Carnegie Free Library

History:

The Pennsylvania Collection is housed on the second floor of the library in the Zachariah Connell Room, named for the town's founder. The Collection consists of books, periodicals, and microfilm that are concentrated on Fayette County and southwestern Pennsylvania. These books cannot be checked out or removed from the Zacharaiah Connell Room. This room is currently being being run by the Connellsville Historical Society and is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10 am to 2pm. We are attempting to catalog, replace and repair damaged books. Books that are available for searching are listed in our Card Catalog. If a book is listed as No Copies then it is not available. Also Ancestry.com Library edition is available for in library use only and is a gift of the Louis Simons Estate in memory of Devora Leah Simons.

Standard Fayette county histories, including Ellis, Jordan & Hadden, and Nelson are available as well as histories from surrounding counties. Connellsville city directories begin in 1926. Directories from 1904 - 1926 are available on microfilm.

The library has a small collection of family histories and genealogies. Printed material will be found in the Connell Room and some of the family tree/census information can be found on our computers. We are working to digitize these files for online computer access. WIFI access to the Internet is available for those wishing to track name and collect data on the web. We also have Heritage Quest which can be accessed in the library and from home with your library card.

The library is happy to accept donations, including family histories, published or unpublished materials, or anything that would complement our collection.