History & Geography Main Library Louis Stokes Wing, 6th Floor 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, OH 44114 216.623.2864 History@cpl.org

The collections of the History and Geography Department document the political and social history of the world. Holdings range from general overviews through standard and classic works including significant primary research materials.

The Department collects books, serials, maps and pamphlets to meet the varying needs of the general reader, the student and the researcher.

The History and Geography Department Areas of Concentration:

American History: Covers all periods from colonization to the present, including material on foreign relations, ethnic groups, African American history, presidential administrations, individual states and the general cultural life of the nation. Strongest collections are on Northeast Ohio and Cleveland History, African American history, the Civil War, and Native Americans.

European History: A strong collection in British history, the British Monarchy, along with concentrations on the history of France, Germany and Russia.

Genealogy: The collection includes many materials useful for genealogical research. In general the focus is on English genealogy, with a significant collection of materials on European heraldry.

Geography: General descriptions of the cultural, physical, political, and social characteristics of countries throughout the world.

Local History: The collection includes a large selection of materials on the history of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Northeast Ohio, and Ohio. Included are city directories, histories of Cleveland covering a wide range of topics and events, and histories of Cleveland neighborhoods and ethnic communities.

Travel: The holdings on travel include first-hand travel accounts from Marco Polo to Raymond O'Hanlon and Bill Tyson. Travelers will find guidebooks from most major publishers covering all of the United States and many countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and all of the Americas.

The Department's Photograph Collection includes more than 1.2 million photographs of notable 20th century people, places and events, in addition to a collection of more than 80,000 photographs of Cleveland dating to the 1800s.

The Department's Map Collection is worldwide in scope and houses more than 161,000 maps and 6,000 atlases, including an excellent collection of Cleveland Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and Hopkins Plat Books.

History and Geography covers Library of Congress classifications C, D, E, F, G: general biography, genealogy, archaeology, coins, flags, history, names and travel.