Written by: Genevieve Hammang
Edited by: Lan An and Michelle Sosa
The Midwest Genealogy Center is one of the premier genealogy archives in the US.
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned over the course of my MLIS is the importance of organizing your personal records. It’s a collection that never really stops growing. Especially family records such as photos, home videos, or yearbooks can multiply rapidly without a system. For people who are interested in researching their family tree, this collection is even more complicated. That’s why organizations like the Midwest Genealogy Center exist: to serve as a resource for those investigating their family history.
The Midwest Genealogy Center (MGC) is an entirely free resource for researching family history in the United States, with close to 75,000 on-site materials and a plethora of online materials, as well. Located in Independence, Missouri, the MGC is about 52,000 square feet in size. Although part of the Mid-Continent Public Library System, the collection does not just focus on the Midwest but offers genealogy resources for the entire country and around the world.
Visitors can access a variety of research support at the MGC Facility in Independence.
The MGC started with the Mid-Continent Public Library System’s acquisition of Missouri county histories in 1971 through genealogy organizations such as the American Family Records Association (AFRA), the Missouri State Genealogical Association (MoSGA), the Heart of America Genealogical Society (HAGS), and the Gann Historical Society & Library. These materials were initially made publicly accessible in the Missouri Room at the Independence branch of the system. As the collection grew, it was moved to a lower level of the building in 1996 and renamed the Genealogy and Local History Branch. As of 2008, the collection was renamed again as the MGC and was housed in its own facility on Lee’s Summit Road.
In addition to an expansive circulating collection, the MGC houses a number of special collections. Its Archival collection is focused on the Platte, Clay, and Jackson Counties in Missouri and includes both personal and organizational materials such as letters, photos, scrapbooks, and diaries. The Digital collection allows visitors to access digitized books, online archives, and oral history from the Genealogy Gallery. Among the digitized books are published genealogy and family history books, county and local histories, magazines and periodicals, gazetteers, how-to books on genealogy, medieval books, and Plat Books of Jackson County and Kansas City from 1886 to 1925. The Material collections represent the MGC’s physical archive, made up of over 250,000 books and tens of thousands of microforms that cover local, national, and international family histories, city directories, phone books, yearbooks, state and county records, and maps; although most of this collection is on-site access only, select titles are available for check-out.
Workers in the Gleaner Manufacturing plant. (Photo courtesy the MGC’s Genealogy Gallery)
In terms of services, the MGC offers in-house reference and research services for research support. Visitors can also access databases, scanning and digitization stations, microfilm readers, and even oral history recording kits. These latter kits are provided as part of the MGC’s Tell Me a Story oral history initiative. The center further provides programs and classes to teach patrons helpful techniques for genealogical research. The Memory Lab offers access to equipment for visitors to digitize home movies, audio tapes, recipe books, and family photos. The MGC’s online Quick Look serves as a database of all the genealogy resources available through the center, which can be searched by name or date.
Genealogy and family history isn’t for everyone; but it is an important way for many people to tell their story as part of a larger cultural history. The MGC is dedicated to providing as many resources as possible to help patrons do just that. If you’re interested in exploring options for preserving your family history or even just curious about the tools available, check out the MGC’s tips on getting started.
0 Comments