We are working every day to bring a wide variety of material from the Forest Parke Library & Archives collections to the web. Give it a try here. You can share what you find with friends and family or on social media, send us feedback, and request materials easily within the system.
Find Local History's digitized yearbooks for Ingham County Schools more easily with this handy Yearbooks shortcut. All yearbooks we have in our library system's holdings, including those that were loaned to us for scanning, are available online.
Sign up for your library card online! A CADL card is not required to use our online collections. But you will find that some of our Local History books, in addition to many other history-related titles not in Local History Online, are available in full text through our services like Overdrive.
Tips for Searching the Collections
Click one of the search types below to go to CADL's Local History Online and view thousands of historical photographs, documents, and collection descriptions.
Keyword Search
The Keyword Search button allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields. OR is the default for multiple terms, but you can also use AND, or put your search in quotations to look for a specific phrase. Wildcard (*) searches are also allowed, and searching is not case-sensitive. Whenever possible, we do not abbreviate, so searching for "North Chestnut Street" is more likely to give you results than "N. Chestnut St."
Advanced Search
The Advanced Search button can help you be more specific with your search. You can search for a word or phrase within a particular search category or use multiple categories to further narrow down your search results. It is especially useful for looking for items in a multi-level collection, by way of the Catalog Number (our record numbering system). Phrase searching with quotes and use of wildcards (*) are also available in Advanced Search.
Random Images
The Random Images button is a great way to just browse the collection. Each Random Images page displays a random assortment of images from the records online. If something piques your interest, click the thumbnail to view a larger version of the image. Click "View More Images" at the bottom right to generate a new page of images.
In some web browsers, you will find a small popup on the left side of your screen for five social media sites you can automatically share an item to. If you are logged in to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest in another browser window, just click the appropriate icon and the Archive record you are viewing will be shared instantly. If you are viewing on a mobile device, the popup will include a yellow icon that allows you to send the record by SMS as well.
Sharing by Email
If you find an item you are interested in, you can share it with someone or send it to yourself by using the link in an Archive record at the upper right titled Email to a Friend. Just complete the form that pops up and click Send, and the recipient will get a message with a link to that item shortly.
Requesting an Image
Click on a thumbnail in an Archive record to access the large view for any image in Local History Online. You will notice in the popup window at the bottom right a link to Request Image. Complete the form with your contact information and how you plan to reuse the image, and Local History staff will reply shortly.
Send Feedback to the Library
In any Archive record, at the upper right there is a link to Send Us Feedback. Click it and complete the popup that appears. We are always happy to receive corrections and additions, requests for further detail, requests for more material like what you've found in the system, or even just general thoughts and suggestions.
Understanding Collection Arrangement in Local History Online
We use a numbering system and an archival record hierarchy system for collections at the Forest Parke Library and Archives that is explained in the documents below. These conventions are represented in Local History Online, but due to some limitations in the database, it can be somewhat confusing navigating the collections.
Essentially a top-level collection record will then have sub-groups. Series and Item are the two we most commonly use. A sub-group will have the same Catalog Number (collection ID) plus an extension depending on where it is in the hierarchy. A top-level record will always have a collection ID that looks like 2015-01-01. You can perform a wildcard search in either the Keyword or Advanced Search screen using 2015-01-001* to locate any sub-group records or items that relate to the top-level collection record. The Child Records field links to anything in the next level down in the hierarchy, so for example, a Collection Record may have Series linked in its Child Records field, or just Items if no Series exist in the collection.
Forest Parke Library & Archives is on Facebook (@CADL Local History), Twitter (@CADL_LocalHist), and Instagram (@cadl.localhistory). We also have a Local History video playlist on the CADL YouTube channel. Follow us!
Contact Us
For local history inquiries contact the Forest Parke Library & Archives at:
