GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY RESEARCH REQUESTS
The staff of the Lake Blackshear Regional Library System will gladly assist you with any genealogy or local history questions that you might have.
In preparation for contacting our libraries, please consider exploring these recommended websites:
For Crisp County, Georgia: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/crisp.htm
For Dooly County, Georgia: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/dooly.htm
Dooly County Cemeteries Master Index
For Schley County, Georgia: http://usgwarchives.net/ga/schley/history.html
For Sumter County, Georgia: http://www.genealogyinc.com/georgia/sumter-county/ OR http://www.sumtercountyhistory.com/
An archived copy of sumtercountyhistory.com is available at the Wayback Machine Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/ Enter sumtercountyhistory.com in the search box and a calendar page displays the dates when the site was copied. Find the most recent date circled in blue, hover the cursor over the date and click on the hot-linked numbers in the balloon help box to retrieve a copy of the website.
GALILEO’s Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive** at https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/
**COVERAGE: This database includes searchable full text of the Americus Times-Recorder, 1881-1921 and the Sumter Republican (Americus), 1870-1885. ACCESS: Georgia residents, please contact your local library for the GALILEO password which is changed quarterly. PINES library card holders should first login to their PINES patron account at gapines.org for password-free access.
CONTACTING THE LIBRARY:
In order to determine if your question falls within the scope of the library's resources, you should make initial contact with the library staff at the library serving the area about which you have an interest, by visiting the library, by telephone, by email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for Crisp County, and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for Dooly, Schley, and Sumter Counties), or by regular mail.
If after that initial contact, you and the library staff determine that your questions might be answered through further research by the library staff, you will be asked to send the following to that library:
---A document clearly stating your questions, along with all of the relevant information (i.e. names, birth dates, death dates, marriage dates, city names, county names, etc.)
---A stamped, self-addressed envelope
---A check for $10.00 to cover the cost of the $10.00 research fee, which also covers the first 5 copies. Checks should be made out to the library you are contacting.
---The maximum number of copies you are willing to pay for at $1.00 per copy after the first five.
Our headquarters library, Lake Blackshear Regional Library in Americus, and the Cordele-Crisp Carnegie Library in Cordele both offer the option to email scanned articles from local newspapers on microfilm to researchers preferring electronic copies and providing email addresses.
Please be aware that while all of our counties have local history sections in one or more of their libraries, some of the libraries in our system are small. The staff at those smaller libraries may refer you to another library in our system.
Below is a list of the counties served by our library system and the libraries in those counties:
CRISP COUNTY (Includes the cities of Cordele and Arabi):
CORDELE-CRISP CARNEGIE LIBRARY
115 East 11th Avenue
PO Box 310
Cordele, GA 31010-0310
229 276-1300
Monday and Wednesday 10:00AM-6:00PM
Tuesday and Thursday 10:00AM-8:00PM
Friday and Saturday 10:00AM-4:00PM
For more information about the Special Collections housed in Cordele, see our brochure HERE. For more information about the Library's Scrapbook Collection, see our list HERE. Hard copies of both of these are available at the Library as well.
DOOLY COUNTY (Includes the cities of Byromville, Dooling, Lilly, Pinehurst, Unadilla and Vienna) :
DOOLY COUNTY LIBRARY
1200 East Union Street
Vienna, GA 31092
229 268-4687
Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday 9:00AM-5:00PM
Thursday 9:00AM-6:00PM
Friday 9:30AM-4:00PM
ELIZABETH HARRIS LIBRARY
312 Harman Street, P.O. Box 930
Unadilla, GA 31091
478 627-9303
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8:30AM-6:00PM
Friday 9:00AM-4:00PM
Saturday 9:00AM-12:00PM
BYROMVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
452 Main Street, P.O. Box 6
Byromville, GA 31007
478 433-5100
Tuesday & Thursday 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM
SCHLEY COUNTY (includes the city of Ellaville):
SCHLEY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
54 South Broad Street
P.O. Box 365
Ellaville, GA 31806
229 937-2004
Monday 10:00AM-4:30PM
Tuesday and Thursday 10:00AM-6:30PM
Friday 10:00AM-4:30PM
Saturday 10:00AM-2:00PM
SUMTER COUNTY (includes the cities of Americus, Andersonville, Leslie, DeSoto and Plains:
LAKE BLACKSHEAR REGIONAL LIBRARY
307 East Lamar Street
Americus, GA 31709
229 924-8091
Monday & Wednesday 10:00AM-6:00PM
Tuesday & Thursday 10:00AM-8:00PM
Friday 10:00AM-4:00PM
For more information about the Special Collections housed in Americus, see our brochure HERE. Hard copies are available at the Library as well.
