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Collections of the PVCW Library at Berlin Center, Naugart, Wisconsin
Local Church records and histories, Lutheran, Methodist and Catholic. The earliest records begin in 1860–1861. Some records have been translated to English from German.
German language dictionaries in Platt/Low German and High German.
Maps, atlases & gazetteers, useful for locating ancestral places, include:
- 1:100,000 scale maps of the eastern half of 19th century Germany, from the Karte des Deutschen Reiches (Maps of the German Empire) collection
- Gazetteers for Pommern and elsewhere, including the Atlantic Bridge to Germany series
- Meyers Orts – produced in 1912, the definitive German gazetteer
- Ravenstein’s gazetteer of Germany, published in 1883
- A near-comprehensive plat map collection for Marathon & Lincoln Counties, Wisconsin.
Books on German history, Pomeranian history, culture and geographic description, as well as Wisconsin history and local history, particularly of Marathon and Lincoln Counties in north central Wisconsin.
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Genealogy sources include:
- Periodicals including Die Pommerschen Leute and Sedina-Archiv
- Over 200 family history items
- Genealogical material collected from PVCW’s Immigrant Marker donors
- Originals of German-language newspapers published in Merrill, WI from 1890 to 1908 (with gaps)
German Language Collection
More than 500 items in German, covering a wide variety of subjects from religion to fiction, cookery to home medicine, and travel to philosophy and history
Platt Collection
A truly unique assemblage of books published in Platt Deutsch, recordings of Platt spoken by local residents, and recordings of Pommern Life, a radio program broadcast from Wausau in 2001-02.
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Immigration & Cross-Cultural Exchange Collection
Includes items defining the PVCW’s history and development, as well as other materials relating to the immigrant experience of German-Americans in central Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Special Collection
About 25 items in several foreign languages dating from the 18th and 19th century.
Databases & Indices
- An index to surnames in our library’s family history collection
- The Verein’s Towns of Origin project, identifying ancestral locations in Pomerania of Verein members
Genealogy Classes
Contact the Library Committee to arrange one- to four-hour classes on a variety of genealogical topics, including how to begin your search. Topics can be tailored to your needs.
The Dewey Decimal system is used to classify books.
Library & Genealogy Committee
Laurel Hoffmann, Don Litzer,
Lynn Brandt Maier, Rich Maier
[updated 11/30/2024]
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PVCW LIBRARY LOCATION
Naugart, Berlin Center, Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Location Address (Do not use for mailing to PVCW): 243240 Berlin Ln, Athens, WI 54411
OPEN SECOND SATURDAY EACH MONTH (9:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M.) OR BY APPOINTMENT
CONTACT
Laurel Hoffmann, Librarian, Laurelh27@gmail.com, Phone: (715) 845-4564 or Don Litzer, Assistant Librarian, dlitzer@gmail.com, Phone: (715) 351-0907
GETTING TO NAUGART, WISCONSIN
Google “Naugart” or: From Wausau, go north on County Road K to County Road A, then turn left (west). Take County Road A to County Road O, then turn right (north). Take County Road O for 2 miles to Naugart Drive, then turn left (west). Take Naugart Drive 1 mile west to Berlin Drive. Berlin Center is at the southwest corner of Naugart Drive and Berlin Drive. Use the south entrance.
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YOU CAN HELP!
The PVCW Library welcomes donations. While we focus on Marathon and Lincoln Counties, Wisconsin, we’re also interested in materials describing German settlement in other areas of northern and central Wisconsin:
- Plat/land ownership maps
- Town & village histories
- Church histories & directories
- City directories, particularly old ones, and especially those covering rural areas
- Church record compilations.
- Genealogical compilations
- Printed material in the Platt Deutsch language
- Old photographs, if dated and people in them identified.
Donors will be asked to sign a gift receipt form to document their gift. PVCW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. If a donation is unconditional, and we decide not to keep it, we’ll seek another institution with interest in the item(s) whenever possible.
MAILING ADDRESS
Pommerscher Verein Central Wisconsin
P.O. Box 103
Wausau, WI 54402-0103
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