About Our Special Collections
The Special Collections room contains more than 8,500 items. Subject areas include Genealogy, the Civil War, Texana, and local history (Palestine and Anderson County). Our vertical files contain information on cemeteries, individual families, houses, and businesses in Palestine and general information about Anderson County.
Ancestry Library Edition , NewsBank and Heritage Hub database subscriptions are available. Free local newspapers dating to 1857 are available on microfilm as are several years of the late 19th century for the Galveston Daily News. (Note: some issues are missing).
Volunteers who have photographed headstones and found death records and obituaries have helped move the Anderson County Cemetery database closer to being ready to post to the library's website. This compilation of records which includes directions, GPS coordinates, enumerations, photos, obituaries, and more will prove invaluable to researchers. There is still plenty of work to do and volunteers are always welcome.
Genealogical information using Internet resources, maps, city directories, and telephone books, and genealogical-historical journals are available for browsing. A microfilm reader is available.
Library staff members may assist patrons in finding historical and genealogical material only. The library is not staffed for extensive research. See below for basic query research we can provide. If extensive research is needed, you will need to find a professional researcher, the library may not recommend anyone at this time.
Digital Database subscriptions
These databases are available to all users while physically on site
These databases are available to all users while physically on site and from any computer via the web with a PPL Library card