Bangor Maine Family History Center

The Bangor Family History Center serves Bangor, Maine, and surrounding areas, and is open to the public with no admission charge.

Center Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * Location on Map

Address:


 * 639 Grandview Ave Bangor ME 04401-3257 United States.
 * The Family History Center is located on the right side in the back wing of the building.
 * The words Family History Center are posted above the wing where the entrance is located.
 * There is a buzzer labeled FHC to the left of the door.
 * Please ring the buzzer for access.


 * Language:English

Phone:


 * 1-207-942-7677, press 2 for the Family History Center when prompted

E-mail:


 * ME_Bangor@ldsmail.net

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday:10:00am-2:00pm and 6:00pm-8:00pm
 * Wednesday:10:00am-2:00pm and 6:00pm-8:00pm
 * Thursday:10:00am-2:00pm and 6:00pm-8:00pm
 * Saturday:10:00am-2:00pm

Holiday Schedule:

Closed snow-days (at least when Bangor schools are closed), holidays and holiday weekends, General Conference weekends (1st Saturday in April and October), Saturday, December 6 for the Creche Exhibit/Musical Program, and Saturday, December 20 through Saturday, January 3 for the Christmas and New Year Holidays.

Class Schedule

 * Wednesday, January 21, 2014 - 6 pm - Monthly Meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society - Organizing Your Genealogical Research with Phil Getchell - Phil will present his method for organizing and filing. Any member that has a system they would like to share are encouraged to bring a sampling and present it to the group as well. Help brainstorm the best filing system.
 * Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 6 pm - Monthly meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society - The Why and How of Online Newspaper Research with Dale Mower – Dale will talk about the benefits of how newspapers can add a little meat to your family history. Historical newspapers are being digitized and added online every day – just how do you figure out where they are?
 * Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 6 pm - Monthly meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogical Society - Nina Brawn - Irish Genealogy.
 * Saturday, April 25, 2015 - 9 am - 3 pm - 2015 Bangor Family History Fair featuring video presentations from the RootsTech Conference held February 11-14, 2015 in Salt Lake City plus live classes. During the first hour, we will hear James Shupe play his fiddle and tell ancestor stories. His presentation in April, 2014, was very enjoyable and we expect it will be in April, 2015, as well. This event will be free (as are all our events); however, you will need to provide your own lunch and snacks. Please register at www.lds.org/topics/family-history/host-a-family-history-fair/signup so that we will know how many to expect and so that we can email the class schedule to you.


 * Check out the online FamilySearch Research Courses at https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html.


 * Please email suggestions/requests for specific classes in Bangor.

Staff Training Meetings

 * One on one as requested by the Staff Member.

Collections

 * FamilySearch Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the FamilySearch Catalog.
 * Books, over 1,430 microfilms, and over 580 fiche sets, primarily for Maine and other New England states. A smattering of books regarding other states. Some Canadian, British, and German films and books. 

Databases and Software

 * FHC Portal This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the center to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Currently, these websites include 19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archive, Access Newspaper Archive, Alexander Street Press - The American Civil War, Ancestry.com, ArkivDigital Online, Find My Past, Fold3 (formerly Footnote), Legacy Stories, Paper Trail, and World Vital Records.

Hardware and Equipment

 * 7 computers and 3 printers (one of the printers can copy to a pdf or jpg file)
 * 4 microfilm readers, equipped with monopods for mounting a digital camera to take pictures of film images (Note: Patrons may use their own camera or the FHC camera)
 * 1 digital camera and Kingston card reader to transfer images (Note: Patrons should bring a USB or thumb drive to receive the images)
 * 4 microfiche readers 

Staff Research Specialties
(Include sections for any other services your center provides. Add additional sections for those services. See the Mesa and Logan FHC pages for examples.)

Resources in the Local Area

 * Bangor Public Library: http://www.bpl.lib.me.us/


 * Fogler Library, University of Maine, Orono: http://library.umaine.edu/


 * Penobscot Maritime Museum, Searsport: http://www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org/


 * Maine State Archives, Augusta: http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/


 * Maine State Library, Augusta: http://www.maine.gov/msl/


 * Maine State Museum, Augusta: http://mainestatemuseum.org/

Links

 * Online Film Ordering: https://www.familysearch.org/films/


 * Online Catalog for the University of Maine System Libraries, Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library, and Maine State Archives is called URSUS, which is available at http://130.111.64.3/


 * FamilySearch Research Wiki article for Maine: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Maine

Volunteer at the Center

 * We appreciate everyone who comes to help.


 * Please email (see above for our email address) if you are interested in helping.

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