Bettie Brown used some of her holiday vacation from work to look back in time.

She went to the Muskogee Public Library’s Genealogy and Local History Department to find out more about her ancestors and the city’s African-American past.

Brown, 49, said the passing of older family members has motivated her to start recording family history before it is lost.

“My grandmother died several years ago,” she said. “She lived until she was 98. There was a lot of that history that I didn’t get. I was too busy with work and four children.”

Using a microfilm viewer, Brown looked through old newspapers and telephone directories. One was a copy of the Negro City Directory, 1941-42, which listed businesses operated by African-Americans. The newspaper she found was the Muskogee Cimeter, run by lawyer and crusading editor William Henry Twine.

“I have been interested because once this history is gone, it’s gone,” she said. “I know this library has some good things you can’t get at other places. They have some very good information.”

Brown said she has uncovered a few unexpected items.

“I was surprised to find a July 16, 1909, newspaper with pictures of black schools that are now gone,” she said. “One was Douglass. I went to Douglass; it was an elementary school. They had one article about Booker T. Washington visiting Muskogee. They even had his speech.”

As she talked and scanned through an old phone book, Brown happened upon the name of her late grandmother.

“Oh, there she is; Mary McCrary.”

Listed along with her grandmother’s name were several other McCrary ancestors who have all passed away.

Brown said that she found the research to be easy once she got started.

“At first it seems intimidating because you don’t know where to look,” she said. “But the staff is great at answering questions. I also found out they have things here you can look at from the Web if you have a library card.”

According to Genealogy.com, a Maritz Poll released in 2000 showed that approximately 60 percent of the U.S. population is interested in family history, up from 45 percent five years earlier. The poll also showed that about 35 million people have used the Internet for family history research. That means that nearly half of U.S. Internet users have researched genealogy online.