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The Frances Strong Helman Library  

Our research library is open to the public Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and most Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. The library is closed all major holidays. If unsure of holidays or weekend hours, please phone ahead, 724-463-9600.

The library can be accessed online, by mail or in person. Online information is limited at this time but lists, indices and text are being prepared by some of our many volunteers and will be added as they become available.

Research in person is free to members of the society as well as to student researchers. It is available to others at a $3.00 daily fee. Copies can be made upon request and cost $ .25 each. Pennsylvania tax of 6% is added to your copy charge or gift purchase.

In order to protect our holdings and at the same time make more available to our visitors, we ask that you follow certain library procedures. Briefcases or portfolios are discouraged in the library. We ask that you use pencils and not pens while conducting your research.

You are given access to all of the books in the library; however, one of our staff will access all files and return articles to their shelves and drawers. We have a very functional card catalog system which indexes all of our records. Tell us your surname and we will provide the corresponding references, if available in the library!

Our library contains census records and early newspapers on microfilm, cemetery transcriptions, surname files, family collections, county and general histories, atlases and maps, abstract court records, directories, periodicals, ship passenger lists, tax records and more. Additional and often rare material is available upon request.

Subject Files

The Society maintains a collection of subject files that include various information on Indiana County, neighboring counties, county business, county industries, county churches, county personalities, and much more.

• See an index of the main categories of files in this Subject File Collection.

Surname Files

The Society maintains collections of obituaries, wedding announcements, and other newspaper clippings and loose papers related to families in the area. These are categorized by surname in files in the Society's library. The materials are not available online; however, we have over 25,000 surnames in our files.

• See surnames in our files, grouped by the first letter.

Bible Collection

The Historical Society's Bible collection contains over 170 Bibles.

• See a listing of the Bibles here.

Research by mail

Searches conducted by our volunteer researchers at your request is covered on the page devoted to research by mail.

For a more in-depth glimpse of our holdings, please check back to this site at a later date and don't forget to view information concerning membership. In this way you can become an active part in the preservation of local historic records.