Indiana natives. These are available to check out and will show up in our catalog.
Indiana Room circulating collection
While we couldn’t bring every book and resource with us downstairs, we didn’t get rid of any of it! It will all return to our new-and-improved space upstairs. In the meantime, if you can’t find a book you’re looking for, just ask! We can get many materials through interlibrary loan if you have a library card with us, or we may know how to get the information online.
Our online collection continues to be a great resource for information while we are downstairs. If you are in the library, you can access newspapers.com, Ancestry.com, Fold3, and other genealogy-related databases. From home, you can check out our cemetery database and newspaper database that tracks Hamilton County residents, plus our collection of digitized photos and materials on different subjects. Other online resources are listed on our website.
If you’re interested in beginning your genealogy journey, remember you don’t have to be from Hamilton County or Indiana to use our resources! Come chat with us or get started online.