A Tour of the Lloyd D. Bockstruck Genealogy Collection at the Dallas Central Library
Suzan Younger
For several months now, the Dallas Genealogical Society eNews and Blog have run brief articles about the wealth of resources for genealogists at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in downtown Dallas, Texas. The Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck Genealogy Collection is one of the top ten best genealogy libraries in the United States: Family Tree Magazine voted it one of the best libraries for browsing.
On September 6, 2005, Stephanie Bennett and her staff on the 8th Floor Genealogy and History Section of the Dallas Central Library gave a tour of the genealogy section. It was recorded by members of the Dallas Genealogical Society.
If you have never visited the library or have not visited in a while, this video will give you an excellent introduction to the staff and collection. The tour begins with an introduction to the collection by Stephanie Bennett, manager of the 8th floor Genealogy and History section. Stephanie points out that the collection covers a wide geographic area across the United States, as well as a strong foreign collection. It is a global collection. There is an active program to grow the African American and Hispanic collections. Don’t miss the bank of computers with access to online databases. Note that the Dallas Public Library is a FamilySearch affiliate library.
She then passed the narrative to Ed Boehringer for more details about the foreign collection with highlights on German resources. Alex Garza talked about the Mexican and Latin American collection which is part of the foreign collection. He then gave details about the genealogy section’s map collection. The map collection holds some real gems for the researcher, and you should routinely include maps as part of your family story. There are government topographical maps and genealogical maps.
Mic Barnett showed off the family vertical files. These files include donated material by surname from family historians over many years. The files can include a large variety of geological treasures shared by fellow researchers. There is a separate file of obituaries from the Dallas County area in process, with items from South Dakota and Iowa. Check with the front desk about this collection. Subject files, newspaper column articles, and family surname newsletters complete the vertical files.
Ari Wilkins spoke about manuscript collections in the genealogy section. The collection includes the historic Bible collection, with items dating back to the 18th century. There is a link to the library catalog listing the Bibles on the library’s Genealogy resources page listed as “Family Bible Collection”. Many items from this collection have been digitized: you will find those records in the Dallas Public Library Digital Collections (Search for the word “Bible”).
Another important manuscript collection is the McGowen Funeral Home records. The McGowan Funeral Home was an African American business operating from the 1950s through the early 1990s. Items from this collection are in the DPL Digital Collections; search for “McGowan Funeral Home Collection.” The library has the Ed C. Smith Funeral Home records (1900s–1980s) in its collection. There are searchable databases for both collections on the Dallas Genealogical Society page.
Kevin Jennings discussed the state and county books — the largest collection in the genealogy section. The collection includes over 70,000 books, arranged alphabetically, first by state and then by county. Genealogists can browse the open stacks. There are one-of-a-kind items that are not digitized and found only at the Dallas Public Library.
Terry showed off the Heritage Lab used to digitize books, documents, photos, slides, films, and audio files. A previous DGS Blog article gives details about the lab, required training, and directions on making reservations. The lab contains all the equipment and software needed to digitize your family history.
DGS also posted the full tour on their DGS Instagram account, (dgstexas) which has links to each station and speaker.
Contact information:
- J. Erik Jonsson Central Library – Dallaslibrary.org, 1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX 75201
- 8th Floor–Genealogy and History – https://www.dallaslibrary.org/central/8th-floor, Phone: 214-670-1433, Email: genealogy@dallas.gov
