Athens-Clarke County Library, Headquarters2025 Baxter Street · Athens, Georgia 30606 · 706.613.3650
Hours | Directions
Heritage Room
The Heritage Room is located at the main library of the Athens Regional Library System. This room houses materials on the business, economic, social, cultural, and natural history, politics and government, geology, archaeology, and geography of the local area, Georgia, and the South. The Heritage Room seeks to serve serious students of all ages information relating to Georgia history, local history, and genealogy.
Download the
Heritage Room brochure for more detailed information.
706-613-3650 x350
HOURS & GENERAL INFORMATION
- Hours of Operation
Monday 12 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Tuesday - Friday 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. - Temperature
The Heritage Room is a humidity/temperature controlled environment. The room stays very cool. If you plan on visiting, you may wish to bring a sweater or light jacket. - Donations
Please consider donating your genealogical/historical materials to the Heritage Collection when you have finished using them. Donations may be tax deductible. Contact us for more information. - Articles
Taking Care of Your Family Paper, Image, and Book Treasures
by Laura W. Carter, Heritage Room Librarian
CLASSES & PROGRAMS
- Night Owl Prowl
Friday, September 10, 2010, Noon - Midnight
Remember all those times you found something just as the repository was about to close? Ever dream of spending the night in a genealogical collection? Now's your chance!
When the Library closes at 6 p.m. on September 10, you and fellow genealogy researchers will have the upper floor of the Library all to yourselves. There will be food and beverages and a security guard to walk you to your car if you leave before midnight. The charge is a small fee per person to cover the cost of security and food.You may want to bring a sweater or light jacket, because the Heritage Room is known to be chilly! Not for beginners!
- Getting Started with Genealogy
Join the Heritage Room staff for this free informal session. They'll walk you through the basics of researching your family history.
You will receive an information packet to get started. You should attend one of these sessions before participating in any other "beginning" genealogy workshop. Please bring a pencil to write with and a sweater if you're cold natured. Plan to stay after and research if you wish.
Call the Heritage Room at (706) 613-3650, ext. 350 for more information. For ages 12 and up.
- Handout- Basic Steps
- Handout- Outline
- Handout- Helpful Hints for Genealogical Research
- Handout- Historical and Genealogical Research Facilities in the Athens-Clarke County Area
- Handout- Resource Guide and Web/Bibliography
- 2010 SCHEDULE:
Thursdays
January 21 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. March 18 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. May 20 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
- Genealogy on the Internet.
This will be a brief introduction to the types of internet resources you can use for researching your family. Databases in GALILEO will be introduced. Participants will receive handouts so they can use these tools on their own.
This is not a beginning genealogy class. Participants must know how to use a mouse.
Registration is required. Stop by the Heritage Room or call (706) 613-3650, ext. 350. Class is limited to nine people so please call if you cannot attend, and we will try to let someone else take your place.
In the classroom of the Educational Technology Center (ETC).
The notes from this class are over a period of time being posted on the Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society's (COGS) web site for you to print and use.
- Handouts:
- 2010 SCHEDULE:
Thursdays
February 18 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. April 15 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. June 17 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
- Handouts:
- Evergreen: Georgia's Amazing Online Catalog.
Karen Douglas, Technical Assistant and Trainer at the Library, demonstrated many neat tricks and the ins and outs of using Evergreen in a class sponsored by the Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society and the Athens-Clarke County Library's Heritage Room. Evergreen is the online catalog for most of Georgia's public libraries. It allows users to enjoy the benefits of a shared collection of 8.5 million books, tapes, CDs and videos from hundreds of libraries. If you missed the class, the notes from her presentation are available for download: - Scottish Genealogy
The notes from the genealogy class at the Scottish Heritage Festival (January 24, 2009) may be downloaded here:
Scottish Genealogy Overview 2009.
The extended notes from the February 7, 2009 Scottish Genealogy class may be downloaded here:
Scottish Genealogy Overview 2009.
Additional Scottish Genealogy Resources:
An Abbreviated Timeline of Scottish History and Records
Resources for Scottish Genealogy Research
RESEARCH POLICIES & FEES
- Access
View the Official Heritage Room Policy Regarding Access
excerpts from this policy:
With essential security restrictions, the collection in the Heritage Room is available for serious students of Georgia history, local history and genealogy of all ages, from the beginner to the experienced researcher.
Written research questions via Internet, e-mail, fax, and U.S. Postal service will be answered by staff as time permits at the fees listed in the Fines/Fees schedule. No research questions received over the phone will be answered. Staff will be happy to fax or mail a form to people calling with research questions. (Research questions are more detailed and complex than reference questions and tend to take more than 10 minutes to research and answer via telephone.) If a patron who calls long distance cannot wait on the phone for the answer to a reference question, they should call back later to get the answer. - Reproduction & Usage
View the Official Heritage Room Policy Regarding Reproduction & Usage
excerpts from this policy:
Before material (print, manuscript, photographic, illustrative or other formats) from the collections of the Heritage Room may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from 1) the owner of the physical property, and 2) the holder of the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permission.
The Heritage Room, the Athens-Clarke County Library or the Athens Regional Library System are not responsible for any illegal or improper use of material from its collection or reproduction of same.
Reproductions may not be made for or donated to other collections, libraries, archives, museums, or other repositories by the applicant without prior written consent of the Library Director. - Loans
View the Official Heritage Room Policy Regarding Loans
excerpts from this policy:
Materials will not be removed from the Heritage Room without the authorization of the Library Director or the Heritage Room Librarian/Specialist. As a general rule, only materials which the Heritage Room has duplicate copies of will be available for Interlibrary Loan. These may be loaned to other institutions with an "In Library Use Only" stipulation. When the physical condition of material permits, photocopies may be made. It is unlikely that materials donated to the Heritage Room for a particular collection ie. Phinizy Spalding Collection, will be loaned even in the instance of duplicate copies. - Fines & Fees
- Microform Reader/printer - $.10/page
- Archival copy charge - $.25/page
- Extra large paper copy charge - $.50/page
- Research Fees:
- Georgia residents: $15.00
- Non-Georgia residents: $25.00
"This Day in Athens" Blog
"This Day in Athens" is the blog for the Heritage Room. In addition to updates on events, classes, and new books, the site will have a couple of history items every week. Subjects will range from milestone events and important people in our history to newspaper stories and notices that provide a peek into daily life of Athens, Georgia in another era. For each post, we'll provide links to the Athens-Clarke County Library online catalog and other websites where you can learn more about the subjects covered in the post. We hope you'll enjoy our blog!