The McPherson Public Library maintains an unequalled collection of resources which tells the story of our city and county and the many people who settled it, developed it, and appeared as its citizens.

 

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The MPL Genealogy Index
Contains over 35,000 entries, indexed by name and death date, of persons who lived and died in McPherson and McPherson County.


The McPherson Photo Album

A fully-searchable compilation of over 3,500 historic images and portraits from McPherson and McPherson County.

The MPL Historical Business Database 
Provides information about over 3,500 business and
professional entities in McPherson, starting in 1872.
   

The MPL McPherson History Timeline
Learn what happened when with this comprehensive timeline,
from the founding of the city to present day.
   

Register of Pioneer Families of McPherson County
Including over 1,000 names and some 2,000 pages of
documents and genealogy information, this covers families
settling in the county from the early days into the 1900’s.

McPherson Daily Republican Diamond Jubilee Edition (May 10, 1947)
Contains a rich history of the early days of the city and county as written by local historians of the time.
   

The Founding of McPherson: What Really Happened
A 37 minute video, presented by Steve Read and Jennie Hall, of the founding of McPherson and the critical early days of the new town.

Click!  Historic McPherson Photographs and Their Stories
Click! 2:  More Historic McPherson Photographs and Their Stories
Click! 3:  More Historic McPherson Photographs and Their Stories
In these documentaries, Jennie Hall, Steve Read, and Melissa Smith take a closer look at historic photographs from McPherson and McPherson County selected from the library’s collection.

City of McPherson Cemetery Database
Searchable by name and location, this resource contains all of the recorded burials in the cemetery.
   

Pelnar’s Index to McPherson County Cemeteries
An index to burials in 30 of the 50 cemeteries in the county, compiled by local genealogist Gerald Pelnar.  Current until 2004.
   

Ancestry.com World Deluxe Edition (in-library access only)
The largest genealogy datbase in the world, featuring an amazing variety of data and powerful search engines. Made possible by The McPherson Public Library Endowment Fund.

HeritageQuest
A scaled-down version of Ancestry accessible from anywhere.
   

Fold3  (in-library access)
Military service documents and information from the Revolutionary War to present time.  Made possible by The McPherson Public Library Endowment Fund.
   

Fold3  (remote access) 
Access Fold3 from home with your McPherson Public Library card. Made possible by The McPherson Public Library Endowment Fund.

 Easy Family History Sites
A list of some of our favorites — free, reliable, and safe.
   

The Map Room  
Our one-stop source for local, state, national, and international digitized maps and atlases.

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Queries for Genealogy and Local History information may be submitted via email (please click on this link) or by post at 214 W. Marlin, McPherson, KS 67460.

The library charges an initial research fee of $5.00 plus copying and postage charges if successful. An additional fee may be charged depending on the complexity of the research.