Local History & Genealogy

The Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library offers a collection of materials and services to assist visitors conducting research into local history and genealogy.


Accessing the Collection

Most of our collection is kept in a climate-controlled offsite storage facility to ensure its preservation. Because of this, we recommend contacting us in advance to inquire about accessing these materials.

A selection of materials is available for in-house use, and some resources are also available online for you to access anytime, anywhere.

Ready to start your research? Check out our Local History LibGuide for more information about the library's collection and helpful resources.


History & Genealogy Resources

Ancestry Library
Search family records, census records and other historical records from one of the largest family history resources available.
Please note: This resource is only available while in the library.
DigitalNC
The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is a statewide digitization and digital publishing organization housed at UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library.
HeritageQuest
Treasury of American genealogical sources: unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids. Includes historical census, PERSI, Revolutionary War records, and more.
Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection
Newspapers.com North Carolina Collection. 3.5 million pages of digitized content from over 1,000 NC county newspapers. Years 1751-1999
Sanborn Maps
Produced for over a century, more than 660,000 Sanborn maps chart the growth and development of more than 12,000 American towns and cities. Sanborn maps are large-scale plans of a city or town, drawn at a scale of 50 feet to an inch.