SAR Genealogical Research Library

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Contact Information
Email:library@sar.org Website: https://www.sar.org/sar-genealogical-research-library Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sar.org/ Address:

809 West Main Street

Louisville, KY 40202 Telephone: 502-589-1776 Hours of Operation: M-F 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM, 3rd Saturday of the month 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM  Directions/Parking Map: https://www.sar.org/sar-genealogical-research-library

History
The SAR National Headquarters, Genealogical Research Library, and SAR Center are located at 809 West Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The need to establish a Library for the National Society was recognized by the founders of the Society, who specified provisions in the Constitution for the acquisition and preservation of Revolutionary War records, documents, and relics.

From 1889 until 1926, the Society acquired 225 books, which were kept by the Secretary General or Registrar General. On March 1, 1926, the Society established a Washington, D.C., Registrar General’s office at 609 Hill Building at Seventeenth and I Streets N.W. This office contained the "permanent records of the Society membership and genealogical records and reference library." The 1927 Congress in Richmond, Virginia, approved plans to purchase the Sixteenth Street Headquarters Building. With that came the creation of the first Library Committee, and by 1933, the collection was up to 914 books. The collection continued to grow over the next few decades.

In 1978, the SAR purchased the South Fourth Street building in Louisville as its headquarters. Over the next year the second floor of the building was redesigned to accommodate a fully functional Library. It officially opened its doors to the public on January 17, 1979, and included a professional staff. In 1988, a 544 square-foot book vault was added to the floor space of the Library, and the collection had grown to approximately 25,000 items. During this time the microfiche and microfilm holdings also grew.

In October 2010, the Library began operations in its new facility on West Main Street in Louisville’s historic Museum District.

Guides

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