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The Carbondale Public Library’s Genealogy and Local History Collections contain materials that are related to the people, history, and development of the Greater Carbondale Area.  The materials in the collections include microfilmed city newspapers dating back into the early 1800s, Carbondale City Directories, local history books, and historical documents pertaining to the local area.  The library also has access to online databases such as Newspapers.com (local papers only), AncestryLibrary.com, and the Lackawanna County Digital Archives.

Room Hours

The Genealogy and Local History Room is located on the first floor of the Carbondale Public Library and is available to the public the same hours the library is open.  For additional assistance, please contact the library to book an appointment.

Purpose

The Carbondale Public Library collects and provides access to a variety of resources that document the history of the City of Carbondale, its residents, government, businesses, institutions, and organizations.  Materials related to the local region and specifically Lackawanna County will also be maintained if it can aid researchers in their understanding of the Greater Carbondale Area.

Collection Highlights

• Carbondale City Directories dating from 1900 until 1993
• Yearbooks from area high schools
  • Carbondale Area High School (1972-1974, 2009-2012)
  • Ben Franklin High School (1941, 1970)
  • Sacred Heart (1986-2005)
• Local history books pertaining to Carbondale, Lackawanna County, and Pennsylvania. For a list of books available in our local history collection, visit our online catalog.
• An extensive collection of Vertical Files – a collection of articles, brochures, clippings, etc. that are too small to be cataloged as an individual item.
• Microfilm consisting of
  • Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for the City of Carbondale
    • Physician’s Certificate of Death and Undertaker Certificates (1890-1894, 1896, 1898-1902)
    • Return of a Death and Return of a Still-Birth Certificates (1890-1891, 1899-1901)
    • Return of a Birth Certificates (1900, 1906)
    • Death Certificates (1906-1912)
    • Return of a Marriage (1903, 1911)
    • Birth Certificates (1910-1912)
  • Delaware and Hudson Canal Company blueprints, maps and drawings
  • 1860 Federal Census of Luzerne County
  • Trinity Episcopal Church Records
• Newspapers on Microfilm
  • Dundaff Republican and Northeast PA Evening Herald: February 1828-June 3, 1893
  • Archbald Citizen: October 1898-May 3, 1911; April 1, 1916-June 17, 1916
  • Carbondale Herald, Leader, and News: April 2, 1890; July 1, 1897-December 1897; January 1, 1899-June 30, 1903; January 1, 1904-December 1920; January 1, 1922-December 3, 1932; November 1, 1944-December 31, 1951; July 1, 1952-December 30, 1980
  • The Miner: September 7, 1972-July 5, 1973; November 15, 1973-January 16, 1975; January 5, 1976-December 1976; All of 1977, 1978, 1979 and June 10, 1980

Other Resources

Several libraries in the Lackawanna County Library System have their own genealogy and local history collections.  For more information, check out the library system’s online genealogy page.

Contact Us

Telephone: 570-282-4281

Online Request Form: https://lclshome.org/genealogy/

Library History

On May 8^th, 1874, the “Young Men’s Library Association” was opened in a room on the second floor of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company’s railroad office on North Main St.  It is the oldest public library in Lackawanna County (and is older than the county itself which was created on August 13, 1878.)

However, by 1895 the library had already outgrown its space and was moved to the southeast corner of the main floor of Carbondale’s City Hall building.  In 1935, an additional room was also made available for the library.  This would remain the home of the Carbondale Public Library until 1966.

Thanks to a generous donation by the Hillman Land Co., the library received its own building and moved into the former Bell Telephone Company office on 6^th Avenue. in Carbondale.  After more than 30 years on 6^th Avenue, the library moved back to Main St.  This time, however, a new building was designed to accommodate the ever-expanding role the library played in the community.  After much anticipation, the library reopened at its current location in October of 1996.