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Interested in researching your family’s history or property? The Reading Public Library’s Local History Room is available upon request for your research. While some of the publications are digitized and available via the links below, many are only available at the Library. Specific family genealogies may be found by searching the catalog.
The Library also has access to databases and other resources, some of which are available remotely.
With over 1.2 billion records in over 3,000 databases, Ancestry Library Edition is the most comprehensive online source of information for conducting genealogical and local history. In-library access only.
Access Ancestry.com Library Edition
AmericanAncestors.org provides access to 1.4+ billion records spanning the United States, the British Isles, continental Europe, and beyond, including one of the most extensive online collections of early American genealogical records, the largest searchable collection of published genealogical research journals and magazines, and the only online source for records from Boston’s Catholic Archdiocese. In-library access only.
Historical issues of The Reading Daily Times Chronicle and Reading Advocate are available on microfilm for public use. In addition, library staff have access to an obituary database from these two publications dating back to 1974. Please contact the library for more information. Other obituaries and death listings may be found at Legacy.com, and in the Boston Globe archives.
One of the largest, internationally diverse genealogy databases of its kind. It includes historical documents from over 48 countries, historical photos, and other resources that span the past five centuries. Remote access only for Reading residents.
Access My Heritage Library Edition
FamilySearch has amassed billions of birth, marriage, death, census, land and court records from more than 130 countries to help you discover and make family connections. It adds over 300 million free genealogical records and images online yearly from all over the world. This service requires individual account setting up an individual account.
Reading Vital Records: An online version of Reading’s Vital Records to 1850.
Local Genealogy Resources : Annotated list of local repositories
Research Your Home: Quick guide on getting started.
Maps of Reading and Wakefield, MA: Historic maps courtesy of the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library.
The Digital Archives of The Reading Public Library is an on-line database providing access to nearly 150 years of Reading news, sports, and events. Thanks to the generous support of the Reading Public Library Foundation, the Library has over 170 years of newspapers, historical annual town reports, and yearbooks available for searchign in one convenient location. Contents include:
Check out our digitized collections! These local collections are part of NOBLE Digital Heritage and Digital Commonwealth. The digitization of some of these collections was made possible by grants from the Reading Celebration Trust.
Who is the Town of Reading? We are all ages, backgrounds, histories, and perspectives – we all have our own story. In 2019, all of Reading was invited to bring in up to three of your physical or digital photos to be scanned or downloaded to the collection. Participants also had the option to “tell the story” behind the photos on video, as well as receive advice on caring for family photos.
“Our Town, Your Story” is a legacy that will preserve the culture and face of Reading today for those looking back from the future.
In March 2013 teachers and students from the old Highland School returned to the library to share their experiences with us. Check out our 2013 Highland School Celebration playlist on YouTube to see what they had to say! Many of the visitors from this special day brought photographs and other memorabilia from their time at the Highland School. These unique images were scanned and added to the Highland School Celebration photo collection for all to see.
In October 2009 Reading Public Library was the first participant on the North Shore to have a Mass. Memories Roadshow: a state-wide project to document people, places, and events in Massachusetts through family photographs and stories. In 2009 it was an initiative of the Massachusetts Studies Project at UMass Boston, a joint project of the Joseph P. Healey Library and the Graduate College of Education at UMass Boston, and is cosponsored by Mass Humanities. We partnered with the Reading Historical Commission, the Reading Antiquarian Society, RCTV, and English-at-Large, and received a grant from Reading Celebration Trust’s Historical Preservation Fund.
The Reading Public Library owns books about Reading history which have been scanned and made available online through the efforts of the Internet Archive. Internet Archive, a non-profit organization founded in 1996, is building a digital library of books and media. The archive provides free access to materials, mostly published prior to the 1920s, in the public domain and can be used without restrictions.
The following are books that the Reading Public Library owns and are now available digitally. We are pleased to connect our users to searchable editions of these books that were originally published without Table of Contents and/or Index. The ability to search is through Optical Character Recognition which is good, but not infallible. Follow the full text link for the online edition.
Ancient Redding in Massachusetts bay colony; its planting as a Puritan village and sketches of its early settlers from 1639 to 1652, – by Loea Parker Howard, [Boston, Thomas Todd company, printers, 1944]
Church records of the old town of Reading, Mass. and of the First Parish of Reading and South Reading from 1648 to 1846 by First Church of Christ (Reading, Mass.) Reading (Mass.) : [s.n.] , 1934.
Concerning the past by Horace Greeley Wadlin, Reading, Mass. : Graphic Shoppe, 1994.
Early land grants and town bounds of the old Town of Reading, Massachusetts from 1639 to 1802 by J. W. Wightman, [Reading (Mass.) : [s.n.] , 1853?]
First Congregational Church in Reading, 1770-1945 : its history as found in ancient record and present memory by Edith Bancroft, Reading, Mass. : First Congregational Church, 1945.
The five meeting houses and early parsonages of the first parish of Old Reading, now Wakefield, Massachusetts (1937) – by William E. Eaton, Wakefield, Mass. : The Author, 1937.
The beginning of Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts by Loea Parker Howard, [Reading, Mass., Reading chronicle press, inc. ] 1937.
Early homesteads on Washington-High-Grove Street in Reading, Massachusetts by Loea Parker Howard, Concord (Mass.) : Author , 1946.
Genealogical history of the town of Reading, Mass. : including the present towns of Wakefield, Reading, and North Reading, with chronological and historical sketches, from 1639 to 1874. by Lilley Eaton (published in 1874)
Historical address and poem delivered at the bi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of the old town of Reading, May 19, A.D., 1855: with an appendix – Boston : Printed by Samuel N. Dickinson, 1844.
History of the Richardson Light Guard, of Wakefield, Mass. 1901-1926 (1926) – by William E. Eaton; Wakefield, Printed at the Citizen and Banner Office, 1901.
The military record of Reading men in the War of Independence (1934) – by Loea Parker Howard, [Reading (Mass.) , 1934]
Parker Tavern being an account of a most interesting house built by Abraham Bryant in 1694, together with some facts about early owners by Loea Parker Howard, Reading (Mass.) : Reading Antiquarian Society , 1930.
Proceedings of the 250th anniversary of the ancient town of Redding, once including the territory now comprising the towns of Reading, Wakefield, and North Reading : with historical chapters. edited by Chester W. Eaton, Warren E. Eaton ; compiled and arranged by Will Everett Eaton (published in 1896).
Reading men in the early colonial wars, by Loea Parker Howard, Reading, Mass : Printed by the Reading Chronicle Press, [1934]
Reading’s “Old Burial Ground” now in Wakefield, Massachusetts, 1688. by William E. Eaton. (published in 1935)
The story of Reading government, by Victor E. Pitkin, Reading, Mass: Reading Chronicle Press, 1940
Vital records of Reading, Massachusetts, to year 1850 – by Thomas Williams Baldwin (published in 1912).
Historical sketch of the Baptist church in South Reading (1841) – by the South Reading (MA) Baptist Church; Boston, J. Howe, 1841.
History of the First Baptist Church in Wakefield, Mass., 1800-1900 (1901) compiled by N. R. Everts; Malden, Mass. : Printed by Geo. E. Dunbar, 1901.
Inscriptions from the most ancient burial ground in South Reading, 1644-1834 (1938) Wakefield, Mass., 1938.
Malden, Maplewood, Wakefield, Reading, Stoneham, Medford and West Medford : their representative business men and points of interest. (1893) New York : Mercantile Illustrating Co., 1893.