P.K. Smith Research Library

The Smith Research Library’s mission is to help researchers find information about and/or families from Lake County, Ohio. The library houses a variety of source materials, such as:

• Maps, including plat maps, the 1857 Lake County map
• Books on the Western Reserve, Cleveland and Lake County
• Deeds and other property records
• Family genealogies and records
• Photographs of Lake County – its landmarks, businesses, churches, and people
• Diaries, ledgers, and other original documents
• James A. Garfield material and photographs
• Marriage records
• Funeral records
• Cemetery records
• Special indexes and gazetteer information
• Mormon documents
• Ohio Historical Markers
• Community and cultural histories
• Business histories

A separate, but equally important, collection is housed in the Research Library. Over 385 homes have been identified as “Heritage Homes.” This is called the Lake County Historical Society’s Heritage House Register.

Fees

To help with the preservation costs the following usage fees were established by the Board of Directors for all NON-MEMBERS:

• Using the library by an adult - $7.00;
• Using the library by a student - $3.00 (with Library staff’s discretion to waive this fee);
• Having the Library staff do the research there is a $25.00 per hour fee, including the first 30minutes as free and all emails, telephone and walk-in inquiries;
• Copying fees for documents and newspaper clippings begin at $0.25 per page. Photographs and original documents have their own fee structure depending intend use of the materials.

Hours of the Library:

The P.K. Smith Research Library is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

If you have any comments, questions or research inquiries, please contact the Research Library staff at 440-639-2945 or email us at research@lakehistory.org.