When did the Covid-19 pandemic end in Melrose? We will all have different answers to that question, but for those of us who love musty old books and microfilm, the answer was Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, for that was the day when the Melrose Public Library fully reopened, including the Local History and Genealogy Room, which had been closed since March of 2020.
As we have shown in previous installments of our sources series, there are plentiful sources for researching your home online, but your search may eventually bring you to the library, where there are sources, some of them unique, that you cannot find online. Anyone with a public library card can use the room. You just need to exchange your license for the key at the front desk.
Once upstairs, you may find the experience a bit disorienting. You should take some time to orient yourself to the particular organization of the room and explore the shelves. If you are looking for something in particular, do not hesitate to ask a reference librarian; better yet, E-mail them at melfref@noblenet.org with questions before you arrive, so that they can tell you whether they have what you are looking for.
Above all else, avoid the temptation of removing anything from the room. There is nothing of monetary value here, but there are unique manuscripts that have never been scanned or transcribed. If they disappeared, the knowledge they record would be lost forever.
Rejoice! The library has reopened. Now use its resources responsibly.
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