Vicki Scearce wrote: > > A friend told me about the McElvery Center in > York,SC.He said it was their archives and history > building.Has anyone heard of it or been there?He also > said that there was a man there who did extensive > researching on surnames and has a collection > there.Does anyone know what he is talking about? The McCelvey Center in York (212 E. Jefferson St.) a multi-purpose facility houses the Historical Center of York County. It is county-supported. The collection your refer to is, no doubt, the Joe Hart Collection. Mr. Hart collected information on numerous families in the county over a number of years (he still lives but is in a nursing home and no longer active in collecting). One of the stipulations he made when turning over his collection which is in notebooks, alphabetically arranged, was that they were not to be duplicated by xeroxing or filming. So, if you go, be prepared to copy by pencil. Some people resent this stipulation but others recognize that Mr. Hart had his own reasons. One of the reasons being that people who really cared about particular information would be grateful for it in any form. The McCelvey also has a number of the older court record books (not deeds, they remain in the courthouse) that the Courthouse has neither room to store or to handle the number of genealogists who would like to explore them. They also have books, maps, microfilms, etc. that one would expect to find in a local history library. The hours are M-F, 10 to 4:00. I hope I got all of this right (I am not an employee but an occasional user). Louise Pettus