The Kellenberger Room collects books that are fundamental to the study of
local history for New Bern and Craven County. We also collect books about the
counties surrounding Craven County, as many of those counties were formed from
Craven County.
Genealogy books concentrate on Eastern North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia,
though there are some materials on other areas. In addition, the library
contains hundreds of books about individual families and on the records of
specific counties.
An Adobe document (pdf) lists the books we have on North Carolina Genealogy only. This file (updated September 2008) is about 2.5 megabytes, arranged by subject headings.
Microfilmed materials comprise a large part of our collection. In dealing with
local history, the newspapers present a wealth of information about the culture
and times in which they were written. The first newspaper printed in North
Carolina was printed in New Bern, and the library has on microfilm some of
those early newspapers. The newspaper collection contains newspapers from New
Bern dated from 1751 to the present, with some years missing.
Microfilmed genealogical materials include census records and county records.
County records include such items as court minutes, deeds, wills, and estate
papers. The counties we concentrate our microfilm collecting around are
Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, and Pitt.
A subject listing of microfilm available for use in the Kellenberger Room is available in a Portable Document Format (PDF). The file, updated September 2008, is about 1.2 megabytes and does not include the newspapers available for use, only the county records. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view this file.
The Photographic Archives houses numerous photographs of Craven County and New
Bern. Some of these photographs are copies of originals housed in institutions
around the country, such as the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the
State Archives, and several universities. Other photographs are copies of
originals loaned to the library for the Photographic Archives. The library
contains a small number of original photographs. Some of these original
photographs have been scanned and placed on the
Craven County Digital History exhibit.
The Vertical Files contain clippings from newspapers and magazines, as well as
uncatalogued pamphlets and booklets. Most of the materials deal with New Bern
and Craven County. There are also a few genealogical files of family names
associated with New Bern and Craven County. A listing of
the vertical files (updated September 2008) available in the Kellenberger Room is available in a PDF
file. The file is about 375 kilobytes and requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view.
The New Bern-Craven County Public Library houses a major collection of oral interviews: "The Memories of New Bern". The Memories of New Bern is a collection that contains hundreds of hours of taped interviews, and typed transcripts of those interviews, of New Bernians discussing life when they were growing up. Topics include downtown living, racial relations, the Great Fire of 1922, and other interesting topics. The library also houses oral interviews conducted by the James City Historical Society that cover African-American life in Craven County.
The Library contains a computer with several genealogy CD-ROMS. The CDs are published by Family Tree Maker, Heritage Books, and Ancestry.com and contain a variety of sources. Contact the Kellenberger Room for specific titles, as they have not been added to the online catalog.
The library subscribes to Heritage Quest Online through NC-LIVE. According to it's website, "HeritageQuest Online provides libraries with a unique, growing collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Beginning or professional genealogists can now use this powerful online library, with original page images for all documents, from the convenience of their home or at the library. Indexes and original page images mean no additional trips, inter-library loan requests or work by researchers or staff." The HeritageQuest website has more detailed information about the collections available.
Remote access to HeritageQuest Online is available, thanks to NC-LIVE. You will need the current NC-LIVE password for access. Follow the above link to the Remote Access link to HeritageQuest.
The library also subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition. Key collections in Ancestry Library Edition include:
Ancestry Library Edition is available for in-library use only.
Return to the Kellenberger Room
URL for this page is http://newbern.cpclib.org/research/kellrm2.html
Updated: September 17, 2008.