Margaret Martin O’Bryant Research Library
Our Research Library is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Patrons are welcome to make an appointment in advance to view specific items, but appointments are not required.
To make an appointment, please email us directly at [email protected] with as much detail as possible related to your research. We can then pull related library materials ahead of your visit.
Due to our small staff size we cannot conduct research on behalf of patrons. In addition to this, we do not accept reference questions over the telephone. All research-related questions should be submitted to us through our research question form.
Please give us one to two weeks to respond to research questions!
Our Collections
Our collections will soon be available for discovering. Please be patient as we compile our catalogs.
If you’d like to volunteer and help with our catalog projects, please contact us at [email protected].
Vertical Files
Our Vertical Files cabinets contain newspaper clippings, researchers’ notes, family trees, and other miscellaneous information on a variety of area families and topics. Click on each category to access the index.
(Partial Index)
Manuscript and Pamphlet Collection
Discover our manuscript and pamphlet collection with our new online catalog.
New manuscript collections are added weekly!
Magazine of Albemarle Charlottesville History
The Magazine of Albemarle Charlottesville History, published annually by the Historical Society, features articles on various topics related to Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Central Virginia.
Coming Soon - Albemarle and Charlottesville Maps
Other Local Resources
Newspapers
Charlottesville Daily Progress Digitized 1892-1964 (University of Virginia)
Virginia Chronicle (Library of Virginia) – Virginia newspapers
Chronicling America (Library of Congress) – nationwide newspapers
Central Virginia Genealogical Association
The Central Virginia Genealogical Association (CVGA) was formed in July 1977, to encourage, foster, and organize genealogical research, teaching, publishing, education, and recording.
The Central Virginia Heritage is CVGA’s quarterly publication. We have the following issues in the ACHS collection:
Volume 1 – Volume 38
Albemarle County in Virginia by Rev. Edgar Woods
Rev. Edgar Woods’ 1901 classic, Albemarle County in Virginia, has been digitized (text searchable too!) and is available at archive.org.
Virginia Cavalcade
Virginia Cavalcade was a quarterly Virginia history and culture journal published by the Library of Virginia from 1951 to 2002. Want to know what articles were published about Albemarle County? You can search the table of contents of every issue! Then come visit us at the Historical Society – we have every issue published in our library.
