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.