Historical Records Online Through All 50 State Archives

View online digitized records collections and access the historical and genealogical holdings of state archives across the United States. Most of these state archives have at least some digitized records online, but don't miss the online catalogs which allow you to dig deep into the millions of other valuable historical and genealogical records available in their collections.

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Alabama Department of Archives and History

Alabama Department of Archives & History

Search online genealogical databases including Civil War soldiers and 1867 voter registrations or view digitized records such as narratives by enslaved people from the WPA Alabama Writers' Project and 119 back issues of the Alabama Historical Quarterly. You can also search the online catalog of the Alabama state archives to view their complete holdings.

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Alaska State Archives

The holdings catalog of the Alaska State Archives isn't available online, but their online collections guide for researchers includes information on accessing Alaska school records, naturalizations, marriage license applications, etc. An online Probate Index includes the names of approximately 17,000 probate cases administered in the district court system which served Alaska from 1884-1960. An online Naturalization Index is also available.

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Arizona State Library Archives

The Arizona State Library offers details on their holdings of most interest to genealogists with charts highlighting available listing records and dates by county. They also include online some of their finding aids and inventories, including inventories of their manuscript collections.

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Arkansas History Commission

The official state archives for the state of Arkansas offers online access to several record databases of interest to genealogists in CARAT (Catalog of Arkansas Resources & Archival Treasures), plus information on their manuscript collections, photographs, newspapers and other items. There is also a searchable Arkansas Digital Archives with detailed descriptions of primary source materials maintained by archives, special collections, libraries, historical societies, and museums across the state.

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California State Archives

Find details on family history resources at the California State Archives, including city and county records, mental health records, military records and the 1852 state census. Use the online descriptive catalog Minerva to search collections available at the California State Archives, or browse finding aids and collections in the Online Archive of California.

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Colorado State Archives

Over 1 million entries can be searched online in the Colorado Historical Records Index and the Digital Archives includes scanned copies of many original documents. You can also search online indexes to many of their collections or browse a detailed description of their holdings.

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Connecticut State Archives

Begin with the online Guide to the Archives in the Connecticut State Library for a comprehensive overview of archival holdings. Also valuable are the State Archives Finding Aids, Genealogy Indexes, Online Catalog, Databases of Individuals Listed in State Archives Records, and more.

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Delaware Public Archives

Access more than 3,000 separate items from the Delaware State Archives collection in the Digital Archives or view a variety of online document exhibits. Indexes to a number of databases including Bastardy Bonds, Probate Records, Naturalization Records, Death Registers and Apprentice Indentures can also be searched online, or you can search the Online Guide to Collections for the entire collection of the of the Delaware Public Archives.

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State Archives of Florida

The Archives Online Catalog of the State Archives of Florida provides descriptions of over 2,700 collections and lists the content of containers and folders in many of those collections. Select online digitized historical records are available as part of the Florida Memory Project website, including World War I Service Cards, Confederate Pension Applications, Spanish Land Grants and a variety of research guides.

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Georgia Archives

The Georgia Archives includes several online finding aids to its collections, from finding aids to the book/manuscript catalog. Don't miss Georgia's Virtual Vault where you'll find a wide variety of online digitized records from the Georgia Archives, including Georgia death certificates, Confederate pension applications, Chatham County deed books and Colonial Wills.

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Hawaii State Archives

The Hawaii State Archives has a fully searchable online catalog to their holdings, plus a variety of online finding aids. Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections include genealogical indexes to marriage records, divorce case files, probates, wills and naturalization records, plus other historical records.

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Idaho State Historical Society & Archives

Learn about the holdings of the Idaho State Archives, view the 57-page guide Tips for Researching Idaho, and search a variety of searchable online indexes and the Idaho Digital Archives. The Idaho State Historical Society Digital Collections include many great resources, including finding aids to their manuscript and oral history collections.

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Illinois State Archives

The Illinois State Archives offers a wealth of online information and records for historical and genealogical research including a detailed guide to their holdings, a searchable Descriptive Inventory of the Archives of the State of Illinois, and an extensive selection of searchable online databases.

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Indiana State Archives

The Collections Page of the Indiana State Archives includes an overview of the collections, an alphabetical subject index, and a Subject Guide to the Archives collections, as well as online collection indexes. The Indiana State Digital Archives offers searchable indexes to many of the most popular State Archives collections.

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State Historical Society of Iowa

Under the umbrella of the State Historical Society of Iowa, the State Archives website includes an online guide to their collections. The state historical society also has an online catalog, as well as a guide to their manuscript collections, including photographs, manuscripts, and audio visual collections.

