Naturalization Records, Optometry Register & More Added to Collection

It’s always exciting when we add primary source research materials to the collection, especially when the documents involve records that haven't been accessed in a century or more. With some degree of regularity that sort of exciting thing happens, and just last week we had an opportunity to receive a group of new research materials materials when we were taken to a seldom visited storage room deep in the basement of the old courthouse, a room that overflowed with leather-bound volumes of old records.

As the official county archives we were asked to check out some of these unexpected treasures, to see if they belong in the research archives. Well they do for they are full of nuggets of information for genealogists and local history researchers. As these records aged and were seldom used by the public, they were placed in long term storage and were largely forgotten.

In the material that we have acquired thus far are three volumes of naturalization records from about 1905 – 1921, a debt docket the middle of the 19th century, and the Optomestrists Registration book. We have these just in time for the summer vacation season, a time when many genealogists hit the road in search of elusive ancestors. These might just contain some clues for the traveling or local genealogist. Continue to monitor the blogosphere as we continue sifting through these materials.