Connectiut State Library

Connecticut State Library

231 Capitol Ave

Hartford, T 06106

860-757-6500

http://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/home

On our New England trip we got to go to this library for a short time. Although by the time we got there one afternoon, it was late and we didn’t have much time, it was well worth it. We now know a bit about the library and will be ready to hit the ground running when we get another chance to visit here. It is located in downtown Hartford, just across the way from the capital building. Like the capital, it is built in a classical style and has steps at the front of the building that look as though they climb for about a mile. Especially if you’re challenged by stairs, like me, don’t arrive at the top gasping for breath. Here’s a hint, walk around to the back! There’s an entrance on that side that is on ground level. The stairs enter on the second floor, and after you go through the metal detector at security, you’ll enter the legal portion of the library and have to return to the first floor anyway.

The library is open Tuesday-Friday: 9am-5pm and Saturday: 9am-2pm. During the week you might want to leave a little before closing or find a place to hang out for a while after it closes. At least if you’re like us and not used to rush hour in a large city, because you will be definitely heading out into it!

Printing from the computers requires a Vendacard. Photocopying can be done with the Vendacard or coin. Either one cost 15 cents.  A Vendacard (much like a plastic credit card) costs one dollar and contains 70 cents worth of copies on it initially. These can be refilled in various dollar increments. Microfilm and fiche printing is 25 cents, but only 20 cents if you use the card. You can also scan items and either email them to somebody (like yourself!) or put them on a thumbdrive. There is more details about this on their website.

This library of course, has records for all over the state of Connecticut. Books, microfilms, vertical files and much more. There’s a special collections/ archives within the library with rare items as well. The archives has limited access, but everything else you are completely free to browse through. At one point, I had completed the question I was working on as far as I could, so instead of going to the next one, I got up and took a walk. I walked out into “the stacks”, the area which is just shelf after shelf filled with books. I wandered up and down the aisles in the stacks for a few minutes just randomly looking at titles and picking one or two off the shelf on occasion. In doing so, I found one completely at random that had information about a family of mine that I hadn’t thought to research.

Have you ever worked with the Barbour collection? It is an index of vital records from across the state up to about 1850 collected under the direction of Lucius Barnes Barbour, State Examiner of Public Records from 1911-1934. If you have, then you know what a treasure these records are! They are available on microfilm and in book form many places throughout the country. But did you know that the original slips of paper with transcriptions from the records that were used to create this index still exist? In a hallway behind the reference desk, you will find many card catalog drawers and some house this original that you can actually see and touch! There are over a million slips filed alphabetically and then chronologically here.

Tompkins County Library

Tompkins County Public Library

101 E Green St, Ithaca, NY 14850

(607) 272-4557

http://tcpl.org/

Tompkins County Public Library’s main building is a delightful one-story building in the heart of downtown Ithaca. It is just a short walk away from the famed Ithaca Commons filled with interesting little shops to explore when you’re tired of research or if you have people uninterested in genealogy tagging along. There’s also a parking garage located directly behind the building for easy access. I was delighted to discover that the garage is open and parking is free on the weekends!

This building is fairly new and has a light airy feel to it with plenty of open stacks for browsing. I remember visiting the same spot as a child, but the building on the site was much older and then was the local Woolworth’s Five and Dime. The local history section is small, but easily accessible and contains works on the local area, primarily Ithaca and Tompkins county, but expanding into other counties as well.

Check for holiday closings before you go, but their general hours are as follows:

• Mon – Thurs: 10 AM - 8:15 PM
• Fri: 10 AM - 6 PM
• Sat: 10 AM - 5 PM
• Closed Sundays

Photocopying is available for 10 cents per page as is printing from their computers or microfilm readers. You do need a card to print from the computers, which costs $1.00 with 60 cents worth of copies preloaded on it.

Their microfilm collection has many local newspapers that you can look through that are not otherwise readily available for search. Although you can make paper copies of pages, I was pleased to be able to use a newer scanner/reader that once I found the page I was interested in, I could make a pdf file and save it directly onto my thumb drive. This saves a lot of printing and carrying around of paper- especially helpful if you are traveling. I also like the ease of digital copies to be able to send them to others or just to easily store and manipulate on my own computer.