Around 30 people have begun the search for their military ancestors, thanks to the family history research day held on Saturday at the Alexander Library.
Heritage services leader Gillian Tasker said the library was open for people to come and search for their ancestors' military records, from the New Zealand Land Wars to World War II.
Ms Tasker said most of the inquiries were about World War I personnel. There were two speakers on the day, including historian Wendy Pettigrew, who spoke about sources of information for World War I records, and Graeme Pleasants from Wanganui RSA, who talked about some of the special projects Wanganui RSA are planning for the centenary commemorations of World War I.
Ms Tasker said the Alexander Library would commemorate World War I and the involvement of Wanganui men through exhibitions of letters written by Wanganui officers. "The letters will also be published online on the 100th anniversary of the date they were written, starting in October 2014. These letters tell the story of our men at the front."
Anyone interested in finding out about their ancestors' military records or the collections at the Alexander Heritage and Research Library can contact the library via the website or by telephoning (06) 349 1000.