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Kansas Historical Society

Research guides and finding aids online include the State Archives Catalog as well as manuscripts, newspapers, photographs and more. The Genealogy Page (under Research) includes online databases & indexes and a guide to state records for genealogical research.

U.S. Historical Newspapers Online by State

By Kimberly Powell

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Kentucky Department for Library and Archives

Search the Kentucky Archives online catalog, or view the Kentucky Historical Society Collections Catalog with descriptions of archival collections, rare books, oral histories, and library collections, including microfilm and other genealogy resources. The e-Archives includes digitized Confederate pension records.

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Louisiana State Archives

The Louisiana State Archives website includes many online finding aids to their collections. Online indexes include New Orleans Passenger Lists Manifest, a Confederate Pension Applications database, and indexes to Louisiana deaths and births and marriages from Orleans Parish.

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Maine State Archives

Searchable online databases at the Maine State Archives include marriages and deaths, plus additional databases are available for download. Maine Archives Interactive allows you to search the holdings to find out if records are available in the Maine State Archives or are currently held by other State agencies.

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Maryland State Archives

Locate records available in the collections of the Maryland State Archives through its Guide to Government Records and Guide to Special Collections. A variety of online indexes are also available for searching, including vital records, censuses and early settlers.

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Massachusetts Archives

The Massachusetts Archives website includes a good overview of its records of most interest to family historians, as well as searchable indexes to vital records, passenger manifests, and the early Massachusetts Archives Collection (1629-1799). For more information on records available at the Massachusetts Archives, view the Summary Guide to Holdings.

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Archives of Michigan

Narrow your search to "Archives of Michigan" in ANSWER, the Library of Michigan's Online Catalog, to explore the Archives' holdings; explore finding aids for descriptive inventories of archival records and manuscript collections at the Archives; or visit Seeking Michigan! to access Michigan digital collections and indexes.

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Minnesota State Archives

Search the State Archives Collection or learn about family history resources at the Minnesota State Archives & Minnesota Historical Society including online indexes such as birth certificates, death certificates, state censuses and veteran graves.

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Mississippi Department of Archives & History

The Mississippi Archives catalog is searchable online with descriptions of most available collections, and some records are also available online in the Digital Archives.

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Missouri State Archives

The Missouri State Archives provides extensive information on its record holdings, as well as a searchable online catalog and finding aids. Online databases and indexes include birth and death records, coroners' inquests, land patents and naturalization records. More than 6.8 million records can also be accessed through Missouri Digital Heritage, including the collections of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Library and other Missouri institutions.

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Montana Historical Society Research Center

Home to the Montana Archives Collections and official repository of the State Archives, the Montana Historical Society Research Center offers a searchable online catalog to its archival materials including state archives records, manuscript collections and oral histories. Select digital materials can be accessed through Archives West (previously Northwest Digital Archives).

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Library/Archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society

Select "Search Library / Archives Catalogs" to view a searchable online catalog, as well as a variety of online finding aids, databases and indexes. The website also offers a number of genealogical finding aids.

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Nevada State Library & Archives

Read descriptions of archival records or search the online catalog to learn what's available in the Nevada State Archives. See What's Not in the Archives? to learn about other Nevada records and the repositories where they can be found.

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New Hampshire Division of Archives & Records Management

Research aids include an online Guide to the New Hampshire State Archives and a genealogy page with information on the collections which have been identified as containing genealogical and family history information (although there are others not included on this page which have genealogical value!). Also see Archival Holdings for additional information and select online indexes and databases, such as "Index to Petitions at the New Hampshire State Archives, ca. 1680 -- 1819."

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New Jersey State Archives

Searchable collections at the New Jersey State Archives include an online catalog with over 1,000 guides to archival collections; digitized image collections; and searchable online databases of marriage and death records, proprietary land warrants and surveys, Supreme Court case files, legal name changes, the 1885 state census and more.

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New Mexico Archives & Historical Services Division

The online catalog Heritage contains descriptive information and some digital copies of primary source materials held by the New Mexico State Archives. In addition, the Online Archive of New Mexico, part of the tri-state Rocky Mountain Online Archive, includes inventories of many manuscript and government record collections from the New Mexico State Records Center & Archives.

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New York State Archives

Tools and resources from the New York State Archives include pathfinders for naturalization and probate records, select finding aids, digital collections and the Excelsior online catalog of their holdings.

