A Resource You Can’t Afford to Underestimate
The local historical society in your ancestors' hometown can be a treasure trove. For hundreds of years, historical societies have been where photographs, artifacts, and other documents from town residents—by donation or following their deaths—ended up.
Have you ever visited your town’s historical society? You won’t regret going, even if you don’t have family roots where you live. They maintain incredible artifacts from your town’s history, including pictures that will amaze you.
Here is an example of what you could find at your ancestor's town historical society.
Like me, you might have relatively recent ancestors you have no heirlooms from or know very little about. I asked my grandmother if she had a photograph of her grandfather, John B.M. Lovejoy, who died 20 years before she was born. She said no—she had never seen what her grandfather looked like.
For ten years, I kept my hopes up that someday I would find a photo of him, but with each passing year, my hope slowly diminished. That was until I stumbled across the Farmington—where John lived—Historical Society Facebook page. I scrolled through dozens of photos with little hope, so my heart almost jumped out of my chest when this picture came onto the screen:
There he is! John B.M. “JBM” Lovejoy, pictured in 1894 when he was only 35. It has been a year since I stumbled across it, but I still can’t look at it without smiling.
There's a chance that your ancestor’s town has a historical society that could have invaluable family artifacts from your family that you don't even know exist, too. Go find out!
Jack Palmer was a History and Psychology double-major who graduated from Duke University in May 2023. He’s done genealogy research since he was 10 and loves writing about it for family, friends, and anybody else who might enjoy a blast from the past.
Yes! I knew that my great grandfather had been a city councilman in Quebec City around the turn of the last century. We have no surviving photos of him, but the Archives de là Ville de Quebec sure did! They charged me less than $10 for a copy of his official photo. It was thrilling to finally see him.
I totally agree about the value of historical societies. A year ago, I gave a talk about my granfather's winery at the historical society of the town (Mountain View, CA). Afterwards, they were so incredibly gracious about me sharing the story and all they wanted to do was help with any additional research. I wound up speaking at another nearby historcal society (Los Altos), and the same thing happened. It was almost like they were competing with each other on who could be more helpful.