Close to Home: North Carolina
Fall 2026
 
The North Carolina Collection of the Forsyth County Public Library houses a broad range of non-circulating resources to suit your research needs. The room contains a wealth of local, state and
federal information as well as archived issues of newspapers and magazines.  Our knowledgeable
staff will be happy to assist you with your project, whether you are an experienced researcher or just getting started.  For help with questions about North Carolina, local history, or genealogy, please
come visit us on the second floor of the Central Library in Winston-Salem, NC or call 336-703-3070 during regular business hours.

Our 2026 On The Same Page selection is Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. From  Sept. 21-Oct. 18 all Forsyth County Public Library branches will host discussions, events, and activities highlighting the book and its themes. Review the full schedule of On The Same Page events, information about the book, and more on forsythlibrary.org.
 
 
Genealogy Club
Tuesday, Sep. 22 at 10 a.m.
and Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m.
Paddison Memorial Branch
Storytime Room
Please join us for the Genealogy Club. We’ll discuss resources, trade family stories, and get to know each other. Contact Grace May for more information: 336-703-3070 or maygm@forsyth.cc.
Unpuzzling Your Past: The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy. Fourth Edition. Expanded, Updated and Revised
by Emily Anne Croom

From a step-by-step discussion of the records used in genealogical research to the investigation of family legends, this book shines a light on all facets of family history research.  
Unpuzzling Your Past. the Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy. Fourth Edition. Expanded, Updated and Revised (New Exp Updtd & REV) by Emily Anne Croom
Scots and Scotch Irish: Frontier Life in North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky
by Larry J. Hoefling

The descendants of Scotsmen who had colonized the Irish Kingdom of Ulster lived for several generations on Irish soil before heading across the Atlantic into the backwoods of America. Life on the frontier was a test of hardiness, hardship, and endurance, but these frontier families also managed time for horseracing, gambling, and socializing - despite their strict Presbyterian ways. Scots and Scotch Irish offers a view of that time and place, along with thousands of names of those early settlers, drawn from church records, military rolls, deeds, court records, and newspapers of the time, all listed alphabetically in a series of appendices by source.
 
 
 
 
Scots and Scotch Irish: Frontier Life in North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky by Larry J. Hoefling
Ancestoring: Understanding Records, Family, and Ourselves
by Darcie Hind Posz

Ancestoring helps the reader to understand the important role of records and to be objective and unbiased when placing ancestors in their historical context.
Ancestoring: Understanding Records, Family, and Ourselves: Understanding Records, Family, and Ourselves: Understanding Records, Families, and Ourselve by Darcie Hind Posz
 
The Book of Merit: Honorary Badges of Distinction
by Kenneth Wayne Virgil

In 1782 George Washington authorized the Badge of Honorary Distinction to acknowledge enlisted soldiers who had completed three or more years of service in the Revolutionary War. It appeared as a written notation on soldiers' discharge papers, entered by commanding officers at the moment of separation from service. Those handwritten endorsements preserved today at the National Archives form the foundation of this book.
 
The Book of Merit: Honorary Badges of Distinction by Kenneth Wayne Virgil
North Carolina Collection webpage
Digital NC 
Digital Forsyth
North Carolina Maps
Forsyth County Public Library
NextReads Newsletters from FCPL
Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665
forsythlibrary.org