Windowed Outside Wall – West Side

A - Section 1      016 – 929.21   General How To books; Military; Dictionaries; DAR; Genealogical Resources; Germans from Russia newsletter; Huguenots; Family Histories (compilations of individual families – alphabetical by surname)

A - Section 2     929.21   Family Histories (compilations of individual families - alphabetical by surname)

B - Section 3     929.3     Passenger Arrivals; Germans to America; Quakers

B - Section 4     929.3 – 929.343        Pensioners; Passengers & immigrants – British (England, Scotland, Wales, Irish); Republic of Ireland

North Wall

C - Section 5     929.343 – 929.373    Immigrants – German; Scandinavian (Finland, Denmark, Norwegian, Swede); Netherlands; Switzerland; North America - Canada; Barbados; American Indian/Native American

C - Section 6    929.373 – 929.374                 American Indian/Native American; United States; US Northeastern - New England National Genealogy Society Quarterly; New England

C - Section 7    929.374 – 929.3746               Vermont; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; Maine; Rhode Island; Connecticut

C - Section 8    929.3746 – 929.3749              Connecticut; New York; Pennsylvania; New Jersey;

C - Section 9    929.3749 – 929.3757             Delaware; U.S. Southeastern – Maryland; District of Columbia; Virginia, West Virginia; North and South Carolina

C - Section 10    929.3757 – 929.3773          
 South Carolina, Georgia, U.S. South Central -
Tennessee, Kentucky; U.S. North Central – Ohio; Indiana;   

East Wall

D - Section 11    929.3773  – 929.3777            Illinois; Michigan; Wisconsin; Minnesota; Iowa Territory; State of Iowa; Hawkeye Heritage; Iowa – War; Cerro Gordo County – War; Iowa Genealogical Society newsletter; Iowa Cemeteries Listing

D - Section 12    929.3777                               IOWA - In the next several sections, in addition to many books, are shelved locally created tools and notebooks such as obituaries from newspapers, obituary indices, cemetery directories, births, celebrations, etc.  Many of these locally created notebooks have colored dots on the top of the spine to facilitate locating and reshelving these items.  Notebooks that include information beyond Cerro Gordo County will be gathered together on the shelves using AREA as part of the call number.  The collection also incorporates boxed non-book materials.  The call number for these boxes is usually formatted as follows: GEN, BOX, and a 3-letter abbreviation for the county. Within these boxes are loose leaf types of materials such as newsletters, town histories, handouts, pamphlets, compiled records of various kinds, plat books, directories, church histories, materials from Hawkeye Heritage & IGS, school yearbooks and reunion lists, etc.  An Iowa finding aid (three-ring binder) for the Iowa county boxes is shelved at the beginning of the Iowa collection within the Dewey order.  In Section 12 are the Iowa counties (shelved alphabetically by name of county) – A to Cerro Gordo; North Iowa Area Anniversaries; THE GENIE BUG; North Iowa Area Weddings, Engagements, Obituaries;

D - Section 13    929.37                                     Cerro Gordo County - Yearbooks; Church Histories; Plat Maps; Schools; Wills; Clear Lake Cemeteries, obituaries, death indices; Dougherty/Rockwell; Hanford; Mason City cemeteries, obituaries, marriages, birthdays, anniversaries; Who’s Who; Military Obituaries; section ends with Howard County

D - Section 14    929.3777                                   Davis County – Kossuth County

D - Section 15    929.3777                                   Kossuth County marriages, obituaries; section ends with Mitchell County

E - Section 16    929.3777                                   Mitchell County – Worth County

E - Section 17    929.3777 – 977.7232                Worth County – Wright County; Missouri; Kansas; Nebraska; South Dakota; U.S. Western -  New Mexico; Montana; Wyoming; Utah; Nevada; U.S. Pacific Coast - California; Oregon; Washington; Heraldry; U.S. Civil War

F - Section 18    Section is reserved as a processing storage area

Freestanding Shelving

G - Section 18-20 West Window Side   The library’s collection of maps and atlases is designated as the Folio Collection and are stored horizontally on shelves in the free-standing shelving unit.  In addition, on this side of the freestanding shelving, is the Cerro Gordo County original Naturalization Records (1856-1945), and the library’s Oversized Collection. The oversized collection is composed of items too large for regular shelves, but not large enough to be shelved flat within the folio collection; hence these items are shelved upright.   Shelved chronologically, the Genealogy Collection houses a fairly comprehensive hardcopy holding of Mason City City Directories (hard copy 1903-1997).  Some city directories will extend beyond Mason City to include Clear Lake and the surrounding area.    

G - Section 21-23East Side   This side of the freestanding shelving contains the Periodical Collection. This collection contains the periodicals not included within the Dewey Collection  Also shelved on this side of the Freestanding Shelving are the NCIGS Research Reports.  The reports, shelved in chronological order,  consist of the notebooks documenting the result of requests received and researched by the Research Secretary. 

Microfilm Collection Area

H - South Side   Microfilmed Vital Records are available for our nine counties.  Date of the records depends upon the county; generally circa 1855 to 1940s.  Roster of Iowa Soldiers is filed with Vital Records in the brown microfilm cabinet.   U.S. and Iowa census records for our nine counties generally run 1840-1930.  Miscellaneous census records for other counties and states are also available.  Finding Aids for the census records are stored in black notebooks on top of the microfilm cabinets.  Census microfilm is housed in the gold and black microfilm cabinets.

NCIGS Operational Files

I - South Side   This filing cabinet contains a variety of information including census and genealogical forms for sale, records of the collection, etc.

Card Catalog

J - South Side   The Dewey Decimal system is used for the collection.  Several drawers in the card catalog cabinet are devoted to catalog entries for the collection and are the best way of locating items.  Several catalog drawers are used for other collections.  The Necrology File is a card format of Mason City Globe Gazette obituaries 1900-1945 and 1953-1957.  The NCIGS Surname Index file cards contain ancestor charts submitted by members of NCIGS. NCIGS Research Reports result from requests received and researched by the Research Chair.

Electronic Collection and NCIGS Archives

K - South Side   This area of the room contains our laptop, printer, CD Collection and the NCIGS Archives.  The CD Collection is currently composed of CD items donated by various members.  Our laptop is wireless capable.  It can also be used for reading CDs.  The copier can produce copies from the computer, but is also a stand-alone printer/scanner.  The upper shelves of this corner of the library hold the NCIGS Archives.