Updated hours of operation: All sites of the History Center, including the Library, will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays starting in January through March. Before your visit, we ask all researchers to please call or make a reservation online so that we can provide you the best service. 1/2 day and full day research options are available.
PLEASE NOTE: In close spaces such as the Library & Archives, Colonial Complex buildings and Fire Museum masks are required by all guests. For vaccinated guests masks are optional in the general areas and gallery spaces.
Please only bring what you need for research into the Library. Lockers are available for bags, purses and other personal items. We allow pencils, papers, notebooks and folders. We encourage you to bring a personal laptop since there are a limited number of public computers available. Cell phone photography of documents and books is also allowed. Your gracious cooperation with the Library Rules & Policies will help us protect our collections for many, many generations to come.
For information on donating to the Library & Archives, please contact Nicole Smith at 717-848-1587 x225.
Online Resources
This website has a number of online resources including Online Research Request ordering, genealogy and property research resources and collections databases. To access these resources, see EXPLORE on the main menu or click a link below.
Genealogy Resources and South Central Pennsylvania Genealogy Society
Property Research and Hively Land Records books and maps
Library & Archives News:
The York County History Center is now a FamilySearch affiliate research center
This agreement allows members and visitors to the Library & Archives greater access to genealogy resources on the FamilySearch.org website. For more information, please visit https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-affiliate-libraries/.
African American Collections
There is a new regularly-updated guide to African American collections at the History Center on this website. See Special Collections and Finding Aids.
In our Reading Room, we offer extensive collections of family genealogies; books on local, state and regional history, with a focus on York County history; York City and County directories; York County high school yearbooks; historical atlases and maps; and local and regional periodicals and newsletters covering a wide range of topics. The York County History Center’s Library & Archives is also one of the only repositories in Pennsylvania that offers the two major York newspapers and their predecessors on microfilm. For more information about the York County History Center’s holdings, please see our list of the Library & Archives Resources.
All library users, whether members or not, have on-site access to the Library Edition of Ancestry.com. Included with this subscription is Fold3 and Newspapers.com/Pennsylvania Edition. Fold3 provides access to US military records and Newspapers.com/Pennsylvania edition provides access to the growing number of digitized newspapers, which now include portions of the Delta Herald and the Gazette & Daily (now known as the York Daily Record).
We annually host visitors from all 50 states across the country, as well as several other countries. Visitors receive assistance in using the collection from well-trained staff and volunteers.
