A Research Mecca in Salt Lake City

There is gold in Salt Lake City’s famous genealogical library--only the nuggets are not ore but historical pieces of information about your ancestors. This library is all you have ever heard that it is--and more. The gold is there, but you will have to pan for it.

If you are headed for Salt Lake City this summer, do your homework first. You can’t just show up with only the name of your great-grandfather and find the real nuggets. For successful research you need not only names, but specific dates and places.

Most of the collections housed at this library are composed of pre-1900 records from around the world.

Whether you have a month or a few days to spend at the Genealogical Library, organize your family records and decide which lines to research first.

Summer is when the library is most crowded (that’s when most of us take vacations), but mornings, evenings and Saturdays are usually less crowded than weekday afternoons.

“If you are going to be using the United States and Canadian floor, you definitely need to be at the library by 7:45 a.m.,” says Nancy Ellen Carlberg, author of a new book called “Researching in Salt Lake City.” The library opens at 7:30 and long before then the phenomenon known as the briefcase brigade occurs. Eager genealogists line up early, placing their briefcases in line to mark their places .

If you have only a short time to spend at the library Carlberg recommends that you (1) take the tour; (2) do the Quick Searches (see her book), make photocopies as you go along so you can analyze the material when you get home and order photocopies later; and (3) look at the pamphlets, books and pedigree charts.

Where should you stay in Salt Lake City if the library is your primary destination? Carlberg includes the names of hotels and campgrounds with their locations, prices and other helpful tourist information in her book.

“Researching in Salt Lake City” is an outstanding guide. It is crammed with tips on how to use the library. No matter how many trips you may have made to Salt Lake, you’ll learn something new. It includes diagrams of the floors, tells where each collection is located and how to use it. There is an in-depth explanation of the microfilm collections, how they are numbered, where to find films, even how to put the microfilm and microfiche on the readers.

Want to do some research on your ancestors who came from England? This book explains English parish records--which ones are available on microfilm and how to locate them. Many lesser-known sources are described--including the Assize Rolls, 1248-1482 (criminal and gaol records); commercial directories, 1677-to present (these are lists of tradesmen, professional people and landowners), Plea Rolls, 1218-1875 (records of pleas in King’s Court concerning land and other matters) and tontines from the 17th and 18th centuries, (these were government schemes to borrow money in exchange for annuities for the lenders).

Your ancestors’ names may be in any or all of these records, and England is only one of many nations whose genealogical-related records have been filmed by the Mormons and made available at Salt Lake City’s library.

“Researching in Salt Lake City” is available for $21 (postpaid) from Carlberg Press, 1782 Beacon Ave., Anaheim, Calif. 92804

Genealogists soon become fascinated with maps and want to see where their ancestors lived, owned property or participated in a military battle. To find such maps involves a great deal of research. There is a handy source now available.

“The Map Catalogue (Every Kind of Map and Chart on Earth and Even Some Above It),” edited by Joel Makower and published by Vintage books, a division of Random House, New York, is outstanding.

Order it through your favorite bookstore; it costs about $15 and will provide you with sources to obtain antique maps, relief maps, boundary maps, business maps, agricultural maps, land maps, historical atlases, census maps, military and war maps, even map software for your computer.