Research at the Hall House
Visitor Information
The Hall House Research Center is the Fenton History Center’s research center, located at 73 Forest Avenue in Jamestown, New York in the historic Hall House, is a fully functioning, handicap accessible reference library that supports historical and genealogical research.
The hours are Monday, Thursday, and Friday by appointment from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.. Masks are encouraged for unvaccinated visitors and appointments are strongly encouraged. Appointments can also be made in advance for Saturdays from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. For additional information, or to make an appointment, please call (716) 664-6256.
Call Ahead / Memberships
Live outside of the area? Visitors from outside of the area are encouraged to call ahead. Providing family names and topics of interest will allow our researchers to pull helpful references from our collection in advance.
Become a Member. Paying an admission fee grants one day’s access to the museum and research center. Individuals who plan to make multiple visits to the Fenton History Center are encouraged to purchase a membership. Click the button to learn more about membershops.
Research Requests
In addition to assisting members and the public in-house, our knowledgeable and friendly staff regularly process Genealogy Requests and Research Requests that are submitted by mail or email. Follow the button below to learn how to file the appropriate inquiry.
Genealogy Support Group
The Fenton Genealogy Support Group serves as a support to both experienced and amateur researchers by acting as an educational offering for our members. Meetings feature invaluable lectures, discussions and are an excellent way to become familiar with the Fenton History Center’s impressive collection of resources.
The Support Group meets the last Wednesday of each month at the Fenton History Center in the historic Hall House building, located at 73 Forest Avenue in Jamestown, New York. Doors open at 6, and the meeting begins at 6:30 with a brief business meeting followed by a program. Program topics and speakers are subject to change.
Click the button below to learn more about resources and events.
Digitized Catalog
With the support of a local grant from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Fenton History Center Library is making its 7000+ volume card catalog available to the world via the Internet. The digitized catalog is being expanded every week. Follow this link to utilize our powerful search tools to browse through our collections to help find items that will be helpful for you and your research. If you locate any item(s) you’d like to use, please make an appointment with our crew of dedicated researchers and genealogists at the Hall House Research Center to come in and view it/them, or alternatively arrange for our professionals to do the research for you. Please call (716)-664-6256, or email researcher@fentonhistorycenter.org for more information!
Fenton Travelers
Fenton Travelers facilitates travel plans for Western New York researchers who are interested in visiting major and regional genealogical repositories. This research based travel group is directly associated with the Fenton History Center.
To learn more about Fenton Travelers, please call (716) 664-6256 Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM or contact Janet Wahlberg by email at wjanet1946@gmail.com.
Interested in genealogical research? Learn more about the Fenton Genealogy Support Group.
Resources at the Fenton
The following is a list of resources in our Hall House Research Center. Please note that this is only a fraction of what we have.
| Item | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ancestry Library Edition | Databases | |
| ArkivDigital | Databases | Swedish database |
| Cemetery Records | Books | Chautauqua County |
| Cemetery Records | Microfilm | |
| Census Records | Books | |
| Chautauqua County Histories | Books | |
| City Directories | Books | Jamestown, Chautauqua |
| Civil War books | Books | |
| Connect Histories | Books | |
| County Supervisor Reports | Books | |
| Family Files | Files | |
| Family Histories/Biographies | Books | |
| Historical Society Publications | Magazines | |
| How-To | Books | |
| Local/Town histories | Books | |
| Maine Histories | Books | |
| Maps | Archives, Books | |
| Massachusetts Histories | Books | |
| Mayflower Families | Books | |
| New England Historical and Genealogical Register | Books | Vol. 1-168 |
| Ohio Histories | Books | |
| School yearbooks | Books | |
| School Yearbooks | Books | Jamestown and surrounding areas |
| Stepping Stones | Newsletters | Warren County, PA |
| Subject Files | Files | |
| Swedish American Genalogy (SAG) | Newsletters | |
| The Nutmegger | Newsletters | Connecticut |
| The Owl | Newsletters | Wing Family |
| Tree Talks | Newsletters | New York |
| Vermont Histories | Books |
