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For more than 50 years, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Polk Library has hosted an Area Research Center (ARC), a unique program that, in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, provides access to unique local history records and expertise.

The ARC resource used by undergraduate students and the public alike is especially prized among genealogists with ties to the “middle Fox region” of Wisconsin, said Joshua Ranger, archivist at UW Oshkosh.

This summer, the UW Oshkosh ARC made using its records even easier with a new, more robust index.

Discovering if the ARC holds citizenship records, divorce, probate and other court records on one’s ancestors is easier via the online UW Oshkosh ARC Court Records Index. The index combines records from all five counties in the ARC’s territory (Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette and Winnebago counties). Information on 15 different types of records is included and more are being indexed for future inclusion.

“Previously to find a record, family historians would have to visit in person and consult a number of handwritten indexes or comb through boxes of unindexed materials,” Ranger said.  “Just like the folks at sites like Ancestry.com, we are streamlining the process by allowing people to search from their home or their mobile device.”

While the records themselves are not available online, researches can order digital or paper copies directly from the index through a shopping cart system. A nominal fee is charged for the delivery of the records.

“Many people assume these types of records are housed at the county courthouse,” Ranger said.  “The fact is that most courts simply do not have the ability to keep and make these records available when their primary duty is to process current cases. Under state law, courts only need to keep records for so long. When that period is up, that’s when we step in.”

Since 1951, the Wisconsin Historical Society and UW System have worked to ensure that the public has access to records considered historically important. More than 1,000 visits or requests for information were recorded at the UW Oshkosh ARC last year, Ranger said.

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