Local History Collection

Welcome to the Local History Collection

The Local History collection at Way Library is a repository for a variety of materials unique to the history of Perrysburg and the surrounding area. Below is a list of sources available for local history subjects as well as genealogy research.

Collection Items Include:

Bend of the River Magazine
Family Histories
Historic Photographs of Local People and Places
House History Files
Local Cemetery Records
Local Church Records
Local History Obituary File
Local History Pamphlet File
Local Telephone Directories
Maps and Atlases
National Register of Historic Places
Northwest Ohio Quarterly Magazine
Newspaper File on Local Topics from Area Newspapers
Ohio Cues Magazine
Ohio History Magazine
Perrysburg High School Yearbooks
U.S. Presidents Special Book Collection

Electronic Local History or Genealogy Sources:

These electronic sites can be accessed through the front page of Way Library’s web site under the heading Local History. Inside this heading is a tab called Online Resources. Click on this tab and it will take you to these electronic sites.

These electronic sites can be accessed through the Way Library Catalog:

Local Obituaries (From 1993 to Present)
Bend of the River Magazine Index

Videoconferencing

Front Porch Collection: Local Oral Histories of Current and Past Residents
Library of Congress Veterans History Project: Local Military Service Oral Histories
These titles can be found in the card catalog or browsed in the Local History collection

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Included in the collection:

Newspaper file on local topics from area newspapers
Bend of the River magazine (indexed)
Ohio Cues, Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Ohio History
Family histories
House history files
National Register of Historic Places
Maps and atlases
Pamphlet file
Historic photographs of people and places
Local Church Records
Local Telephone Directories
Perrysburg high school yearbooks

Locally built database that includes:

Digital Photo Collection
Digital Newspaper Collection
Vital statistics: Births, Obituaries, and Marriages from the local newspapers
Newspaper Index: A name and subject index from the Perrysburg papers, starting in 1836
Bend of the River Magazine: name and subject index from 1995 to the present.
Ohio Cues: name and subject index from 1985 to the present (this is the publication of the Maumee Valley Historical Society).

Way Collection: the personal library of Willard V. Way, a citizen who willed the original endowment to the library

Exchange Hotel registers (beginning in 1865)
Front Porch Oral History series, created by the library to preserve the oral histories of many of Perrysburg's current residents.
Library of Congress Veterans History Series, videotapes interviews of area service veterans recounting their experiences in the military.
We are also in the project of developing a Photo Restoration Project. Our online local history project makes available a collection of photographs that have become too fragile for the general public to experience first hand. Placing them online makes them accessible to everyone.