NSU Genealogy Room offers possible ancestral answers for students, community
(Tahlequah, Okla.)-- A hidden gem, unknown to many on Northeastern State Universitys Tahlequah campus is the Genealogy Room, or Ballenger Room 153, which can be found in the John Vaughan Library. Within its walls is a vault of information, with a story for everyone to discover.
For the first time in NSUs history, a genealogy course has been offered to students, and Dr. Christopher Owen, the course instructor, took his class on a fieldtrip to the Genealogy Room to see all that is has to offer.
The Indian Territory Genealogical and Historical Society maintains the Genealogy Room, and many of its members volunteer weekly to staff the room for student use while school is in session. Currently the room is open on Mondays from2 to 5 p.m.
Owens class came to the Genealogy Room to learn about its resources as they were progressing through the search for their families as part of a course assignment.
We provided lists of the types of items in the room which include written and recorded information, microfilms, CDs of 35 states, federal census, military, migration, Quakers, Burkes Peerage, plus a large section of Native American resources for both Cherokee and other tribes, said Cindy Hanrahan, one of the volunteers for the room.
The students were also privy to the system of the holdings, the location of periodicals, microfilms/CDs, family genealogical reports, maps and forms for recording information.
There is no cost associated with personal research of material within the Genealogy Room, copies made are 15 cents a sheet, and those interested can also pay $5 per name for a volunteer to do the research.
Over the past year, Hanrahan, along with Sharon DeLoache and Shirley Pettengill, have been cleaning, labeling, organizing and cataloging books and periodicals.
Resources are important in establishing accurate and logical connections in a persons family lines, Hanrahan said. There are always brick walls that arise and books or magazines can hold a clue that breaks through the wall. It is a real thrill to see actual family information, but especially to see their handwriting.
Despite being active in genealogy for the past 17 years, DeLoache is enrolling in NSUs Genealogy course next semesterright along with the students whom she speaks with on a weekly basis.
These students are young enough that they can talk with their parents, grandparents and older family members to learn their histories and family stories. Genealogy also makes history come alive when you realize that an ancestor was experiencing events that may have seemed totally uninteresting and irrelevant before, DeLoache said.
For more information on the Genealogy Room at NSU, call 918-444-3320 or 918-444-3221 or speak with Brenda Cochran in the Archives Office located next door to the Genealogy Room.
Published: 2015-11-03 09:00:42.697000