The Buchanan County Public Library celebrates our county’s rich history and our people’s heritage in many ways. We have a Local History Reference area in the library filled with information on local families and our region’s history. We provide in library access to Ancestry.com. We also provide both in library and remote access to Heritage Quest. Our Adult Services Library Assistant, Brian Shortridge, hosts a Local History program the 1st Wednesday of the month September through May at 2pm. He is happy to help with any genealogy question. We also host displays on various Virginia history topics. In 2020 we will be hosting “Agents of Change” Women Activists in Virginia.
Currently we are working with StoryCorps.org on an oral history project “Buchanan County Virginia Works”. Students in Amy Presley’s dual enrollment class have finished interviewing people they know and you can check out those interviews here. Buchanan County Public Library staff are interviewing people they know. Anyone in Buchanan County can contact the library to set up an interview or to find out how they can interview someone using a cell phone anywhere. Shared interviews will be archived at the Library of Congress. This project’s goal is to discover how people think about work, the many kinds of work carried out in Buchanan County, and the changes over time. We will host our first listening party on December 9, 2019 at 6pm.
Check out our Local History Wednesday Workshops