Library genealogy center moves to Thronateeska

ALBANY, Ga. — The Dougherty County Library and Thronateeska Heritage Center have reached an agreement to allow the museum to temporarily house the library’s celebrated genealogy department.

The center will officially open to the public Jan. 17, Thronateeska Executive Director Tommy Gregors said.

For at least the next nine months, the center will house most of the library system’s genealogical records including land deeds and documents for Dougherty and surrounding counties, historic public documents, civil war records and more.

“With the renovations going on at the library, the genealogy department was going to be all but closed up and packed away,” Gregors said. “So we were able to reach and agreement that keeps it open to the public where it can be used.”

The Central Library branch is set to undergo a $5 million renovation — a project that, while needed, forced library officials to move much of its collection of books, periodicals and computers to another location.

While a temporary downtown library has opened on North Jackson Street next to Subway, the genealogy department will open just down the street at Thronateeska.

“There are some things that just won’t be located here,” Gregors said. “The access to the online databases like Ancestry.com will still have to be done down on Jackson but we have most of the books and physical records here.”

The records will be available to patrons Thursday, Friday and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.