Local and Family History

Schedule an Appointment

The Local and Family History room is located on the third floor of the library and is available by appointment on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Appointments are for one hour. Please speak with Library staff if more time is needed. You may schedule an appointment by speaking to the Information Desk, calling the library, or requesting online.

We have two microfilm machines, two computers for genealogical research, and a book scanner that can scan pages and documents to a USB drive, phone, or email. Printing is available from the computers and one of the microfilm machines for 25 cents per page.

Resources

  • Ancestry.com Library Edition is available to anyone in the building.
  • Family Search Library offers a wide variety of online family history materials. We are a Family Search Affiliate, which means that when you are in the Library, you can log in to your account and access more records that may have been closed before.
  • Heritage Quest Online is a resource you can use from home. You will need a library card to access this resource. Contact the information desk (903)-593-7323 to get the log-in for TexShare.
  • Newspapers.com Texas Collection will allow you to search newspapers in Texas, including a limited number of older Tyler papers.

Partnerships and Affiliations

  • East Texas Genealogical Society (ETGS) provides books for the Local and Family History collection and informational programs. All regular membership meetings are held at 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month at the Library in the Taylor Auditorium.
  • Smith County Historical Society (SCHS) is located across the street from the library in the old Carnegie Library building. SCHS helps with research requests, assists with preservation of materials, and maintains a large archive of Smith County materials.

Collections

Highlights and popular items from our Tyler and Smith County, Texas holdings include:

  • Smith County Chronicles & Indexes
  • Cemeteries of Smith County (Five-volume set)
  • Smith County Marriages (vol. I: 1846-1899, vol. II: 1900-1926)
  • Abstract District Court Minutes (1847-1857)
  • Obituaries of Tyler, Texas Newspapers (1905-1915)
  • Smith County Probate Records (1846-1880)

Rare Books

Our rare book collection contains over 600 rare or out-of-print items about Texas, the local area and other subjects. Patrons can view these titles by speaking with staff available at the local history desk.

Some examples of materials available:

  • Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas
  • Camp Ford
  • Local historical works
  • Tyler city and "Kriss Kross" directories
  • Early city and county maps
  • School annual yearbooks
    • Tyler High School
    • John Tyler High School
    • Robert E. Lee High School
    • Tyler Junior College

Microfilm Materials

Newspapers

The following holdings are available but not indexed:

  • Tyler Morning Telegraph: Sept. 1973, Jan. 1981 - Dec. 2018
  • Tyler Courier-Times: March 1905 - Oct. 1995
  • Early Tyler newspapers (incomplete runs): 1859 - 1935
  • Various county newspapers (Grayson, Hood, Fannin)
  • Troup Banner: Sept. 1903 - Dec. 1977
  • Texas Republican, Marshall, TX: May 1849 - June 1869
  • Lindale News: Jan. 7, 1965 - Dec. 1983

Contact

Research requests can be made over the phone or through our Ask a Librarian form.

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