Indiana Room/GenealogyMooresville (Indiana) Public Library
If the Indiana Room is locked, please consult library staff at the Circulation Desk.
LOCAL HISTORY
Looking for the local history of Mooresville and vicinity? Mooresville, Indiana “Treasure Trove” blog archives share a wealth of historical tidbits, focusing primarily on the history of Mooresville and Morgan County, Indiana.
HEY, KIDS! Learn about the history of Mooresville, Indiana from Cauli Le Chat, feline roving reporter at Mooresville Public Library. Click the book cover (left), or click here, to read a digital copy (in PDF format). Just in time for Mooresville’s bicentennial celebration (1824-2024)! (Kindle and paperback editions are available to buy.)
NOTE FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS: If your child(ren) (or the children you teach) attend elementary school grades 3 or 4, then this book will be particularly interesting to them, because they will be studying Indiana history in those grades. Younger and older readers might enjoy the book, too. Try reading it aloud to your preschoolers and early grade schoolers.
Spiral-bound copies of the book are available to checkout from the library’s Indiana Room (Call Number I 977.251 CAU) and Children’s Nonfiction (Call Number J 977.251 CAU). See the Evergreen Indiana online catalog for details.
A grown-up version of the Mooresville bicentennial book can be viewed online (as a PDF). If you prefer printed books, there is a copy available to checkout from the library’s Indiana Room (call number I 977.251 BUC) using your Evergreen Indiana library card. To place a hold, please visit the library’s online catalog.
Take our Virtual Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Mooresville, Indiana. Want to walk the route yourself? Visit our self-guided walking tour web page for details.
- Mooresville Local History Quiz. Test your knowledge of Mooresville, Indiana history.
- Click the logo (below) to watch our local history video series, Grandpa Billy Bob’s Mooresville History Super Fun Quiz.
- Mooresville History Slideshow. A brief history of Mooresville, Indiana.
- More Local History Slideshows. We have so much history, it takes several slideshows.
- Playlist of MPL’s “treasure trove” of local history videos. Watch these videos to learn more about our town’s colorful history.
- Playlist of MPL’s “History Cyber Sleuths,”
Mooresville High School Yearbooks
Visit our Mooresville High School (MHS) Yearbooks Page to see a digitized collection of yearbooks.
DIGITAL HOOSIER NEWSPAPERS & MAPS ONLINE
Indiana’s digital historic newspaper program, Hoosier State Chronicles, has many hard-to-find old newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries available online.
This modern map of Mooresville (ca. 2005) is a digitized version of a paper copy distributed by the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce. The reverse side of the paper map shows Morgan County.
Sanborn Maps
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps show the locations of businesses and houses in various American towns from the early 1800s onward. This is an invaluable resource for anyone doing local historical research.
Sanborn Maps for many U.S. cities may be found in the Library of Congress digital collection.
The library has the following Sanborn Maps for Mooresville, Indiana:
Historical Morgan County Maps
The Library of Congress and the Indiana Historical Society have digitized Morgan County, Indiana maps published by W. W. Richie (1875); Baskin, Forster & Company (1876); and Earl O. Gilbert & C. G. H. Goss (1909). (The 1875 & 1909 maps are from LOC; the 1876 map is from IHS.)
FAMOUS HOOSIER BOOKLIST
Click here to see a booklist of biographies about some famous Hoosiers, and books by Hoosier authors, that we have in our Evergreen Indiana catalog. The booklist was prepared by Kerry Ware.
ARTSMART: INDIANA
Grade 4 students and teachers! Explore Indiana art and learn its relationship to Indiana history at the ArtSmart: Indiana website.
ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION & HERITAGE QUEST ONLINE
NOTE: You MUST be physically ON THE LIBRARY CAMPUS (connected to our computer network or wireless) to access Ancestry Library Edition.
HERITAGE QUEST ONLINE may be used remotely, provided you have an MPL-issued Evergreen Indiana Library Card Number.
FAMILY HISTORY & GENEALOGY RESEARCH
LEGACY LINKS (MOORESVILLE OBITUARIES)
Mooresville Public Library has its own Obituary Database called LEGACY LINKS, which includes over 20,000 obituaries, primarily of deceased residents of Mooresville and Morgan County, Indiana. This database has been redesigned (in Fall 2020) and provides a user-friendly interface.
Extensive genealogical and family history research may be done at the Indiana State Library Genealogy Division (in downtown Indianapolis) and at Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center (in Fort Wayne, Indiana). Visit the U.S. Census Bureau web site (particularly the census data page) for U.S. Census information.
