Research Visits
Grant County Research Center opened in the fall of 2019.
Our archives are located at the 129 E Maple St in Lancaster, WI. Visitors are welcome to view the vast collections held by the Grant County Genealogical Society, a member-owned organization. That collection includes published and unpublished family histories, school year books, land atlases, census records, cemetery records, and so much more. While we do not charge an entrance fee to non-members, please plan to leave a donation to defray the costs of providing this community service.
In addition, the Research Center holds the archival records of Grant County Historical Society. This collection includes photographs, manuscript materials such as letters, diaries, business papers, ledger books, school records, and much more. To view these one-of-a-kind materials, please call or email the Society to make a date to meet with one of our collections assistance. Call 608 723-4925 or email historicalsociety@tds.net We do not charge an entrance fee to view these materials, but researchers who are not Society members are asked to make a donation to support this community service.
We are happy to do research for you and email photo or document scans for a charge. Please let us know what you need and we will help you. Email Grant Co Genealogical Society President, Karen Reese, at dkreese@tds.net
Grant County Historical Society Collections Finding Aid (November 2021)
We will post updated Finding Aids as we continue to enter our Archives in our database.
The archival materials have been catalogued into a database for easier retrieval.
You can see the collections headings here.
To set up a research appointment or learn more about the scope of our collections, please contact us at historicalsociety @ tds.net or call 608 723-4925.
Be sure to also check our online resources and online photos.
Nearby Resources
Besides our own collections, you may also wish to research Grant County history at one of our neighboring institutions:
- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Southwest Room includes a Wisconsin Historical Society Area Research Center (ARC) and extensive collections from Grant, Crawford, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, and Richland counties.
- The Southwest Wisconsin Library System includes public libraries throughout Grant and neighboring counties, many of which have local history collections such as newspaper archives.
- The Grant County Genealogical Society has extensive resources for family history.
- The Home Advisor has great information when researching a home in the area and its history.
- For area cemetery information, Lancaster researcher Dave Peterson has found and inventoried many small hard-to-find cemeteries. He uploads all his information and photographs to https://www.findagrave.com/
- Nearby County info
- Richland Center Historical Society https://richlandcountyhistoricalsociety.weebly.com/
