About the Historical Society of Washington County
The Historical Society of Washington County, Virginia, was founded in 1936 and operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit from a research library at 341 West Main Street in downtown Abingdon, the county seat. Washington County sits in the far southwest corner of the state, and the society's collecting reaches well beyond the county line into the surrounding counties of Southwest Virginia.
The library is staffed by volunteers, which is why the society asks visitors to call ahead, and it is unusually deep for a county organization: more than 7,000 books, roughly 200,000 digital images, and over one million indexed records. Scanning and indexing have been funded in part by a grant from Virginia Humanities. Beyond the reading room, the society records first-person accounts through its Veteran Video Interview Project, leads evening cemetery tours, offers help to families planning reunions, and publishes a quarterly newsletter for members along with a biannual Bulletin of researched articles on county and regional history.
Collections and Research Services
Much of the collection can be searched from home through four databases on the society's website: a Library Index to the book and card-catalog holdings, a Digitized Image Collection of photographs, illustrations, maps, and documents, a Digitized Newspaper Collection, and a Deeds/Grants Database for land records. What is not online is the vertical-file collection, hard-copy folders arranged by surname; an index of those surnames is posted as a PDF, but the folders themselves must be read in the library. Digital copies of images can be ordered through an online form for personal or approved commercial use.
If you cannot travel to Abingdon, the society accepts research requests. Volunteers work from original records, newspapers, photographs, maps, and family files to answer questions about ancestors or about a specific house, church, business, or event, and return written findings. The website also keeps a cemetery-information page and a directory of regional historical organizations, preservation resources, and African American genealogy sources. Fees for research requests and copies are not posted online, so ask when you submit. For background on what to look for first, see our guides to free family-history research and finding where someone is buried.
Planning Your Visit
The library at 341 West Main Street, Abingdon, VA 24210, is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; it is closed Sunday, Monday, federal holidays, and during severe winter weather. Call (276) 623-8337 or email office@hswcv.org before a trip to confirm a volunteer will be on duty. Mail goes to P.O. Box 484, Abingdon, VA 24212-0484. Membership, which includes the newsletter and Bulletin, can be purchased online, by mail, or by phone. Current programs and research tools are at hswcv.org. For statewide context, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond is also profiled on this site.
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