The Prince George’s Room, located in the rebuilt Hyattsville Branch Library, is a noncirculating, local history and genealogy collection. Formerly known as the Maryland Room prior to the demolition and reconstruction of the Hyattsville Branch, The collection reopened under the new name of The Prince George’s Room with the reopening of the Hyattsville Branch on March 30, 2022. In addition, the Prince George’s Room also holds in its collection historic newspapers on microfilm, and collects several local, genealogical and historical magazines and journals.
Additionally, the Prince George’s Room houses a selection of circulating works–both fiction and non-fiction–from locally based authors. The Prince George’s Room contains the Hyattsville Branch Library’s collection of non-circulating reference works. This selection of books consists of items that are of general interest for users to refer to on a variety of different topics.
The Prince George’s Room collection consists of two broad categories of materials, all of which are focused on the history of Prince George’s County and surrounding areas or genealogical topics. The first and largest category is the collection of print materials, both books and periodicals housed in the open stack area that is accessible to all researchers anytime the Hyattsville Branch Library is open. These materials are cataloged, with a few exceptions. See below for instructions on how to view cataloged items in the Prince George’s Room collection in the library catalog.
The next category in the collection is a selection of microfilm reels. The majority of the reels are of local newspapers such as the Prince George’s Sentinel, Prince George’s Post, The Bowie Blade, and the Laurel Leader. There are also Sanborn fire insurance maps, historical Prince George’s County records such as court proceedings and assessment books as well as a few other miscellaneous state records. The reels can be used by requesting access from a staff member or submitting a request on The Prince George’s Room Consultations Form. The reading room contains a microfilm/microfiche machine reader for accessing the information on the reels.
Please fill out this form if you have questions related to our collection. Consultation Form
Mon: 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Tue: 12:00PM to 8:00PM
Wed: 12:00PM to 8:00PM
Thu: 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Fri: 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat: 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun: 1:00PM to 5:00PM