Blog: Local History

100 Years of West Toledo Branch

You may have heard West Toledo Branch is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Read this to drop some historical knowledge at the event (and check out some staff book recommendations too).

Immigrant Heritage Month Story: Andrea De la Roca

We are celebrating #ImmigrantHeritageMonth by sharing Welcome Toledo Lucas County’s letter series that brings to life stories from our local immigrant, refugee, and diverse community members. Hear from Andrea, who came to the United States from Guatemala City in 2001, settling in Napoleon, Ohio.

Immigrant Heritage Month Story: Houng Dhar

Immigrant Heritage Month gives people across the United States an opportunity to annually explore our country's heritage and celebrate the shared diversity that forms the unique story of America. The letter below is a part of a series that brings to life stories from our immigrant, refugee, and diverse community members who call Toledo and Lucas County, home.

What is Juneteenth?

Are you wondering, “What is Juneteenth?” Juneteenth is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics, and family gatherings all recognizing the 19th of June as the day of emancipation of enslaved people in Texas.

Immigrant Heritage Month Story: Terwase Ngur

Immigrant Heritage Month gives people across the United States an opportunity to annually explore our country's heritage and celebrate the shared diversity that forms the unique story of America. The letter below is a part of a series that brings to life stories from our immigrant, refugee, and diverse community members who call Toledo and Lucas County, home.

Toledo Loves Its Library!

Joe Boyle, Toledo Public School Educator and soon to be published author, shares his experience finding this 1940s era photograph of a Toledo family outside our own Main Library.

Helping You Meet Those Reading Goals

Have you started a reading challenge yet this year? Maybe you need a little inspiration to log a few more books for TLCPL’s Winter Read. Maybe you want to challenge yourself to “read harder” this year. No matter what, the team at Kent Branch has you covered! We have curated a list of challenges to diversify your reads this year, and our staff has provided suggestions of some of their faves to match!

Cards of Yesteryear

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice or any combination of the winter holidays, it's a great time to reach out to family and friends with warm wishes. Please enjoy this small sample of cards created by a group of Toledo area residents of yesteryear.

Volunteering for All Ages: How 14 Toledo Girls Found a Way to Help Do Their Part During WWII

The Girls' Activity Friendship Society, a club created by fourteen young girls from Glenwood School in 1943, is not only emblematic of the perseverance by all during the wartime effort, but it also can serve as inspiration to help the Toledo community during current and future hard times. Read more to learn about the GAFS as well as reading suggestions and local volunteer opportunities.

The Digital Public Library of America

Learn more about a wonderful free resource for finding more ebooks, helpful school resources, improving your genealogy ability, and just exploring what libraries across America have to offer for free.

Online Learning for Adults & Teens

We are all officially tasked with social distancing in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. While our 20 locations might be temporarily closed, we’re still open in many ways to our customers –

Exploring Toledo Through Its Architecture

"Architecture of Northwest Ohio," a digital library devoted to sharing and preserving Toledo's rich architectural heritage, hit a milestone of uploading its 100th unique commission.

“Self-Government is a Natural Right…

The National Citizen and Ballot Box, a suffragette newspaper founded in Toledo in 1876, has been digitized and made available online. This is in continuing celebration of the centennial anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Join Us In Celebrating The 419!

Join the Library, WGTE, Friends of Sidecut Metropark, the Maumee Valley Historical Society and others in celebrating 419 History Day for 2019.

New Options for Interacting With Our Digital Content

The Local History and Genealogy department of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library has loaded a number of digitized books onto Internet Archive as an alternative means of accessing them. We also shared all the metadata about our digital collections as open data, which is now accessible through GitHub.

Become a Part of Toledo’s History!

The Toledo Lucas County Public Library has launched a program to collect photos from the public to be preserved as part of our local history collections. Contribute your photos (physical or digital) to become a part of Toledo history.

Toledo Streets Newspaper Archive Now Available

The Local History and Genealogy department of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library has partnered with Toledo Streets, the local nonprofit news organization that helps those experiencing poverty with the opportunity to economically empower themselves. The first 74 issues of the newspaper are now available online through the Library.

Haunted House Histories

If you'd like to put together your house's history, put on your detective hat and visit us in the Local History and Genealogy Department at Main Library!

Tracing Your Irish Ancestors

Ever wonder about your ancestors from Ireland, when they came here, if they came here and what they did when they got here?

New Digital Photos and How to Decorate With Them for Cheap

The Local History and Genealogy department of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library works to make our materials available as widely as possible by scanning books, maps, architectural drawings and photographs. They are made available through our partnership with Ohio Memory - here are some photo collections added in August.

Ohio Wetlands

Learn about the plants, animals and habitats found in local wetlands.

Making Memories That Last: Low Cost Gift Giving with the Library

Looking for a low cost, yet heartfelt gift for that someone special? Look no further than your Toledo Lucas County Public Library. The tech tools available at King Road, Oregon and West Toledo Branches will help you convert VHS, Super8, Slides and Negatives to a truly memorable gift.

National Day of Listening

The National Day of Listening is an opportunity to sit down to have a face to face conversation - and really listen.

Civic Literacy and Your Library

How do you know whether or not the information you have is credible, accurate, or true? We're here to help you make educated and informed decisions before casting your ballot.

Historic West Toledo

Our second Preserve Your Personal Story event at the West Toledo Branch, in collaboration with the Eleanor Kahle Senior Center, was a success. We hoped that this program would result in historical information about West Toledo, that we could share, and… it did!

How the Library Helped Me Find My Family

For most of my life, I've know little about my "Grandma Bootsie," whom I lost too soon. I'd always wanted to learn more about this woman so many said I reminded them of, and her Irish family. The Library finally helped me find what I'd been searching for!

Get to Know Glass City

Ever heard of the Toledo War? Find out how a border dispute between Ohio and Michigan gave the buckeye state its fourth largest city and spawned the fiercest rivalry in college sports. Want to know how the Glass City got its name?