Home
Tax Information
Belleville Public Library Archives
Document Actions
The Archives is located on the 2nd Floor of the Main Library on 121 East Washington Street. This collection is non-circulating and may only be viewed for research purposes. This material cannot be copied because of its fragility. Written notes are, of course, permissible.
The materials included in the Archives vault are:
- Founders Collection
The Belleville Public Library was started when a group of educated, German farmers decided to pool their books together in a common place for circulation. Many of those books have been kept and preserved by the library. Today, the Founders' Collection consists of over 3,400 books that made up that first circulating library. Most of the books are in German, with a few in French, Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew. The books in the Founders' Collection cover a wide range of topics including Philosophy and Religion, Sociology, Art, History, Biographies and Memoirs, and Geography. Because of their age and quality, each book in the Founders' Collection has been placed in an acid-free box. These books can be viewed for research purposes in the Archives.
Click here for a shelf list of the Founders' Collection.
- Library Collection
The library collection includes important documents such as the Charter of the Belleville Saengerbund and Library Society, Constitution of the German Library Association in St. Clair County, and photographs from the dedication of the Carnegie Library in 1916 as well as library meeting minutes and annual reports dating from 1895 to the present.
Click here for a shelf list for the Library Collection.
- Other Items Located in the Vault
The remaining items in the vault cover a wide range of topics. These include a copy of the Writings of George Washington, duplicates of local history and genealogy books located in the non-circulating collection, memorabilia from Belleville and St. Clair County anniversaries, and historical atlases and maps.
Spring Preschool Storytimes
