The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-02
IF YOU WANT ANCESTORS
ooysuLr THE NEwBERRY LIBRA-
In chIcngo, Where n Stupcndous Gem
 eniogLcnI Index Is Kept
RY,

enioglc lcaI Index is Kept.
 Do you want a grandfather or a
 grandmother? If you do apply at the
 Newberry library in Chicago That in-
 stitution has about one million on it's
 list, and is prepared to supply ancestors
 of almost any conceivable American
 name. In some cases it can furnish
 grandparents with a dozen greats
 preixed.
 Time was when an American who
 wanted to know anything about his
 grandfather was ridiculed as snob or
 an upstart, but times have changed. It
 is quite respectable now to know all about your reat-grandfather and to have traditions about several greats" beyond. There are even Americans who have sufficient pride of family to compile works of genealogy, tracing their race back to it's European sources. In short, it is no longer a subject of re- proach If you keep a record of your family tree in the house, providing the pedigree Is honest and you are not too boastful about any forbear who may have happened to wear a title.
 The Newberry library has the most extensive genealogical index in the world. It Is monumental work in more than four hundred big volumes. The names already indexed and those in hand number between one and two million, and they are mostly the names xf A ,o,.is ri Q with larger collections of books con- taining genealogical matter, but there is no other such index in existence. This great work was devised by John Vance Cheney, the librarian of the Newberry, and he is finding his reward in It's usefulness.
 When MT Cheney took charge of the library there was considerable demand for information about genealogy. If the desired information was outside of the few books on genealogy it was as exasperating to trace as the traditional needle in the haystack. The demand for this knowledge increased, and about four years ago he began the 'herculean task of compiling an index to all the names in books of American genealogy, i town and county histories, and other works containing such records. The | work is now in charge of Miss Mabie | McIlvane and three assistants, and l they have already indexed thousands of books, many of them packed with | names.
 The growing interest in genealogy | has forced Librarian Cheney to set aside a room especially for that depart T4 hi,,tx Gxn hI1J1 It,o6 books of geenealogy, four thousand To- cal histories and five hundred other works, making total of eight thou sand. Mrs. Harriet Taylor is in charge, and here is the busiest department next to the general room. Americans are taking an increasing interest in their family histories, and Librarian Cheney receives many letters asking for infor- nation. Visitors come from long dis tances to make use of the Newberry genealogical treasures. Even Boston sends investigators, although the Bos- ton library is especially rich in local histories It is the Newberry's index that makes it in such demand for the index is so complete one can in mo- ment locate the very page of book a given name. So great IS
 
 the call for such genealogical informa- tion that there are in Chicago five or six persons who make profession of compiling geneaogies to order, and if you want grandfather you can have him run down at about sixty or seventy cents an hour.
 The search for family trees has re- suited in the discovery of many fami- tit1n1 anoaGfnrc l who had crests of coat of arms. This has naturally led to demand for such emblems By consulting Burke's 'Peerage'' and General Armoury, v Matthew's American Armoury and Blue Book Foirbank's Book of yrests' and Fosters Some Feudal :, Coats of Arms" the American who . links he is entitled therein is able to / prepare beautiful illuminated crests q md coats of arms.-Colorado Springs ,