Preparing for your trip to the Marx Room

Many people travel to Easton, PA to do genealogy. There are four main places to do your research and prepare for your trip, whether it be a day trip or a week visit.

The Marx Historical Room at the Easton Area Public Library. Monday - Friday 10-12 & 1-4, Saturday 9-12 & 1-5 

515 Church Street, Easton, PA 18013  610-258-2917 ext. 309

 This room was started by Mr. Henry Marx, former Director of the library from 1902 - 1936. Mr. Marx had a keen interest in local history and genealogy and started a collection very early in the library's history. The Marx Room concentrates on present-day Northampton County, however, we do collect materials in a 30 mile radius surrounding Easton. The WPA projects are an immense gift for researchers. Indexed church records, Marriage & Death Extracts of Newspapers, and Abstracts of Wills are just a few items the room has. Before your visit you may want to look at our on-line indexes. These can be found under Local History at www.eastonpl.org

There you will find indexes to the WPA church records. These are some of the oldest church records we have. 

The Church & Cemeteries indexes are what we have on our Reference shelves. (for the most part these are all present-day Northampton County.)

We also have Obituary Indexes. These are from 1900 to nearly present day. You may want to make a list of obituaries to look up when you get here. Keep in mind the Main Library opens at 8:00 while the Marx Room opens at 10:00 on week days (9:00 on Saturday) This extra 2 hours and the lunch hour gives you time to look up any newspaper articles on microfilm as the film is kept on the Main floor. Bring a flash drive as they can be used on these micro-film readers.

The last indexes we have are newspapers articles. These are broken down into years starting 1799 to 2007. Of course, not every article is indexed, but you may find a treasure.

Check our catalog. We have family genealogies in book and file form. We do have some church and cemeteries books for Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Schuylkill Counties. There are county histories, city directories and much more.

Bring a camera. We allow photos to be taken (no flash) No whole books or files will be allowed to be copied. Pencils only. No pen use allowed.

If not sure, always check to make sure we are open around Holidays or seasonal weather.

The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society  (The Sigal Museum)
342 Northampton St.
Easton, PA 18042

Hours Thursday – Friday:
10am – 2:30pm

Please contact the library at 610-253-1222 or library@northamptonctymuseum.org

Call to make sure these hours and policies are still in effect.

The library here is an excellent companion to the Marx Room. They do have the same WPA Church Records and the Marriage & Death Extracts that the Marx Room has. They may have a family book/file or church records the Marx Room does not have. Most of their catalog is on the Easton Area Public Library's website.

 The Northampton County Courthouse Monday-Friday 8:30 to 4:30  

669 Washington St. Easton, PA 18013 

All courthouse records will be here. Keep in mind the counties that were formed from Northampton County will have the deeds, wills, taxes, etc. up to the dates they were formed. Anything after their formation will be at the respective courthouse. 

• Northampton County - 1752 formed from Bucks County
  
• Lehigh County - 1812
• Monroe County - 1836 
• Carbon County - 1843  

 The Northampton County Archives Monday-Friday 8:30 to 4:30

999 Conroy Pl. Easton, PA 18040
Phone: (610) 829-1220

The Northampton County Archives stores records for over 30 different county offices including 48 different filing systems during various time periods throughout the past 269 years in Northampton County history. The Archives is instrumental in providing record services for both the public and county offices on a daily basis. The Archives Division maintains a comprehensive system of records management through proper storage, retention, and disposition of records in accordance with the Pennsylvania County Records Manual, thereby serving the genealogical needs of citizens from all parts of the United States and foreign countries as well as providing accurate record keeping and insuring that historical information is preserved.