This special collection houses the Pennsylvania Archives; volumes of Pennsylvania history; county histories; Hanover area materials; genealogical tools such as church and cemetery records, ships' passenger lists, etc.; family histories; a vertical file of ephemeral materials including everything from church histories to broadsides to concert programs as well as family histories which are too small physically to fit on the regular shelves; a collection of upwards of 2,000 old photographs organized by broad subject categories for browsing and indexed for access to specific subject material: school yearbooks; Hanover directories covering most of the century; and several old scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings of Hanover area veterans. Marriage indices from 1818-1820, 1824-1826, 1828-1900 and 1915-1942 from various Hanover newspapers and obituary indexes for the same periods plus 1901-1915, 1943-1967 and 1986-1989 are important to the collection. Also, old deeds, some belonging to the Library and some to the Hanover Area Historical Society, have been preserved in mylar and cataloged. Some Maryland church, cemetery and census records are included in the collection since Hanover is so close to the Mason-Dixon line and was once claimed by Maryland. Hundreds of items have been added to the Pennsylvania Room in recent years.  

All of the items in the Pennsylvania Room collection
can be found in the library's online catalog.

Of special interest is the addition of photocopied church registers of many of the area's Catholic churches. While not indexed, they nevertheless provide researchers with information not readily accessible to the general public. Two other churches, St. Bartholomew's Union Church and St. Mark's Lutheran, have allowed copies to be made of their registers to be added to the collection. While no item may be taken from the library, the collection may be used whenever the library is open. There is no charge for using the room, which is open to the public when a volunteer is on duty. A schedule of volunteers is available every month.

The Pennsylvania Room operates through volunteers. As with most such repositories of regional records, a charge is levied for both staff research and photocopy requests. Our copy charge per page is $ .50 from books and $1.00 from microfilm. If research is required, the charge is $20.00 per hour prorated. All proceeds are used to purchase materials for the Pennsylvania Room's collection of local histories and genealogies.

Requests for photocopies or research must include a postal return address and all replies will be by mail. The material generated is frequently degraded by fax to the point of illegibility and is not in a form for an email reply. Requests must state that you agree to pay research and photocopying charges. You may set any limit you choose to the amount.