ARLINGTON — The little yellow house doesn’t look much like a library.
People drive by it all the time with no idea how much information is crammed between the walls, library director Steve Baylor said.
He’s one of 16 volunteers who work to keep the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society’s library free and open to the public.
The society has about 180 members and is headquartered in the two-story house at 215 French Ave., next to the former Arlington High School building.
Two full downstairs rooms and part of a third have been converted into a library, filled with a variety of local records, national research and international information. One shelf is stacked with a complete collection of the “War of the Rebellion” books, chronicling first-hand accounts, reports, correspondence and maps from the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War. Another is loaded with binders that contain local obituaries and family records, painstakingly organized by volunteers.
There’s the Washington Room with its collection of newspapers, yearbooks and family histories on light blue shelves. The U.S. and international collections are shelved in the next room over, with a tattered set of Pennsylvania Archives, directories on how best to research genealogies in other states and books that trace lineages from around the world.
A mismatched set of filing cabinets holds a jumbled collection of microfilm, though the society needs a new microfilm reader, Baylor said. Theirs is obsolete and almost impossible to find parts for.
The library is open Tuesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It relies entirely on volunteers, with 11 librarians and five assistant librarians. Baylor, 69, is looking for more assistant librarians to help out, especially during open hours.
Society members pay dues to cover the cost of leasing and lighting the building. This allows people to visit the library and do research for free. Membership dues are $20 per year for an individual, $25 for a family and $150 for a lifetime membership.
At least 25 people visit the library each week for research, Baylor said. The retired Arlington teacher inherited his love for family history from his mother and aunt. He was one of the founding members of the genealogical society in 1985. He’s been library director for about a year and a librarian since the group began.
“It wasn’t that long after we started that we set up the books in the dairy barn,” Baylor said.
The barn was one of the society’s first homes. They’ve bounced around to a different locations in Arlington. The group has been in the little yellow house for about two and a half years. Before that, they were on Olympic Avenue.
Eventually, the society would like to own its own space, Baylor said.
It’s a long-term goal, society spokeswoman Karen Stroschein said. Shorter-term objectives include opening the library up more frequently and for longer hours, and planning additional classes and events for the community.
It’s a common misconception that the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society has a narrow focus, Stroschein said. They help people around the country with family research.
“People see Stillaguamish Valley and they think that’s all we do, but my family’s from all over the country, and so are a lot of other people’s,” she said. “It’s a huge collection here.”
The library began as a small collection when members grew tired of traveling to Everett and Seattle to look things up. The collection grew, filling shelves and spilling out of boxes.
“Over the years, we’ve had projects where we’ve collected information about local families and added that to the library, as well,” Baylor said.
The society now has about 5,000 books, 200 microfilms and dozens of microfiches. The books have all been catalogued online, but volunteers are still sorting through other materials.
They’ve researched and put together volumes on the pioneers of the Stillaguamish Valley and the Arlington Municipal Cemetery. They’re working on one called “Early Stillaguamish Valley Schools.”
The Internet has been a huge help for the library, making research easier and drawing more interest to the field.
Baylor teaches classes on beginning genealogy.
“I keep having to change the lesson,” he said. “You study genealogy a whole lot differently now than you did 20 years ago. But the thing about Internet research is most of the records haven’t been digitized, so you’re eventually going to have to look beyond the Internet to find your family. The Internet is a good starting place.”
And the Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society can be a good place to end up. A number of people who visit the library decide to become members, Baylor said. A bigger membership and volunteer base brings the society closer to its goal of expanding the library and moving it to larger, more permanent space.
“Our dream is to have a home that we own,” Baylor said.
Kari Bray: kbray@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3439.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
