Requesting Research Assistance

Submitting Your Research Request
The RCGS accepts requests for look-ups and to answer specific research questions. In your request, please include your name, postal address, email address and phone number. The research staff are busy; priority is given to members' requests. Also consider joining the Society to get these benefits:

• Prioritized your research request
• Free admission to the Library Research Center & Reading Room
• Discounts on fees and copy costs
• Yearly Genealogy Jump-Start for one ancestor
• and to support local family history

4 WAYS TO GET RESEARCH ASSISTANCE:

• You can Visit the Library and Archives and conduct your own research on days and at times that the RCGS Research Center (directions) is open to the public. An admission fee of $10 is waived for members of both the Rock County Genealogical and Historical Societies. At no extra charge, library staff are available to assist you with accessing the card catalog and pulling records for your on-site review. Copy costs apply (no smart phone or digital camera copies are allowed).
• You can Request Paid Research Now Online:​ Click for the RCGS Research Request Form .
  
• You can Request Paid Research by Email:       Click for the: Society Library Email 
• You can Request Paid Research by US Mail:​

              Attn. Library Research Staff
              Rock County Genealogical Society
              PO Box 0936
              Janesville, WI 53547-0936

Please Include with your Research Request:

• Your Name & Contact Info; mailing address, e-mail & phone number
• Full Name of Ancestor(s) to be researched
• Known Dates & Locations of birth, death, etc. if known
• Full Name of Father and Mother of Individual if known
• Spouse's Maiden Name marriage date/location if known
• The Type of Record(s) Sought (death, birth, etc.)
• Date of Record Sought known or approximate
• Include Sources & Information that you already have, so we don't repeat your research

RCGS Library Contents: The Library consists of hundreds of bound volumes, manuscripts and pamphlets, vertical file drawers of manuscripts and clippings,  school records and business records, and yearbooks, maps, and Pioneer Family files, photographs, extensive Rock County cemetery records, 100 unique indexes to Rock County birth, marriage, and death records (full records housed at the Rock County Courthouse), an assortment of diaries, bibles and other family records, scrapbooks and the library and archival collections of the Milton House Museum. The holdings are non-circulating. 

Wait - Why isn't everything free?

​We understand that researchers would like us to provide Family Research help at no charge. So here is where we make our case for our fee-based research services:

• We understand that money doesn't grow on (family) trees. If you have a budget, we'll work with you to understand your priorities and your budget to provide as much value as possible.
• As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for." Much of the "free" online information is wishful thinking, family legends or worse: a compilation of randomly connected similar names. We use only exclusive original documents and sources.
• Our trained staff are familiar with Rock County research tools and can accomplish your goals faster and more completely than you could by yourself.
• We're all volunteers and the Society receives no public funding. So, no one is being paid to provide your research. All the revenue goes to keeping the lights on, updating research tools and paying the photocopier repair man.
• In keeping with our mission, RCGS research fees are a bargain. For-profit researchers charge between $75 and $150 per hour for the same services.

All About the Library & Archives

Library & Archive Hours: Archives are open Wednesday through Friday, 10 am - 4 pm and closed holidays. Call ahead at (608) 580-0149 to make sure the facility is open on the date of your planned visit. No food, beverage or smoking is allowed. Use of smarts phone, scanners and digital cameras are forbidden.

Admission Fees: Admission is free to Society Members, but there is a $10 per day admission fee if you are not a member of the Rock County Genealogical Society or Milton House Historical Society which share space and records at the Milton House located at 18 S. Janesville St., Milton, WI on the grounds of the historic Milton House Museum. The research materials are available for supervised and assisted research by the Society's library volunteer staff. Photocopy services are available.

Library Research Services & Fees: 

You can pre-purchase or pay for research right in our RCGS Store. Research fees vary depending on membership status, volume of copies, complexity and time required to fulfill the request:

Library Research Services - Options Include:

• Buy the Full RCGS Indexes: When you find your ancestor's surname in our abbreviated online indexes, you can buy the full version of the index from our Store. To view the kind of information found in a full version index, see this example.
• Buy a Snippet from the Full RCGS Index: When you find an ancestor's surname in our abbreviated online index, you can buy a copy of just the page(s) from the index containing all instances of your ancestor's surname.
• Buy a Copy of the Original Source: For research, travel and copy fees, library researchers will travel to local archives, libraries or the court house to obtain copies of probate files, vital records (birth, marriage & death), or microfilmed newspaper clippings.
• Genealogy Jump-Start research report: RCGS Members may request a yearly search of the Societies' card file and selected RCGS indexes for an individual ancestor or surname. Society researchers then prepare a detailed bibliography (not copies of records) of the Library's holdings. 

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Library Research Fees: The Library research staff also provide fee-based research (view: research request form):

• Research at the RCGS Library & Archives for Individuals and non-profit organizations are charged a research fee of $20 per hour with a minimum fee of one hour.
• Off site research at area courthouses, archives and repositories are charged $30 per hour which includes research staff time and travel with a minimum fee of one hour.
• Research at the RCGS Library & Archives for Businesses are charged a fee of $40 per hour, also with a minimum fee of one hour.
• Buy a Snippet from a Full RCGS Index: for $5, library staff will copy a page (or pages) on which your ancestor's surname appears from any one of RCGS's over 50 published newspaper, cemetery, birth, death, marriage, atlas, or other indexes.
• Copy Costs of Records & Photos are Extra and vary by institution where the copies are made. For example, courthouse copy costs depend on whether documents are certified or non-certified. Copy costs at the RCGS Library are 25¢ per page (black & white) and 50¢ per page (color) with half-off for RCGS or Milton Historical Society members. Oversize copies costs are double 8-1/2" x 11" cost.

Before You Hire Research Help
Several considerations should go into your decision to hire RCGS Library research. 

Get to Know Us - Talk to or correspond with our RCGS Library research staff to establish rapport, trust and a clear, understanding of the Library's expertise, capabilities and fees.

​Develop Clear Expectations - Begin by setting a realistic budget and shaping the scope of your research assignment accordingly. Start small. Our researchers have no problem beginning with a narrow assignment - like obtaining a copy of a specific marriage record, scanning our RCGS library, or providing a $5 Snippet copy of page(s) of one promising published RCGS Index showing all members of one surname. Build from there.

Prepare Your Family Information as a Starting Point - You will save time and money if your researcher has a firm foundation upon which to build a research strategy. Tell your researcher which facts have solid sources and which are hearsay. There is no need to pay someone to retrace research you have already documented. 

Expect to "Pay as You go" - This way, both you and the Library are “invested” in your research. 

Research Results are Not Predictable - It is important to understand that you will be billed for research time, regardless of the quantity of results. Researchers can promise to spend research time wisely, but we cannot guarantee what, if anything, we may find. Many hours of diligent research may produce a rich family history, or find only scant trace of your ancestors who may have tread only lightly in Rock County. Results will vary for reasons beyond your researcher's control. 

​Expect Us to Store and Share Your Research Results - Of course we agree not to share information about any living relatives with anyone, but the underlying information in our Library is public domain and available to other researchers. We often keep a file of past research projects as a resource, in the event you return to commission additional research OR, as a starting point, if a "cousin" requests similar research. Unless you specify otherwise, we put researchers with common family interests in touch with one another so that they can share their genealogies.