Lawrence Public Library

Located on the lower level of the library, the Helen Osma Local History Room houses historical materials relating to Lawrence and Douglas County, as well as resources for genealogical research.


Helen Osma Local History Room houses historical materials relating to Lawrence and Douglas County, as well as resources for genealogical research. If you need help using these materials or getting started with your research, stop by the Ask Desk, call 785-843-3833, or visit our website for information on how to email the reference staff, open a live chat session, or Book a Librarian.


Local History/Genealogy Drop-Ins are regularly held in the Osma Room. Get help using the library’s resources to research your family history or answer your local history questions. The library’s Sound + Vision Studio is also open to provide information on recording oral histories.


The library's collections include databases and other digital resources, some of which are only accessible at the library, and others accessible anywhere.


Access a variety of Lawrence and Douglas County photographs and documents; oral histories; cemetery records; military records (including Civil War, both Union and Confederate); birth and death records, census information; immigration records; a core of primary source documents for the study of Kansas history, including state and regional histories, travel guides, biographies, speeches and more; U.S. Indian Census Rolls, slave schedules and Freedman’s Bank records, mortality schedules, agricultural and industrial schedules, and a variety of published family and local histories; a rich collection of oral history interviews with African Americans in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas; newspapers; and Kansas Memory, a broad, statewide selection of digitized Kansas maps, photographs, and other primary documents from the collections of the Kansas State Historical Society.


There is a non-circulating Kansas Collection of books dealing specifically with Lawrence and Douglas County history and citizens.


The Lawrence Public Library also partners with the Douglas County Historical Society and the Watkins Museum of History, both of which can assist you with historical research.


Contact Information

707 Vermont Street

Lawrence, KS 66044

Phone: 785-843-3833

website


Location Type

Kid-friendly


Site Info

AC / Heating

Group Meeting Room

ID Required

Parking

Restrooms

Research Library

Staffed

Water Fountain

Wheel Chair Accessible