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Did You Know: Genealogy Resources at the Library

20221021_DidYouKnow_GenealogyResources_blog

Have you been wanting to trace your family’s history? Getting started can be a daunting process, and with the recent release of 1950s census data, there is more information to uncover than ever! But did you know that your library card gives you free access to genealogy resources? From databases, to books, to helpful guides, there are numerous tools to make the process more approachable.

DATABASES:

An HCPL library card provides you with free access to HeritageQuest and Ancestry for Virginians.

HeritageQuest provides a collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture including census data, city directories, agricultural and industrial schedules, and more.

Available through the Library of Virginia, Ancestry for Virginians provides access to select collections and content through an agreement with Ancestry.com. Patrons can create a free account to access digitized and indexed records and materials. Note that these records do not include the entirety of Ancestry's Virginia-related content, and search results may include materials not part of the Library of Virginia's collections. For full access to Ancestry.com, visit the second floor reading rooms at the Library of Virginia.

BOOKS & EBOOKS ON GENEALOGY:
OTHER RESOURCES:

In addition to Ancestry for Virginians, the Library of Virginia provides other helpful genealogical resources to start your journey!

Searching for family members outside of the state of Virginia? Try out some of these online resources as well:

UPCOMING LIBRARY PROGRAMS
  • Design Your Family Tree with Adobe InDesign
    • Monday, November 21 from 6:30 – 8:30 P.M. @ the Fairfield Library
    • Learn how to create a family tree using Adobe InDesign. Even if you haven't begun researching your family history yet, you can create a template to be saved and edited later. Bring a thumb drive to save your work and any family photos you might want to use, or use our sample images.  Experience with InDesign is optional, but skill with a keyboard and mouse is essential. Registration is required.
  • Digitizing Your Family History
    • Tuesday, January 24 from 2:00 – 3:30 P.M @ the Varina Library
    • The library has resources for preserving genealogical information, film, photos, and documents. Join us as we show you the best ways to scan, organize, preserve, and manage your digitized family history. Registration is required.

Good luck with your genealogy project! HCPL staff are here to help you with any further questions, either in-person or online through AskHCPL!

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Comments 4

Guest - Susan Sparling on Saturday, 29 October 2022 14:44

The link for HeritageQuest -- https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/HQA -- above in this article under Databases doesn't work for me.

The link for HeritageQuest -- https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/HQA -- above in this article under Databases doesn't work for me.
Jamie the Librarian on Monday, 31 October 2022 08:20

Hi Susan! Our apologies for the inconvenience. The link appears to be working again. We are not positive what caused the initial error, but should you have any difficulty with the link in the future, please let us know. An alternative way to access HeritageQuest is to visit the Research and Learning page on our website and explore all of our databases.

Hi Susan! Our apologies for the inconvenience. The link appears to be working again. We are not positive what caused the initial error, but should you have any difficulty with the link in the future, please let us know. An alternative way to access HeritageQuest is to visit the [url=https://henricolibrary.org/research-learning]Research and Learning[/url] page on our website and [url=https://henricolibrary.org/research-databases]explore all of our databases[/url].
Guest - Susan Sparling on Tuesday, 01 November 2022 10:29

I still get an error message --
"Our apologies, we seem to be having a problem loading this page."
It is their authorization page and I didn't have the opportunity to enter my HCPL card number.

I still get an error message -- "Our apologies, we seem to be having a problem loading this page." It is their authorization page and I didn't have the opportunity to enter my HCPL card number.
Jamie the Librarian on Tuesday, 01 November 2022 11:21

Hi Susan, thank you for reaching out and reporting the error. Our apologies again for the inconvenience! We've discovered this was a network issue. Those accessing the link on the Library's network could do so without issue, but for those accessing the link from home/outside of the Library's network, the database was not displaying properly. We've updated and tested the link so it should now work regardless of which network you're using. Please let us know if you run into any additional issues. We appreciate your patience as we've worked to troubleshoot this!

Hi Susan, thank you for reaching out and reporting the error. Our apologies again for the inconvenience! We've discovered this was a network issue. Those accessing the link on the Library's network could do so without issue, but for those accessing the link from home/outside of the Library's network, the database was not displaying properly. We've updated and tested the link so it should now work regardless of which network you're using. Please let us know if you run into any additional issues. We appreciate your patience as we've worked to troubleshoot this!
Wednesday, 04 October 2023

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