records guide
Historical records for family research, catalogued honestly
Short answer
Historical records for genealogy are the dated documents an authority created about a person during their lifetime — tax rolls, court entries, land patents, church registers, city directories. In US research they are what you turn to when census and vital records don't reach far enough back or don't survive.
- Federal: NARA record groups by war, by land office, by immigration port.
- State: state archive holdings, cataloged county by county.
- County: deed books, will books, court minute books — often still on paper.
- Church: diocesan archives (Catholic), presbytery (Presbyterian), monthly meeting (Quaker).
This guide is being expanded. In the meantime, the linked pages below and the FAQ answer the questions readers most often send us. If yours isn't here, write the desk and we'll add it in the next revision.