Explore history in The Indiana Room

CROWN POINT | Rediscover Crown Point by browsing the Indiana Room, located on the second floor of the new library at 122 N. Main St.

Read to win at new Crown Point Community Library

Love is in the air with Valentine's Day on Thursday, and to help celebrate, the Crown Point Community Library is holding a fun raffle.

RECORDS - Larry Clark

Valparaiso Library Head of Genealogy Larry Clark looks up an obituary notice requested from someone in California. Clark says he receives many requests about former area residents from family and friends that now live out-of-state.

Descendant helps connect the street to the family it is named for

In Whiting there's a street named Fischrupp Avenue. I knew it well in high school because my best friend lived there. It was just a block over from streets named Fred and John. As a kid, I always thought these names were somewhat strange.

Genealogy group researches histories of homes Aug. 18

SCHERERVILLE | The Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society will host a free program at 10 a.m. Aug. 18 at the Lake County Public Library's Dyer-Schererville branch, 1001 W. U.S. 30.

Search of family roots starts at library

McHenry County Genealogical Society member Ruth Rooney, of Woodstock, Ill., writes down the date of birth and date of death while she catalogs inquest records at the McHenry County's coroner office in Woodstock, Ill.

Search of family roots starts at library

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. | Craig Pfannkuche has been retired for years.

Search of family roots starts at library

McHenry County Genealogical Society member Claudia Conroy, of Trout Valley, Ill., catalogs inquest records at the McHenry County's coroner office in Woodstock, Ill. The Genealogical Society started cataloging the inquest records in November, starting with the early 1900s, and are currently i…

Looking back can turn up some interesting kin

As a matter of good fun, if nothing else, I have encouraged people over the years to dig into their family histories. One way that you can make this particularly interesting is to focus on the work component.

Genealogy search leads to Sons of American Revolution induction

LOWELL | Paul E. Palmer, of Lowell, has been inducted into the Duneland Chapter of the Indiana Sons of the American Revolution.

Genealogical society promotes awareness of African American culture

DECATUR, Ill. | The outside of the African American Cultural and Genealogical Society looks considerably different than it once did.

PHIL WIELAND: Don't wait for your obit to tell your life's story

It seems like there are a lot of funerals for local soldiers lately. Our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan seems pretty limited, and yet the military escorts arrive in Northwest Indiana with alarming frequency.

Beginning Genealogy Workshop at Portage Public Library

Discoveries mark journey into the past

I never knew my great-uncle Ray. In fact, I never knew until a couple of months ago I even had a great-uncle Ray.

Local residents go digging for family histories

VALPARAISO | A family reunion that has been held annually since 1940 and a box of names are what got Ilaine Church interested in genealogy.

Hobby traces roots of popularity to 'Roots'

Tracing the family roots became a popular pastime decades ago following the broadcast of the TV miniseries "Roots," but it has really taken off with the advent of Internet sites such as ancestry.com and familysearch.org.

RECORDS - Larry Clark

The Valparaiso Library holds estate records as far back as the mid-1800s. Larry Clark, head of the genealogy department at the library, says some of the old books rub off and turn your fingers orange after handling them.

RECORDS - Larry Clark

Larry Clark, head of the genealogy department at the Valparaiso Public Library, recently was given dozens of books of Porter County marriage records from 1836 to 1984 after the county digitized them. Genealogy research has exploded in popularity as records have become more readily available …

Ilaine Church

Ilaine Church, of Valparaiso, researches her lineage on microfilm at the Valparaiso Public Library as Larry Clark looks on. Clark is head of the genealogy department.