Are public libraries still a good source for researching detecting sites?

[Juice in the hole]

I'm speaking about research for metal detecting purposes here. Are they important, or has the advent of the internet and all the info it brings directly into your home rendered the public library obsolete?

I've found some valuable historic info at the public library about my family, our farm, events that took place on our farm and much more. The thing is, I can access all that through the internet today, while in the early 90's none of that information was online.

So in the last 5 years or so, have you found something in the public library that wasn't available online and do you ever bother going to the library any longer?

 

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[releventchair]

To me each library is different. I like to start at local history then work up towards state history.
IF every thing is available online the right keywords need imputed to search effectively. Title ideas have occurred by browsing public library.
I have read parts of topics not found online, but do not always look for them online after.
One library has a plaque honoring a detectorist who donated funds from his hunts. Pretty cool and though I have not searched for that online ,going to that library revealed it, and thoughts on the matter.
First(?) hand accounts and reports from community societies catch my eye.

 

[Slingshot]

Libraries still hold unique information you will not locate online, you just have to physically go and visit one and bang around in there for awhile and you will bump into some interesting tidbits that can lead to nice finds in the field. Cheers!!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

It's entirely possible that a library has something on local history, that had never made it onto the internet digital form. Eg.: file cabinets with old clippings, and/or local rags or publications that some old-timer in your area wrote up back in the 1950s (about recollections from when he was a kid at the turn-of-century).

I've stumbled on to some research goodies from other sources besides the net. And then just for kicks & giggles, gone and done a variety key-word google searches for any hint of the same info. The results were nothing. Nothing that would have led me in that direction.

So to answer your question, there are things that are obscure enough , and/or local enough, that it never made it out of some dry dusty file cabinet of a historical society archive, or a library file cabinet collection, or perhaps a locally done "centential" pamphlet or book that only sold a few hundred copies back in 1974, yet was never put in digital form on the web, etc....

 

[ivan salis]

there is old not on the net information in the library ... info that can give you a leg up over others -- common info everyone can find --often it is the rare or uncommon info that leads to virgin new sites that can produce great finds.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Yup. Libraries have a wealth of local information that will never make it to the"Net".
I've found great maps there.
Peace ✌

 

[austin]

You are in NC. Visit NC St. or UNC and go to "special collections or rare book area". There should be a lot of unpublished treasure material there. Ask for help, the librarians are specialists and know the inventory. Journals, out of print books, rare pics, maps-all are available...

 

[Juice in the hole]

Thanks everyone for commenting. After posting my question, I decided to head to the local library. It was filled with kids playing rap music so loud through their head phones that it disturbed me. Then there was the drunk (I'm gonna assume here) man yelling at his elderly mother. What a wonderful trip...lol.

I did locate some microfiche copies of 1840's newspapers as well as early 1800's store ledgers. The newspapers listed plantations up for auctions after the master died. No address of course, just directions like "one mile down this road and a quarter mile beyond the esteemed B. Paxton Esquire's home". I suppose I could venture out and find the current owners. So that's something. The store ledgers were interesting. Lot's of brandy and rum being purchased here in the Carolinas around 1816. I noticed in some of the later (1870's) papers that a temperance movement was being started by the Methodists.

 

[ivan salis]

booze was popular as was moonshine making * many wealthy families made their fortune by less than legal means --and often they did not put their money into banks but hid it upon their farms * often times the old man of the family handled all the money and often no one knew exactly where the old man hid the money --it was how he kept a fiscal "grip" upon his kids making them work upon the family farm --with the promise that one day it would be theirs and that if they left the farm --it would be as penniless persons---that's also why the law forced parents to send their children to school --to give the children a education so that they did have some choice on the matter to stay on the farm or not --many parents kept their children "uneducated" on purpose to enslave them upon the farm for life --as dumb help..

 

[releventchair]

Cars went through the ice between Canada and Detroit Mi. on occasion running booze during prohibition.. Other ways were used to smuggle also involving river bank activity..
Coins and caches sure to follow. Maybe some shine activity led to a bank deposit but that would be a type of advertisement. Better to keep it where you can see it or it's location regular and not need to explain it's source. Card playin money too.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Are libraries still good sources?

Do you think anyone has dropped any appreciable silver after 1964?

 

[Juice in the hole]

Are libraries still good sources?

Do you think anyone has dropped any appreciable silver after 1964?

Since the gov't stopped minting silver coins after 1964, I guess my answer is no. I'm not sure I get the question as it pertains to library research vs internet research.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Are libraries still good sources?

Do you think anyone has dropped any appreciable silver after 1964?

Since the gov't stopped minting silver coins after 1964, I guess my answer is no. I'm not sure I get the question as it pertains to library research vs internet research.

I'm lost too. Libraries still have a lot of info that's not available on the internet.

 

[kayakpat]

the state has some good librarys, specficily for coal mines from 1700's to 1960's I have been finding whole long closed mines that had company one room homes for the workers that roads and all signs have disapeared except small stone foundations in the undergrowth. Villages like blackstone that very little traces still exist. I havent found any real items of value yet, but I am looking for the office/company store where payroll was kept. There are also 1700's old iron furnaces where all our industry came from. Many of these are all along miles of river where in the old days they had the erie canal system transfering goods that were covered over in favor of railroads in 1850. Awesome information, All revolving around Black Gold coal and iron deposits. The local librarys are too small to carry this kind of detail.

 

[duggap]

I haven't read every post so I may be duplicating what has already been said, but one of my favorite places is college and universities libraries. Particularly if they will permit you access to their rare manuscript section. It is usually university libraries that hold personal papers of local famous people. That's the kind of stuff you don't often find on line.

 

[wainzoid]

It seems like the stuff in my local library is endless. I know there is more stuff there than I have spare time for. The best stuff you can't borrow, but must look at or read there. I buy all the local history books I can find, which suprisingly, is quite alot.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Libraries are still a good resource for the hobby. If you notice many of the users are older Americans, these people are a wealth of information. I just tell them what I'm doing and why saving history is important and usually they are very helpful.

 

[Ahab8]

I've found tons in libraries that you can't find online, including certain old local maps. There's also several great old books that always seem to contain one little obscure tid bit that can't be found with a google search

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm lost too. Libraries still have a lot of info that's not available on the internet.

My point is libraries are MUCH BETTER as a resource because they contain the old maps and references (newspapers for circus, fair, airshows, etc.) Look for what was happening when silver was in circulation.

Silver stopped being minted in 1964, so look for local events and maps from before then. Best place is a local library or historical society.

 

[Jason in Enid]

My point is libraries are MUCH BETTER as a resource because they contain the old maps and references (newspapers for circus, fair, airshows, etc.) Look for what was happening when silver was in circulation.

Silver stopped being minted in 1964, so look for local events and maps from before then. Best place is a local library or historical society.

Oh, I get it now. That's what I spent the bulk of my time researching was the church socials, highschool hangouts and 4th of July celebrations. Especially looking back at turn of the century time frame.