Collection Guidelines

U. S. States of Interest

Many of Wayne County, Ohio settlers migrated here from Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. During the 1830s and 1840s, many of the residents of Wayne County moved west to northwestern Ohio, northeastern Indiana, and states beyond. However, by the mid-19th century, many of the residents who had moved to Indiana started to return to Wayne County, Ohio. With the growth of manufacturing and mining in northcentral and northeastern Ohio during the late 19th-century and early to mid-20th century, many individuals from southern Ohio and West Virginia moved to our area to seek employment. These states are of great interest to many of our local researchers.

• Indiana
  • Northeast

• Maryland

• New Jersey

• New York

• Ohio
  • Northcentral
  • Southeast

• Pennsylvania

• Virginia

• West Virginia

Photograph collection

The department has a small number of photographs and post cards available for browsing. Other photographs of the area may be included in a variety of books located in the department. In time, much of this collection will become available as part of our digital collection.

Other Wayne County, Ohio digital projects to browse and search include:

• Wayne County Public Library Digital Collection
• Wayne County Historical Society Digital Collection
• College of Wooster Digital Collections

Lateral files

Through the years, staff and researchers have copied articles of great interest to our visitors. Many of these articles are found in our lateral files and township notebooks.

Family Papers

Family papers may be found with our lateral files. These include an unorganized collection of papers on particular surnames. Staff do not have the time to separate the files by individual families. Documents found in these files may be compiled by staff members or by researchers.

Family Histories

The Genealogy and Local History Department has many family histories. The majority of these books include some connection to Wayne, Holmes, or Ashland County. We depend on donations to expand this collection. The library is not permitted to purchase family histories. If you are interested in donating your family history, please contact the department.