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North Carolina State Archives

Search MARS (Manuscript and Archives Reference System), the online catalog for the North Carolina State Archives, to find detailed record descriptions, or check out their online finding aids and digital collections. The North Carolina State Archives is also the depository for county-level government records, so don't miss the free online 2002 version of Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives: County Records.

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North Dakota State Archives

Holdings at the North Dakota State Archives can be explored through inventories of county-level government records, manuscript collections and state agency records. Many series of North Dakota Archives records are cataloged in the online catalog (ODIN).

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Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library

The Online Collection Catalog includes large portions of the state archives holdings (see Using the Online Collection Catalog for specifics) and online finding aids are available for selected manuscript collections at the Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library. Several digitized collections and an online Death Index, 1913–1944 and 1954–1963 are also online.

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Oklahoma State Archives & Records Management

Collections of genealogical interest and other collection highlights including an index to Oklahoma's Confederate pension records, are described on the site of the Oklahoma State Archives. Locate and browse digital collections and virtual exhibits in Oklahoma Digital Prairie.

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Oregon State Archives

Archival records and databases accessible from the Oregon State Archives include a number of online, searchable databases and indexes; an Oregon Historical County Records Guide with a descriptive inventory of selected records for each of Oregon's 36 counties; and searchable guides to State Agency Records.

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Pennsylvania State Archives

The PA State Archives has extensive collection details available online in the form of collection finding aids and research topics. Digitized collections are especially rich in military and land records.

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Rhode Island State Archives

The Rhode Island State Archives doesn't offer a lot of online detail about its holdings, but you can view a few select items online in the Rhode Island Virtual Archives. Alternate resources include the Rhode Island Historical Records Repositories Directory which provides some brief information on the State Archives' holdings, and Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO) with searchable finding aids to historical, primary source materials in Rhode Island repositories including the State Archives.

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South Carolina Department of Archives & History

Begin with the outline guide to genealogical records at the South Carolina State Archives. Further collection details can be explored in the Summary Guide to Archive Collections. Online record indexes include records of Confederate veterans, will transcripts, and plats for state land grants, several of which also offer access to digitized documents.

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South Dakota State Archives

page. Online indexes include a Naturalization database and cemetery records.

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Tennessee State Library & Archives

A variety of online guides and indexes offer an excellent introduction to the records held by the Tennessee State Archives, or search the Tennessee Virtual Archive.

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Texas State Archives

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Utah State Archives

Information on historical records available at the Utah State Archives is available through the online catalog, name indexes, and series finding aids/inventories, along with other research guides by subject. Some records have also been scanned as part of their Digital Archives.

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Vermont State Archives and Records Administration

The Vermont State Archives offers an online, searchable Record Series Database as an index to available records in the archives, as well as a section called Spotlight on Records with further details on select records in its collection. Online databases and other guides are available on their Databases page.

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The Library of Virginia

Serving as the official state archives of the commonwealth of Virginia, the Library of Virginia holds a wealth of archival, print, newspaper and manuscript collections. Visit the Using the Collections page for an alphabetical listing of its research guides, indexes and databases, or search the LVA catalog for specific archival, print and manuscript collections.

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Washington State Archives

Search the Archives Catalog to locate records held at the State and Regional Archives; you can also limit your search to a specific branch/archive. Over 3.7 million vital, census, naturalization and military records can be searched online in the Washington State Digital Archives. Another extremely valuable resource is the 1981 Statewide Historical Records Guide a state-wide guide arranged by city to all of the manuscript collections in museums, libraries, universities, historical societies, churches, etc. in the state of Washington.

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West Virginia State Archives

The West Virginia State Archives offers guides to its various collections, including the Archives Collections and County Court Records, as well as some staff research guides on popular topics. The West Virginia Memory Project includes some selected online material from the manuscript, archives (state government records), and special collections housed at the West Virginia State Archives.

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Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives

The Library/Archives Collections page offers a road map to the genealogical and other collections available at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives, or search the Archives Computer Catalog (ArCat). Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids describes collections held at 19 repositories in Wisconsin, including the State Archives.

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Wyoming State Archives

Information on the holdings of the Wyoming State Archives can be found online in the form of searchable inventories, or the research guide on Genealogical Sources which describes state, county and non-government records most likely to hold family history information.

U.S. State Archives Online

Arkansas History Commission

State Archives of Florida

Idaho State Historical Society & Archives

Mississippi Department of Archives & History

New Mexico Archives & Historical Services Division

Pennsylvania State Archives