Chattanooga Public Library Downtown

United States Tennessee  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:localhistory@lib.chattanooga.gov localhistory@lib.chattanooga.gov]

Address:


 * 1001 Broad Street
 * Chattanooga, TN 37402

Telephone: 423-757-5310

Hours: Mondays-Thursdays 9a.m.-8p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays 9a.m.-6p.m.; closed Sundays

Map and public transportation:


 * Google Map of Chattanooga Public Library
 * CARTA City Buses: #15 St. Elmo buses stop next to the library on Broad Street. Routes 1, 2, 4, 10A, 10C, 10G, 13, 16, 19, and 21 stop within two blocks on Market St. near 10th St.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Chattanooga Public Library books, kids, teens, local history, 4th floor, events, resources, and services.
 * CPL Catalog search by keyword, subject, title, author, or series.

Collection Description
Includes the Upper South's largest family folder collection which is heavy on North Carolina. Internet genealogy databases, censuses, newspapers, obituary index, county records, 30,000 books, manuscripts, and genealogical periodicals.

Tips
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Guides
{''Optional: Internet or guide books describing this collection for genealogists. ''}

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


 * National Archives at Atlanta 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.
 * 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


 * Knox County Public Library, Knoxville, has the best index to North Carolina families, Internet genealogy databases, 75,000 books, genealogies, First Families of Tennessee, manuscripts, censuses, state and local government records, newspapers, Knoxville city directories, maps, and photos.  In the same building:


 * East Tennessee Historical Society has for over 175 years recorded stories, collected artifacts, and educated visitors with lectures, and publications such as First Families of Tennessee, and the new Civil War Families of Tennessee. The original submission files for First Families of Tennessee and surname files are accessible to the public.
 * Knox County Archives since 1792 collects history and county government records such as marriages, divorces, deeds, probates, County-Chancery-Circuit-Criminal-Juvenile-Superior court, tax, and school records, and online databases.

Neighboring Collections


 * Hamilton County Clerk marriages since 1857; court minutes from 1857; tax books from 1836.
 * Hamilton County Register of Deeds deeds and index from 1799.
 * Hamilton County Chancery Court wills from 1862.
 * Hamilton County Circuit Court Clerk circuit court minutes from 1860.
 * Chattanooga Area Historical Association fosters historical record preservation, and interest in area history. Their collection is housed at the Chattanooga Public Library Downtown.
 * Hamilton County Tennessee Genealogy Society shares information on the Internet about county research and resources: Bibles, biographies, cemeteries, census, churches, communities, courts, deaths, deeds, families, histories, maps, marriages, military, obituaries, photos, queries, schools and wills.
 * U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, Chattanooga, recent civil/criminal court records.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: in Tennessee: Anderson, Bledsoe, Bradley, Marion, Meigs, Rhea, Sequatchie, in Georgia:  Dade, Walker, and Whitfield.
 * University of Tennessee Hodges Library, Knoxville, manuscripts, biographies, genealogies, county histories, church records, federal records, American Indians especially Cherokees, and river traffic.
 * Watauga Association of Genealogists, Johnson City, meetings, services, publications, genealogists.
 * The Hermitage Museum, Nashville, Pres. Andrew Jackson's home, to learn about TN lifestyles.
 * Historical Foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Cordova, official repository.
 * Methodist Church Archives, Nashville, records and histories of Tennessee congretations.
 * Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, central archives of SBC records.
 * Tennessee DH Vital Records, Nashville, births since 1914; marriages-divorces-deaths since 1964.
 * Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville, collection is at the [Tennessee State Library and Archives].
 * Tennessee Genealogical Society Library, Germantown, Internet genealogy databases, 14,000 books, censuses, tax lists, vital statistics, early newspapers, and family charts.
 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Virginia.
 * North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC, census, military, courts, bond, deed, estate, vital record, tax, wills. Many early Tennessee settlers were from Virginia and North Carolina.
 * Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN, premier periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic collections, and Canadians.
 * Bristol Public Library, Bristol, VA, not a big library, but important for finding families traveling the Great Valley Road into Tennessee and Kentucky.
 * Clayton Library, Houston, TX, censuses, military, passenger lists, periodicals, family histories, maps, Texas and Southern U.S. records, veritcal files, British vital records index, German, Canadian records.
 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, holds 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, and Mormon 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. Many early Tennessee settlers were from Virginia and North Carolina.
 * Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown, CA, holds the Tina Brayton Collection which is equivalent to the Draper Collection but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia  families.