You are now able to search Heritage Quest online from all branch locations and from your home computer if you have a library card.

This collection assembles many extant U.S. federal census, family genealogies, local histories, tax lists, city directories, land and probate records, birth, marriage and death records, genealogical and local history serials, the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), Freedman's Bank Records, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Index, and additional materials. Special features include: remote access; search census records by single or multiple elements; search both citations and full text; display digital image of every page; download digital images; and save notes and citations in a notebook, which can be emailed, printed or downloaded at the end of your session.

The Alexander Funeral Home on Statesville Avenue in Charlotte has graciously allowed the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room to microfilm its historic burial records. This wonderful gift will allow researchers an opportunity to learn more about the deaths of many African-Americans in the area. Zachariah Alexander purchased the funeral company in the 1930s from his former employer, W. L. Coles. The records will be available to the public at the end of February.

The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room is pleased to announce that Mr. William Skinner, a longtime patron and noted genealogist, has donated his research collection to the library. Mr. Skinner has long been involved in genealogical research and is respected for his thorough knowledge and skill. The collection consists of a number of genealogy books from Mr. Skinner’s personal library and his extensive collection of research files. The files include, in addition to Mr. Skinner’s research on his own line and collateral lines, files that he has compiled on many families over his years as a professional genealogist.

As always, we appreciate your gifts of photographs, maps, family research, school publications, postcards, and books we can keep or trade with other libraries. Past planning and generous contributions of patrons have made our collection one of the best public library special collections in the state.

• Nature of Craft and the Penland Experience
• Ohio Cemeteries
• Metamorphoses, Memoirs of A Life in Medicine
• Beaufort County, North Carolina Deed Book, 1696 – 1729
• Guildford County Cemeteries Volume II Eastern Section

“Every Stitch Tells a Story: Historic Sampler Work of the Carolina Sampler Guild”
Antique and reproduction needlework samplers from the Carolina Sampler Guild on exhibit December 1st thru March 1st.

Upcoming exhibit: “Postal History of Mecklenburg County” courtesy of Tony Crumbley.

The opening of the new Steele Creek Library, in the southwestern part of Mecklenburg County, will benefit patrons interested in genealogy. The library now has several titles previously held only in the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room. The collection of books, periodicals and CD-ROMs are only available as reference materials, not for checkout. In addition to regular library materials, there is also a collection of family files donated by the Steele Creek Historical and Genealogical Society. These families are associated with the Steele Creek area and may date back to the 1700s. The collection is off to a good start and will continue to grow. Visit Steele Creek online.

Steele Creek Programs:

• “Genealogy On the Internet”
  Thursday, January 20th from 7 - 8:30pm
  This program is designed to give the patron familiar with computers and genealogy some “hands on” experience using a computer to do genealogy.
  To register, please call (704) 588-4345.



• An “Introduction to Genealogy”
  Thursday, March 17th from 7 - 8pm
  Registration is required (704) 588-4345.

Henry “Hank” Z. Jones, Jr. will be our guest speaker on May 14, 2005. He will present four lectures on genealogy including:

• When the Sources are Wrong
• Tracing the Origins of Early 18th Century Palatine & Other Emigrants
• Family Tradition: How to Separate Fact From Fiction in Genealogical Research
• Psychic Roots

Author of several genealogy works including Psychic Roots, and a two volume set entitled Palatine Families of New York-1710, which received the Donald Lines Jacobus Award as “Best Genealogical Work of 1986,” he is also an accomplished actor. He has appeared in several Disney movies, an Unsolved Mysteries episode, My Three Sons, Mork and Mindy, Petticoat Junction, Love American Style, Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others television shows.

His presentations will be in the Main Library Auditorium from 9:30am – 4pm. There will be a $20 registration fee for attendance at this all-day seminar. There will be a book signing by the author. Please call the Carolina Room at (704) 336-2980 for more information. Learn more about the life and works of this accomplished actor and author.

The Carolina Room wishes to thank the Marriot Hotels of Charlotte for helping bring the speaker to Charlotte for this workshop.

Gerri is the newest addition to the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room staff. Gerri started working for PLCMC in 1972. Although she has had experience in circulation, film and sound and other areas of the library, she decided to follow her interests and work in the Carolina Room. A native Charlottean, she brings a wealth of first hand information on this area to our patrons and staff.

She has worked on her own genealogy as well as helped with the African-American Album, a publication of the library in 1992. It is available in print at the library or on the web.