Many valuable research tips and resources are available on the Indiana Genealogical Society blog and website.
Online Genealogical & Historical Research Tools
There are many online historical and genealogical research tools available.
The Ancestor Hunt (includes digitized newspapers, obituaries, vital records [birth/death/marriage/divorce], photos, yearbooks, coroner records, voter lists, and probates/wills).
Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office Records (Land Patents) provides live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1788 and the present. They also have images of survey plats and field notes, land status records, and control document index records. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States.
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online. Your genealogy starting point for more than 25 years!
Family Search (registration required). Find your family. Discover yourself. Bring to life your family’s history by exploring the lives of those that came before you.
Find-a-Grave (cemetery records). World’s largest gravesite collection. Over 190 million memorials created by the community since 1995.
Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society is the first genealogical society in the State of Michigan dedicated to the research and preservation of African-American history.
Google News Archives (digitized newspapers).
Greater London, England Online Genealogy Records. Guide to Greater London, England Online Genealogy Records for researching ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth, marriage, death, census, church, military, immigration, and naturalization records.
The Great Migration Parish Web Mapping App (United Kingdom).
This web mapping app shows you the last-known parish for all 1,795 emigrants whose origin is confirmed, about a third of the nearly 5,700 emigrants who left England (and a few other places) for New England between 1620 and 1640. The emigrant information is based on The Great Migration Directory by Robert Charles Anderson. The web mapping app gives you a map view of parishes and a list view of emigrants. The app opens in map view, and includes a set of options and tools for the map and access to the list view.
Hathi Trust Digital Library (includes many digitized local and family history books). HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Family History Portal. Brigham Young University’s Center for Family History and Genealogy offers many public resources for researching genealogy and finding your ancestors.
Internet Archive (includes digitized community materials). Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery. Last Seen is recovering the stories of families separated in the domestic slave trade. You can search thousands of Information Wanted Ads taken out by former slaves to look for your ancestors, help us transcribe these ads, and find out how educators are using these family stories in their classrooms.
Library of Congress’ Chronicling America (digitized newspapers). Search America’s historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
National Archives. Learn how you can use the resources at the National Archives to explore your family’s ancestry. Popular topics include Census Records, Military Service Records, Immigration Records, and Naturalization Records.
National Park Service’s Soldiers & Sailors Database (Civil War). The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans’ understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible.
Pilgrim Ships & Passengers (pilgrim ship lists compiled by Anne Stevens). Passenger lists from the early 1600s of over 7,100 families and 290 ships.
INDIANA STATE LIBRARY GENEALOGY DIVISION
The Indiana State Library Genealogy Division has one of the largest genealogy and family history collections in the Midwest.
- Click here to learn more about their “family search” service.
- ISL Genealogy Division has many online genealogical resources available, including:
- The Indiana Memory project; and
- The Hoosier State Chronicles, a searchable digital database of Indiana newspapers.
The ISL Genealogy Division and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division have transitioned to a new online catalog. The catalog allows users to search over 5,300 records containing millions of items. Click here to read more and to access the catalog.
If you are registered with FamilySearch.org, you may obtain digital scans of microfilm through the Indiana State Library.
MORGAN COUNTY (INDIANA) HISTORY, GENEALOGY/FAMILY HISTORY
Morgan County Public Library’s cemetery and obituary database is currently being revamped. For any requests, call the Genealogy Librarian at 765-342-3451.
For probate records, see the Morgan County probate index.
The Indiana State Library Genealogy Division has a searchable statewide cemetery locator index, which provides call numbers to cemetery records in the ISL collections.
Morgan County History & Genealogy Association has a website featuring historical photos, cemetery records, Find-a-Grave records for Morgan County, church histories, family histories, government land sales, census records, biographies, maps, military records, migration database, ghost towns, news clippings, newsletters, archives, and other information pertaining to Morgan County, Indiana. (Also visit the MCH&GA Facebook page for helpful information).
The Morgan County History Center and Museum collects, preserves, studies, interprets, and exhibits significant materials relating to the history of Morgan County, and it provides related educational services for the purpose of increasing and enriching public knowledge of the history of the county. Morgan County has a rich history. Sports legends, the Indiana flag, sanitariums, railroads, furniture factories, certain famous criminals, and fisheries are to name a few historical interests. There are many important artifacts and documents related to the county’s history that need to preserved and archived. Many of these items are in people’s basements and attics and are in danger of being lost as generations move on.
