Genealogy & Local History
Genealogy Services
The Reference staff is able to look for and copy newspaper articles (weddings, obituaries) for long-distance (out-of-county) patrons. There is a research fee of $10.00 (up to 30 minutes) for any requests made by mail or email. A maximum of 2 hours per request will be provided, for a total of $40.00. Payment is required regardless of outcome, and may be required in advance.
We have Reading Eagle and Reading Times newspapers archived on microfilm dating back to 1858.
We encourage in-county residents to visit the library to conduct research.
PLEASE NOTE: EXACT DATES ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS TYPE OF RESEARCH.
Please contact the Reference Desk at (610) 655-6355 or reference@readingpubliclibrary.org for additional details.
The Pennsylvania Room offers additional resources for local history and genealogy research. “PA Room Hours and Information”
PA Photos & Documents
Explore over one million digitized photographs and documents from unique collections in institutions throughout Pennsylvania. Visit the “Yearbooks” collection for local archived yearbooks.
Click here to access
MyHeritage for Libraries
Discover Your Family History! MyHeritage includes billions of historical documents from 48 countries, millions of historical photos, public records, indexes, and additional resources that span five centuries.
Enter your library card number to access
Announcing Family Search
RPL is now a Family Search Affiliate Library. Family Search, a world leader in family history, adds over 300 million free genealogical records and images online yearly from all over the world, with billions of birth, marriage, death, census, land and court records from more than 130 countries to help you discover and make family connections.
Register for a free account; no library card is needed. If there are records that cannot be accessed through the free account they can be accessed at the library on one of our computers.