Esther Murdaugh Wilson Memorial Room
601 Court Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704 (map)
757-393-8501, x39 or 757-393-8973 (Main Library Reference)
Hours: 10:00 AM -3:30 or 4:00 PM  Mon. - Sat.

The "Esther Murdaugh Wilson Memorial Room" at the Portsmouth Public Library is devoted to collecting and archiving local history.  (See our collection list below.)  The room serves more than 1,600 people a year from all over the nation, with the greatest number of visitors from Virginia and North Carolina.  The only other similar institution in the area is the Naval Shipyard Museum that houses documents and histories pertaining to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and New England Historical Genealogical Register are all available from within the Esther Murdaugh Wilson Memorial Room. Please call 757-393-8501, x39, or 757-393-8973 ahead of your visit to confirm that a volunteer is available to help you.

USGen Web Archives, Portsmouth, VA - Created by Donna Bluemink, this site has loads of historical information related to Portsmouth such as: cemetery records, church histories, city directories, letters & old documents, military records, obituaries & vital statistics, and photos.  New material continually being added.

  Click Here to Enter from home (Library Bar Code Required)

HeritageQuest Online provides libraries with a unique, growing collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture with over 25,000 books, the entire U.S. Federal Census, PERSI™, and other expanding collections.  Beginning or professional genealogists can now use this powerful online library, with original page images for all documents, from the convenience of their home or at the library.

• Primary documents and maps relating to the City of Portsmouth and Norfolk County

• Original documents, scrapbooks and notebooks from Portsmouth families and organizations

• Books and mircofilm pertaining to Portsmouth and Norfolk County

• Books and materials dedicated to the Civil War

• Portsmouth High School Yearbooks. (Print a list of available books with schools & dates)

• Books by local authors

• Family genealogy related to Portsmouth.

• City & state publications, some of which are the last existing copies.

• Wills, deeds and census records from Portsmouth and Norfolk County on microfilm

• Applications of membership to the Stonewall Chapter of Confederate Veterans (includes meeting minutes.)

Looking for historic photos of Portsmouth?  Take a photographic journey through Olde Towne Portsmouth at
"A History of Olde Towne". You can also view and request copies of archival Portsmouth photos through the Library of Virginia's Photographic Collection.