Yellowstone Genealogy Forum
Gen-Room Holdings
Revised Friday, November 18, 2005 Blue Lettering and
Underlining denotes links to the data.
The Gen-Room is located on the 2nd
floor of the Parmly Billings Library, and it is open whenever the library is
open. The room is unattended, but locked, excepting for special times when
training classes and support functions are provided to visitors, usually upon
request. The access key is obtainable from the Librarian's desk on the 2nd
floor. A sign-in sheet in the Gen-Room is provided. Genealogy books and other
materials may not be checked out. Copy machines are available in the main
library. ($0.10 per sheet) After the research material has been examined or
used, it is to be placed onto a 'Red Painted
Holding' shelf within the Gen-Room for later filing by The
Forum's Librarian. Books are identified in accordance with the Dewey
Decimal System Number, same as used in the Family History Center at Salt Lake
City. Accordingly, if you have a listing of a book at Salt Lake City, it will
have the same call number. Additionally, the LDS Family History Centers in
Billings have special
collections of films Germans from Russia and that they also keep
all the census films from 1850 and later that have been ordered into the FHC. A compiled listing is available for Yellowstone County.
The
Gen-Room library contains over 1400 volumes. The titles and authors
can be search on the indexing
list. Be sure to download a copy for your convenience in
record searching. A composite listing of holdings categorized by general topics,
for the Montana Room, GenRoom and both Family History Centers, is presented in
the Summary
Listings links. Download these also.
Books about individuals, or personal journals & diaries, are given the Dewey Number 921 followed by the first three letters of the person's surname. They are shelved and arranged by surname in alphabetical order.
Newsletters, reviews, books, etc., about families are given the Dewey Number 929.2 and the first three letters of the surname.
Phonebooks. Available for various locations and states.
Other materials are arranged or filed according to their specific interest categories. The Library also helps support a Montana Room managed by the library staff where vast specialized collections about the State and Individual Historical Families and Other People are held. Some of the key collections of interest to genealogists held at the Western Heritage Center are:
- Atlas of Lewis & Clark Expedition (1983: 917.8642)
- Billings Gazette "Yellowstone Journal" (6 Oct 1899: 978.639)
- Biographical Sketches, Books, and News Articles (Approx 4,000 People)
- General Highway Map of Montana Counties (Full Plat Layouts by Tp, Rn, Section)
- Illustrated History of the Yellowstone Valley (978.6W527)
- Montana County Maps, Dept of Trans Land Grids by Tp, Rn, Section (1999: 912.786)
- Progressive Men of the State of Montana (c1900: 978.6)
- Numerous books about the "Battle of Little Bighorn" (Custer's Last Stand)
- Census records and indices for Montana (The 1880 Census will be on-line shortly)
- Death Index listing for Montanans from 1882 through 1896. This listing took several years to complete, and is placed on the Parmly Billings Library Genealogy Web Site page by the library staff; and is a suburb source of information about names, deaths and related information, about the early pioneers. Follow the Genealogy Links.
Periodicals - The following periodicals are available for research, and copies go back for several years in most instances.
American Historical Society of Germans From Russia
Ancestry Magazine
DAR Magazine - Daughters of the American Revolution
Family Chronicle
Family Tree
Federation of Genealogical Societies "Forum"
Germans from Russia Heritage Society
Great Migration Newsletter
Heritage Quest
History Magazine
HQ Newsletter - Genealogy Update
National Genealogy Society Newsmagazine
National Genealogy Society Quarterly
New England Ancestors
The Genealogical Helper
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register
Obituary files are stored in the
Gen-Room; microfilm registers are available within the Library. Card Index
files for obituaries from 1955 through 1969 are sorted, and list birth, death,
marriage, spouse, parents and children. Subsequent years contain the obituary
notice published in local newspapers. These are stored in two separate
locations, and are clearly marked. Added are 1994 through 2000.
Marriage indexes for Yellowstone County 1881-1899, plus Livingston, MT are available
Cemetery Records for Mountview, Yellowstone County Cemeteries, Carbon County and Harpers Ferry Cemetery in West Virginia, are available or placed on line. The collection of Carbon County records stored on 3x5 cards, contain information about the person, burial location, and other information as available.
Birth records for Yellowstone County
are housed in the Court House at Billings, Park Co records are stored in the
Gen-Room.
Prepared Genealogies of numerous families are available.
Census Records for all of Montana's counties are available in the Montana Room at the Western Heritage Center. School census of Yellowstone County (less the City of Billings) is available on CD for 1914-1931.
Land Records for Coulson are held in the Yellowstone County Courthouse.
City Directories for most all of Billings since the first issue, and numerous other cities throughout Yellowstone County and most of the cities in the State, nearby states and Alaska, are available for use. Note: Currently these are available for research in the Montana Room. The master set is stored off site. For details about specific individuals or other information contained in these books contact the Webmaster for lookups. Excess inventory is offered for sale. Refer to the above link.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Paul’s - Founding and congregational records.
Locality Records Items about various localities, counties, states, provinces, countries, and the like, are identified with their appropriate Dewey Number, and filed by common localities.
Civil War Compendium The complete master compendium, including the indices is available for use. These volumes depict letters, as well as battle information and related soldier promotions and service stature.
Immigration Collection Series
Special File Information
Located in a file cabinet there are collections of information by STATE, EUROPEAN NATIONS, And OTHER CONSIDERATIONS & SURNAMES. These files contain various types of information about the subject matter; such as: How to Search, Family Newsletters, Family Trees and related material not normally found in the shelved books. These materials are not suited for storing on the Gen-Room shelves.
- Files Identified by STATE contain information on: 1) How to Research there, 2) Listings of Genealogy Organizations, and 3) Family Newsletters.
- Files Identified by Foreign Country contains information on how to conduct research, and some other information sources.
- Additional Information Research Sources are provided to assist in the area of: 1) Genetics, 2) Migrations, 3) Heraldry, 4) Quaker Records, 5) Indian Records, 6) Military Records, 7) Queries Submitted to YGF.
- Surname Files are listed in Separate Folders. Generally these contain family trees, family newsletters, biographies and similar material. A listing of the available Family Surnames available for research is attached. Additionally there are numerous family trees, prepared by the YGF members, located on a Card Index file. The file catalogues thousands of names and where the information is located in the Gen-Room. This is a KEY SOURCE to check.
Biographies (Montana Room at Western Heritage Center)
Title Abstracts (Listing of information available in the Title Abstracts for early Billings. Files predominately centered on NPR and MMLIC activities.
Yellowstone County City Histories & Development Compilations (Held in Main Library Montana Room) Check Library references for location and titles.