LDS films available at DPL 

The Denver Public Library has been borrowing film from Salt Lake Latter Day Saints Family HIstory Library for over 15 years. The cost is currently $5.50 a film plus renewal.

As of this summer DPL offers indefinite loans and borrow microfiche. 

Currently, DPL is ordering for the Colorado Church records.  New Mexico films will be ordered in groups until they have all been ordered!
 
OLTHLRC is currently working with DPL to determine additional films that would best serve our researchers. 

 If you have suggestions, please email them to el.farolito@yahoo.com or contact a board member.

NEW MATERIAL BEING ADDED TO DPL's HISPANIC GENEALOGY COLLECTION 

The DPL is currently augmenting their collection by purchasing the complete collection of microfilm of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and purchasing numerous extractions of records of baptism.  Expect to find more of these important resources available at the Western History and Genealogy Department over the course of the next year.

The new materials will be compiled and published in El Farolito and will also be available on the website of the Olibama López Tushar Hispanic Legacy Center (OLTHLRC) to give readers a good sense of what can be accessed while conducting research at the DPL.

LOCATION AND PARKING AT DPL

The Central location of the DPL is at 10 W 14^th Ave at Broadway. It is recommended that you park in the Cultural Complex Parking garage just south of the library with the entrance to the garage on 12^th Ave just west of Broadway. It is a convenient and safe location, and a quick walk to the library.

 The parking rates are reasonable:

Cultural Complex Parking Garage Rates:

Genealogy Research at the Denver Public Library’s
Western History and Genealogy Department 

The Internet has fast become the first place where people begin their genealogical research once they have compiled some information about their immediate family. Not only does the Internet allow individuals to make contact with people who share a common ancestry, more and more it houses genealogical information in the form of ancestral pedigrees and family genealogical compilations. Although the Internet is undoubtedly a valuable resource, it is not a substitute for conducting one’s own genealogical research.

For people with family and ancestral roots in New Mexico , there are three places that are best for conducting historical and genealogical research:

1      New Mexico Records Center and Archives ( Santa Fe , NM );
2     Special Collections/Genealogy Library of the Albuquerque Public Library; and
3     Western History and Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library (central location).
 

For those people who live within driving distance of Denver , the Denver Public Library is an important research facility that continues to enhance its collection for conducting New Mexico and southern Colorado genealogical research. In fact, a considerable number of research books and microfilm are in the process of being added to the collection of the Western History and Genealogy Department. Also, beginners as well as more advanced researchers can receive assistance at the Denver Public Library (DPL) every third Saturday of the month from knowledgeable individuals that are dedicated to fostering genealogical research.

When I first made use of the DPL genealogical collection in 1993, I was please to find that the library housed several of the key resources needed for conducting New Mexico genealogy research. Among these key holdings are:

1.   records of baptism, marriage, confirmation and burial for many New Mexico communities from the 1690s to the 1950s;
2.   extractions of the New Mexico census records of the colonial and Mexican era’s; the U.S. federal census records from 1850 to 1930;
3.   Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I and II, including the under utilized land grant records;
4.    Mexican Archives of New Mexico ;
5.    Territorial Archives of New Mexico ; and
6.    New Mexico pre-nuptial investigations extracted by Fray Angélico Chávez under the title “New Mexico Roots, Ltd” (in 11 volumes) as well as the microfilm of the original records consulted by Chávez.

 These six resources are at the core of conducting New Mexico genealogical research.

In addition, over the course of the past fifteen years, the number of published extractions of records of baptism and marriage for churches of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado has increased significantly and are proving to be invaluable research aids in uncovering genealogical information about our ancestors and in locating original documents to be consulted.   Many of these are available at DPL as well.

The DPL houses copies of valuable primary documents for researching Hispanic genealogy and family history for people with roots in southern Colorado, New Mexico and northern Mexico. The information in these records offer details about the lives and history of ancestors and help us to understand family and social relationships and cultural aspects of the past. Acquiring a photocopy of an original record related to an ancestor is not only exciting, it also important for documenting your family genealogy rather than relaying solely on what is posted on the Internet or published in a book or journal.

One very important source of family history is the collection of  documents known as the Spanish Archives of New Mexico. Keep in mind that if you do not read Spanish, there are English translations of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, available on microfilm at the DPL. 

The material from the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe will expand the current collection of church records for northern New Mexico.

excerpt of article written by José Antonio Esquibel as published in the Fall 2007 issue of El Farolito