Trove of historical information that had been kept in Tarentum now at Harrison library

A treasure trove of local history is available at the Community Library of Allegheny Valley in Harrison.

The library’s local history department had been located in the Tarentum branch on Lock Street, but that branch closed in late February.

Its resources were being moved to the Harrison library and set up where books for sale had been displayed when the covid-19 shutdown started, leaving it an unfinished mess, library director Kathy Firestone said.

“Nobody could do anything back there,” she said. “It didn’t matter — we couldn’t have anyone in.”

The library has reopened, but access to it remains limited. Appointments are required to browse or use computers, and patrons are limited to an hour. Hours have been reduced, with the library now open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

“We want to keep the public safe,” Firestone said. “I haven’t had one complaint.”

The local history department is open from noon to 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Appointments are required, with only one person permitted at a time for up to one hour.

Maintaining the local history department was a priority when the Tarentum branch closed, Firestone said.

“We didn’t want to lose the local history. We have a wealth of material back there,” she said.

Kathy Bollinger runs the local history section, and moved with it from Tarentum to Harrison.

“I don’t think it matters where it is,” she said. “It’s almost like it was in Tarentum.”

Some sacrifices were made to fit in the smaller space — there’s one computer instead of three, and one microfilm reader instead of two. But everything else is there, Bollinger said.

The local history department’s resources include more than 1,400 books with an emphasis on the local area, nearly 1,200 rolls of newspaper microfilm and a variety of genealogy resources.

Bollinger said people from out of state often contact her for help doing research on their families. Genealogy resources include access to Ancestry, church histories and records, city directories, county and family histories, funeral home and cemetery records, obituaries and files of surnames.

“If you want to do research, this is the place to come,” she said.

School yearbooks are the most used, she said. Among the more interesting books is a historical survey of buildings in Tarentum by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation from 1980.

To make an appointment to visit the local history department at the Community Library of Allegheny Valley in Harrison, call 724-226-3491 or visit its appointment website.

The library serves Tarentum, Brackenridge, Harrison, Fawn, East Deer and Frazer.