The museum is located in the historic Blackstone House also known as the Disciple House, 127 South Main Street in Martinsville. The museum provides a positive image of the county and a destination for the public who visit the newly renovated town square. It will also provide opportunities for school and youth groups to visit and learn about their home community. In addition, it will be a resource for research for local historians and the public.
Discover the rich and colorful past of Monrovia, Indiana at the Monrovia History website.
Learn about the history of Monrovia, Indiana from Monrovia Moments, a YouTube video series created and presented by Monrovia High School history & psychology teacher Steve Reeder and MHS students.
BOOK A GENEALOGY LIBRARIAN @ MCPL
Morgan County Public Library’s genealogy department (at the Martinsville main branch) offers a wonderful service for those researching genealogy and family history. You may “book a genealogy librarian” to assist you or your group in your research. Click the graphic (left) (or click here) to learn more.
GENEALOGY RESEARCH FOR HIRE
Need to hire a genealogist to research your ancestry from Morgan County (or elsewhere)? Check with the Indiana State Library Genealogy Division or the Morgan County History & Genealogy Association.
INDIANA HISTORY ONLINE
Visit the following websites for digitized articles, images, links, and other information and resources regarding Hoosier history:
- Bartholomew County, Indiana Archives
- Indiana Historical Bureau website
- Indiana Historical Society website
- Indiana Magazine of History website
- Indiana State Library website
- Monroe County (Indiana) History Center
- Roberts Settlement (African-American pioneer farm settlement in Hamilton County, Indiana)
- What Middletown Read (Muncie [Indiana] Public Library records)
SEARCH INDIANA ARCHIVES
Search millions of records housed within the Indiana Archives and Records Administration (IARA) by using the Research Indiana Catalog, which simplifies the process of searching the Archives’ collection by providing listings of more than a quarter of a million holdings. Some of these commonly sought-after materials include Indiana military, immigration, naturalization, institutional and vital records.
MPL INDIANA ROOM COLLECTIONS
Here are the resources available in the Mooresville Public Library Indiana Room:
Indiana-Related Materials
- Books & magazines about Indiana subjects.
Local & State History
- Emphasis on Mooresville & Morgan County history; Indiana history resources; Yearbooks for Mooresville schools; Microfilm (local newspapers, magazines); Vertical files (local & state history).
- Learn about Morgan County’s historical structures in the Morgan County Interim Report (Indiana Historic Sites & Structures Inventory), published by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. (Paper copies are available in the MPL Indiana Room–check our Evergreen Indiana online catalog for shelving call numbers.)
Genealogical Resources
- Ancestry Library Edition online genealogy & history database (onsite use only); Heritage Quest online genealogy & history database; Legacy Links (online local obituary database); Morgan County cemetery records; Local obituary card files & newspaper clippings; Vertical files (family histories, genealogies); Local family histories (books); Microfilm (genealogy); Other genealogical materials.
INDIANA STATE MUSEUM LIBRARY PASS
Use your Evergreen Indiana library card to check-out the Indiana State Museum Library Pass, entitling up to four persons to free general admission, parking discounts, and more! Take the browser (on display) to the library’s circulation desk to checkout the pass. Click the video (left) for further information. 2018 UPDATE: In addition to the Indiana State Museum, the ISM Library Pass is now accepted at 11 state historic sites. The hours for the State Museum are now Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. They are closed on Mondays.
EITELJORG MUSEUM PASS
Use your Evergreen Indiana library card to check-out the Eiteljorg Museum Pass, entitling you to FREE admission for up to four adults, plus an unlimited number of children or grandchildren age 17 or younger. Free parking is available in the White River State Park garage when you use the pass. Click here to learn more. Take the browser (on display) to the library’s circulation desk to checkout the pass.
INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PASS
Use your Evergreen Indiana library card to check-out the Indiana Historical Society Pass, entitling you to FREE admission for two adults, plus up to four children. Free parking is available. Take the browser (on display) to the library’s circulation desk to checkout the pass.
KURT VONNEGUT MUSEUM & LIBRARY PASS
Use your Evergreen Indiana library card to check-out the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library Pass, which allows two adults and all children from the same household admission to the museum. It also allows for a 10% discount at the gift shop. Like other passes, they can be checked out for seven days, with no renewals. Take the “browser” case on display to our circulation desk to pickup the Pass. You may also place holds on the Pass in our Evergreen Indiana catalog.
VISIT MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA
The Visit Morgan County Indiana website has up-to-date information about coming events, activities, programs, and things to do in Morgan County, Indiana. Plan your trip to our neck of the woods. Your Morgan County adventures await!
