Local History Resources

Our Local History and Genealogy collection is located on the second floor of the library and includes local records, yearbooks, directories, newspapers on microfilm, and much more.

Search Our Local History Databases

Local History Databases
Search our library’s collection of local history and genealogy items.

Ancestry Library Edition
Search billions of records, and discover your family’s story. In-library use only.

Fold3 by Ancestry
Search historical military records.

Heritage Quest Online
Discover your family history today. Includes city directories, mortality schedules, and census schedules.

Newspaper Archive
Explore one of the largest online newspaper archives. Please visit our Digital Resources page to access our Newspaper Archive link.

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Search historical newspapers from the 1800s.

View Our Digitized Resources

These Local History Digitized Resources include various local books, records, maps, and other documents we have scanned. 

Find Items in Our Catalog

Some of our physical Local History Collection items are available to look up in our online catalog. Search by title, author, or subject. This collection is categorized in three areas by different call numbers:

  • RL: Local/Montgomery County
  • RG: General/Outside Montgomery County
  • RA: Local Authors.

Request Research Assistance

If you would like consultation on your local or family history research projects, you can make an appointment with our local history specialist. Call us at 765-362-2242, ext. 3, or email ask@cdpl.lib.in.us.

We can also assist long distance or homebound patrons with lookups of local items, such as obituaries, marriage licenses, and newspaper articles. There are various fees for different types of requests. Please fill out the form with your request.

Donate a Local History Item

Donations to support our Local History collection are welcomed and appreciated. Fill out our online donation form below.

We love to receive local high school yearbooks, city directories, histories of local businesses or organizations, and other local history photographs and documents. If you prefer to keep your originals, we can scan and return photographs and documents.

Discover More

Explore the history of Montgomery County at the Carnegie Museum, located just across the street from the library.

Montgomery County Writers

Richard Elwell Banta was born in Martinsville, Indiana, on February 16, 1904. His family lived in Los Angeles for two years, then moved to Crawfordsville in 1909, where he attended public schools, then Wabash College. In college, he wrote articles and produced illustrations for the Chicago Daily News, College Humor, Weird Tales and other periodicals. With DeWitte O’Keiffe, Banta founded the college humor magazine, The Caveman, in 1924. He was publicity director for Wabash, and edited The Wabash Bulletin in the 1930s. In 1932, he published Wabash College, the First Hundred Years, by Osborne and Gronert. Banta’s efforts as a publisher were as interesting as his published writings. One such work was Henry Hamilton and the Battle of Vincennes, the English general’s diary of his army’s journey from Fort Detroit and their subsequent defeat at the hand of George Rogers Clark and his band of ragtag soldiers and local Indians, in the Revolutionary War. Gronert described Banta as an untrained historian, but his history, the Rivers of America: the Ohio, published by Rhinehart in 1949, and many other well-researched regional and Ohio Valley histories effectively refute that label. He was a talented editor his whole life, and his Indiana Authors and their Books, Hoosier Caravan, and other works attest to his editorial and writing skill. He served in various capacities at Wabash College, in admissions, as assistant to the president, and with publications. Banta died in 1977, survived by his wife, Caroline French Banta, and his daughter, Kathleen Scott.

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