Genealogy

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.

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The Lake Blackshear Regional Library (Americus) holds a subscription to BookPage, courtesy of the Sumter County Friends of the Public Library, and keeps current copies at the front desk. These are free to the public. Click here to go to the online BookPage.

Our Mission

The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System's mission is to provide organized access to information through various formats and meet educational, informational, recreational and cultural needs of the citizens of Crisp, Dooly, Schley and Sumter Counties, and to improve efficiency in operations.

The Crisp County Library Board meets at 4:00 PM on the first Thursday of January, April, July, and October at the library in Cordele.
The Dooly County Library Board meets at 4:00 PM on the third Wednesday of January, April, July, and October at the library in Vienna.
The Schley County Library Board meets at 5:00 PM on the second Monday of January, April, July, and October at the library in Ellaville. 
The Sumter County Library Board meets at 6:00 PM on the first Tuesday of January, April, July, and October at the library in Americus.
The Lake Blackshear Regional Library board meets at 6:30 PM on the third Thursday of February (in Schley County), on the third Thursday of May (in Crisp County), on the third Thursday of August (in Sumter County), and on the third Thursday of November (in Dooly County).

E-Verify ID: E07392 Obtained 2/20/2012

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