Research

The Twentynine Palms Historical Society Library, located in the Old Schoolhouse Museum at 6760 National Park Drive in Twentynine Palms, California, is open to the public Wednesday mornings from 9:00am to 12:00pm and by appointment.  Appointments may be made by email addressed to 29PalmsHistorical@gmail.com or by telephone at 760-367-2366.

Contained in the archival and library collections are numerous items of historical and genealogical significance pertinent to the Twentynine Palms area. The Society encourages use of the research materials by anyone interested in this area. Staff is not available to do in-depth genealogical or historical research but is available to assist both visitors and correspondents.

There is no fee at present for using the Library. There are fees, however, for services such as photocopying and image reproduction. Mail and e-mail inquiries will be answered if the research required to provide a response is not time-consuming.  Since volunteers answer research requests and their schedules vary, we are unable to respond instantly.  If you have a complex request and are unable to visit our Society, we are happy to answer one/two specific mail-in questions for a $20.00 donation, payable in advance for non-members, along with a SASE.  Please be as specific as possible with questions, using the Genealogy Research Request or Non-Genealogy Research Request form, and our volunteers will research the references available in our library and archives.

Our collection includes:

• A collection of over 500 books related to our area
• Nearly every edition of the Desert Trail newspaper (April 18, 1935 to present)
• All issues of the Out Post (July 14, 1932 - 26 May 1934
• Assorted issues of the 29 Palms News (May 5, 1960 - October 14, 1976
• Twentynine Palms High School Annuals
• All issues of the original Desert Magazine plus an index
• People vertical files - biographies, family histories, newspaper clippings, etc.
• Places/organizations vertical files
• Photographs
• Numerous local organizational records and publications
• Oral History Interviews - Click here for a list.