John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:cwres@cwf.org cwres@cwf.org] Request reservations or get information

Address: Offices:


 * John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg
 * 313 First Street
 * Williamsburg, VA

Mailing Address:


 * John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
 * Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
 * PO Box 1776
 * Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776

Telephone: (757) 565-8542 Fax: (757) 565-8548

Hours and holidays:


 * Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Special collections, except for the microfilm room, closes daily from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
 * Holidays: New Year's Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Directions, maps:


 * From Historic Area, walking. Map.
 * From Richmond, Virginia (west). Map.
 * From Virginia Beach, Virginia (east). Map.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Home. CW Digital Library, Online Resources, Special Collections, Catalog, Database search, History Topics, Collections, and Virginia Reference Sources.
 * Online Catalog Results include Rockefeller's holdings, and the holdings of the William and Mary Libraries. To search only Rockefeller, refine the search using menu choices on the results screen. Also on WorldCat.
 * Online Digital Library which includes 1) primary sources and original research, 2) more than 500 research reports, scanned images, and encoded texts numbering several thousand manuscript pages, and 3) a collection of the Virginia Gazette starting in 1736 and a series of York County, Virginia probate records.
 * The Periodical Finder. This growing list of periodicals to which Colonial Williamsburg researchers have access to, both online and on paper.
 * The library's website gives specific aids for genealogical research.

Collection Description

 * The library focuses on the history and culture of colonial British America, the American Revolution, and the early United States. Through its specialized collections of books, manuscripts, images and databases, together with its fellowship program, the Library supports and encourages research in the political and economic life of the thirteen colonies and the new republic, African American studies, the decorative arts and material culture, archaeology, architectural history, and historical preservation.
 * Special Collections. Holds manuscripts, rare books and images, copies, microforms, transcripts, civil war, and family bibles. Also, a Visual Resources section with a vast pictorial archive.

Tips

 * Our ability to respond to general research questions is limited. For an orientation or meet with a librarian, please schedule an appointment and include information about your topic and research goals.
 * Visual Resources services (757-565-8542) is open by appointment only. To schedule a visit, please contact the Visual Resources Librarian several days in advance.

Guides

 * Finding Aids and Indexes. Finding Aids to bibliographies/webographies, and to Special and Image Collections.
 * Genealogical Research A list of resources to assist genealogical research. These include some of library's finding aids, links to websites outside the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation;,and a contact form to request help from one of our librarians. Links to research guides such as: African Americans in Colonial and Revolutionary Virginia; Revolutionary War Virginians.
 * Virginia Gazette The subject guide leads you to notices of free blacks, runaways and slave occupations under topics such as Negroes, Free; Slaves, Runaway; and Slaves as Doctors, Ferrymen, Laundresses, etc.

Alternate Repositories
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Overlapping Collections


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