North Carolina Genealogy

If you’ve got a trip to the Wake County area planned (Raleigh), you might want to include the Olivia Raney Local History Library in your trip. From their site…

“The mission of the Olivia Raney Library Branch of the Wake County Public Libraries (WCPL) is to collect and preserve materials that tell the story of Wake County, North Carolina and surrounding areas. We specialize in local history and genealogy, also providing materials on N. C. History, U.S. History, African-American History, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.”

Although they focus on materials related to Wake County, they have more information on hand…

Here’s some contact information for the library:

Location:
4016 Carya Drive
Raleigh, NC 27610
Mailing Address:
4016 Carya Drive
Raleigh, NC 27610

Phone: (919) 250-1196
Fax: (919) 212-0476

And their hours:

Mon & Th:10 AM – 8 PM
Tue & Wed:10 AM – 6 PM
Sat:10 AM – 5 PM
Sun:Closed

Some information on the collections on hand can be found at the Wake County Special Collections Page.

From the reviews I’ve read of the facility it sounds VERY nice, (brand new microfilm which should be easier to read than the ancient rolls found at some libraries…)

So who was Olivia Raney? She was the widow of the Richard Beverly Raney who donated the funding for Wake Counties first public libary. More information here.

Here is another clip on the Local History Library…

The library specializes in Wake County history but contains information — marriage deeds, land transactions and other court documents — on every North Carolina county.

From the Cary News.

It sounds like a must visit destination if you’re in the Raleigh area!