Family history has become so much more than Grandma making notes in her diary or shoe boxes filled with scraps of paper and news clippings. To begin with, it is now in a fast race with coins and stamps to take over as the number one hobby in the world. There are many reasons for this but the first is the availability for records to be found online as opposed to driving accross the country and digging in an old courthouse. While that still holds some appeal to many genealogists, it really isn’t practical or feasable. Several other reasons include the yearning to reconnect with their roots and wanting to find the family medical history. I also think that the media marketing blitz from Ancestry.com has spurred many people to wonder about their own journey story. It isn’t always as easy as the commercial makes it sound, but if a newbie finds a couple of items easily…..they are hooked! The more that are looking, the easier it will be for the rest of us.
The Knight Museum & Sandhills Center Heritage Room is a centralized location to find information on Alliance, Hemingford, Box Butte County and much of Western Nebraska. We have a wonderful working relationship with our local public library, County Courthouse, local newspaper, City Offices and anywhere else you might think a record could be. Our files are an ongoing project which include a wide variety of accumulated records. When approached to do a research question, our staff and volunteers use a 21 item check list that includes:
1. Marriages
2. Delayed Birth Records
3. Court Records
4. Divorces
5. Cemetery Books (28 cemeteries)
6. Birth Records
7. Funeral Home Records (3 Funeral Homes)
8. Prairie Poineers Book index
9. County Histories (10 area counties)
10. Media Sources (all Box Butte County newspapers on microfilm)
11. 1939 Ball-Phillips Book Index
12. 1904 Western Nebraska Compendium Index
13. Box Butte County Naturalization Records
14. Surrounding Town Histories
15. School Annuals ( ALliance, Hemingford & St. Agnes)
16. Newspaper Souvenir Editions
17. Misc. Indexes (Soldiers, Patent, 1897 Tax List, Catholic Church & Farmer’s Tax List)
18. Land Records (only available at the courthouse, we can check if we have time)
19. Private Collections held here
20. Files (includes: Family, Topics, Occupations, Schools, Churches, Groups & Early BB County Families)
21. Other sources in the area that we can refer you to
As you can see we have an extensive collection of resources available and are more than happy to share these with researchers across the country. Let us hear from you and see if we can help with your personal journey story. Contact us at museum@cityofalliance.net