BRYAN MAIN-LOCAL HISTORY CENTER
In 2025, the Local History and Genealogy Center continued its efforts to preserve Williams County history along with making materials accessible for all. Ongoing partnerships were maintained through services such as Ohio Memory, Newspapers. com, and the Ohio Obituary Index. In 2025, there was a total of 9,188 views of digitized photos through the digital archive of Ohio Memory. Additional historic newspaper titles were added to Newspapers. com ranging from the years of 1846 to 1861. The total number of digitized newspaper pages on the site now stands at 690,052 pages with 17 different newspaper titles. Obituaries continued to be indexed into the Local History Center’ s database as well as the Ohio Obituary Index through the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum. In 2025, the amount of obituaries indexed by the Local History and Genealogy Center surpassed the total number of 125,000 obituaries.
This year the LHC took on several projects including digitization, rebinding of books, and a FamilySearch partnership. For digitization, staff added a total of 1,514 unique historic photos to the digital collection. Books, maps, and other historical documents have also been digitized for preservation. The Center began in 2025 to rebind many of the books and indexes that are on the department shelves. This ensures the longevity of the record and reduces damage when being handled. A major win was becoming a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. FamilySearch is one of the largest genealogical organizations in the world with a web base of over 13 billion searchable names and 6 billion viewable images of historical genealogical records. Affiliate Libraries have access to FamilySearch’ s digital genealogical collections. The WCPL Local History and Genealogy Center gives patrons access to over 2 billion digitized records, including an additional 400 million images that are not currently available to the public outside of an affiliate library or FamilySearch center.
Programming and the monthly displays continue to be a big hit with the public! Some of our raved about programs include the annual Fountain Grove Cemetery Tour, the How to Clean Tombstones program, along with crafting events on making a genealogy scrapbook and creating gravestone decorations to honor loved ones who have passed.
A highlight of 2025 was the Local History and Genealogy Center being recognized by the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board and winning their annual Achievement Award! This award is given to one institution every year across the state of Ohio for its efforts to preserve local history. The Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board recognized the Local History Center’ s contributions of digitization of records, important partnerships, and increased accessibility of physical and digital materials. Jared Schnee, Local History and Genealogy Center Manager, says,“ It is important to preserve this history so it can remain accessible to patrons across the globe. We are extremely grateful to have such a supportive community that maintains an interest in history.”