Bristol Public Library

United States Virginia  Archives and Libraries   United States  Tennessee  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:bplref@yahoo.com bplref@yahoo.com]

Address:


 * 701 Goode Street
 * Bristol, VA 24201-4199

Telephone: 540-645-8780 Fax:  276-669-5593

Hours: Mon-Thurs 9am - 8pm; Fri and Sat 9am - 5pm; Sun 2pm - 5pm.

Map, directions, and public transportation:


 * Google Map and Directions for Bristol Public Library.
 * City Buses: All Bristol City Transit buses stop within two to four blocks of the library.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Bristol Public Library Avoca Branch Library, children, teens, learning lab, library foundation, resources, about us, and special events.
 * Catalog online of four libraries including Bristol Public: search by keyword, author, title, subject, call number, and ISBN.

Collection Description
They have a relatively small family folder collection. Nevertheless, it is an important resource for settlers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Virginia along the Great Valley Road into Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Their collections includes a file for local cemeteries, and local history file, regional history books, county courthouse records, family histories, Civil War records, censuses and census indexes. Emphasis is primarily on Tennessee and Virgina, and to a lesser degree on Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The library is less than its own length away from the Tennessee-Virginia state line, so their collection reflects both states well.

Guides

 * Genealogy/Local History HeritageQuestOnline access, musical heritage, local genealogy organizations, genealogy research information, military resources, and American Indian genealogy.
 * Genealogy tips for beginners (pdf) how to begin, and local Virginia and Tennessee resources.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, is the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, books, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room has moved to the Main Reading Room, but services remiain unchanged.
 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.
 * National Archives at Philadelphia, PA, records of federal agencies and courts for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, and military records.
 * National Archives at Atlanta, GA, records of federal agencies and courts for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, Indian records, and military records.
 * Library of Virginia, Richmond, large genealogy collection including births and deaths 1853-1896, marriages before 1936, histories, biographies, newspapers, Bibles, and huge manuscript collection (about half online), military and Civil War records, deeds, wills and other court records.
 * Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, county records, militia lists, bounty lands, tax lists, poll lists, genealogies, newspapers, Bibles, and a huge index to Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky settlers.
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, African Americans, vital records,censuses, county records, tax lists, local histories, school censuses, manuscripts, military records, Native Americans, newspapers, obituary lists, maps, state agency records, petitions, Tennessee postcards, city directories, prison inmates, and TN county historians.

Similar Collections


 * Roanoke County Public Library, VA, very good for southwest Virginia, including family folders, books, genealogies, and indexes.
 * Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, records of Germans and Scots-Irish who traveled the Great Valley Road from Penn. to Virginia, including manuscripts, newspapers, biographies, and histories.
 * Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown, Santa Cruz, Calif., the SCGS's Tina Brayton Collection is equivalent to the Draper Collection but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia  families.
 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 3.1 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, Mormon records.

Neighboring Collections


 * Office of Vital Records, Richmond, marriage, divorce and death after 50 years, birth after 100 years.
 * Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society, Winchester, promotes sound genealogical practices, especially for Augusta, Berkeley (now WV), Clarke, Jefferson (now WV), Frederick, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Page, and Warren counties.


 * County Vital Records Office
 * City Vital Records Office
 * County Archives
 * County Orphan's Court
 * County Probate Court
 * County Recorder
 * County Coroner
 * U.S. District Court
 * County and local historical societies
 * County and local genealogical societies
 * Public Libraries
 * Museums and heritage societies
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: in Virginia: Grayson, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Washington, in Tennessee: Carter, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Washington, and in North Carolina: Ashe.
 * State Vital Records Office
 * State Historical Society
 * State Genealogical Society
 * University Libraries
 * Church archives
 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
 * New York Public Library international genealogy, heraldry, personal and family names (in Roman alphabets), family papers, Dorot Jewish collection, maps, periodicals, American history at national, state, and local levels.