The new Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center will open on November 15. The Tennessee Genealogical Society is contributing more than $1 million worth of books and materials to the new genealogy library, part of the Germantown Community Library. The society is relocating its 14,000-book collection from its former home, on Davis Plantation Road, where development was encroaching on the property.
The suburb and the society reached an agreement on the deal a year ago, and Germantown began renovating the former Morgan Woods Children's Theatre on Poplar Pike east of Melanie Smith Lane. When compared to the former location of the book collection, the newly renovated building provides more parking, more visibility on well-traveled Poplar Pike and more space to accommodate not only customers and classes, but a better atmosphere to protect the collection, which will be open to the public.
The renovation work included lighting and a ventilation system to protect the collection, a new roof, new offices for the society and donated shelving and other furnishings from Rhodes College. Like the Germantown Community Library, the Maryland-based Library Systems & Services will manage the genealogy branch.
