Texas Archives and Libraries

United States Texas  Archives and Libraries

These archives, libraries, societies, and museums preserve sources, maintain indexes, and provide services to help genealogists document their ancestors who lived in Texas.

Online Resources

 * Portal to Texas History online search
 * Texas State Historical Association online search
 * Texas State Library and Archives Commission online search

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories in Texas
Texas State Library and Archives Commission·Briscoe Center for American History·Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research· Dallas Public Central Library· Daughters of the Republic of Texas· San Antonio Public Library· Ralph W. Steen Library · Galveston and Texas History Center· Fort Worth Public Library · Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center· Harrison County Historical Museum· National Archives at Fort Worth· Allen County Public Library· Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association

National Archives
National Archives at Fort Worth


 * for Microfilm research and public access computers: 2600 West 7th Street Suite 162 Fort Worth, TX, 76107 Telephone: 817-831-5620 Fax: 817-334-5621


 * for Archival research using textual records by appointment: [[Image:NARA Fort Worth.jpg|thumb|right|280px|National Archives at Ft. Worth]]1400 John Burgess Drive Fort Worth, Texas 76140 Telephone: 817-551-2051 Fax: 817-551-2034

Same website for both Microfilm research and Archival research: Website
 * Serves Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.[3] Includes federal censuses of all states, 1790-1930 (and indexes for 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920); military service records, pension and bounty land warrant applications; passenger arrivals; Dawes Commision for the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma. Manuscripts, photos, maps received from federal district and bankruptcy courts and 85 federal agencies in four states. Subjects emphasized are regional and national history, westward expansion and Southwest settlement, American Indians (especially Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), Revolutionary War, American Civil War and Recontruction, slavery, Chinese exclusion, segregation, World War I, World War II, economic development, oil, U.S. space program, public administration, political science, law, ethnology, and U.S. diplomacy.[4]

Statewide
Texas State Library and Archives Commission Building F 1201 Brazos P.O. Box 12927 Austin, TX 78711 Phone: (512) 463-5460 Fax: (512) 463-5436 Website [mailto:reference.desk@tsl.texas.gov/ Email]


 * Original manuscripts for Texas while a part of Mexico, as a republic, and as a state, including all counties, vital records, newspapers, books, and maps. Three divisions of the Texas State Library house materials of interest to genealogists: the Information Services, the Archives, and the Local Records divisions. The Information Services Division contains such records as published histories, vital record indexes, census records, and military records. The Archives Division preserves colonial, republic, and state government records, while the Local Records Division maintains valuable city and county government records. Microfilm copies of the city and county records are distributed among 26 Texas repositories.


 * A helpful guide to important sources at the Texas State Archives is:


 * Jean Carefoot, Guide to Genealogical Resources in the Texas State Archives (Austin, Texas: Archives Division, Texas State Library, 1984. A 197? edition is on film


 * The Texas State Library will loan selected materials from their Genealogy Collection. For a list of materials available for circulation, see:


 * Texas State Library, Texas State Library Circulating Genealogy Duplicates List (Austin, Texas: Texas State Library, 1992). A 1985 edition is available on

Briscoe Center for American History University of Texas at Austin 2313 Red River Street Austin, Texas 78705 USA Telephone: Reference 512-495-4532; Information 512-495-4518 Website
 * This collection is as large as the state archives including newspapers, biographies, private collections, the American South, military history, Western Americana, and photos, and the Website Natchez Trace Collection'' papers from Mississippi and Louisiana.

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research 5300 Caroline Houston, TX 77004 Telephone: 713-284-1999 Website


 * One of America's best genealogical collections. Especially strong for Texas, adjoining states, and Tennessee.

Dallas Public Central Library 1515 Young St. Dallas, TX 75201-9987 Telephone: 214-670-1400 Website


 * Outstanding genealogical collection with records for more than Texas, including Oklahoma, the South, Mid-Atlantic, and New England states.

The Portal to Texas HistoryLibraries, archives and societies from across the state.

Regional
Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library P.O. Box 1401 San Antonio, TX 78205-1401 Phone: (210) 225-1071 Fax: (210) 212-8514 Website


 * Especially good collection for the Mexican colonial era in Texas, good resources for the Texas Republic, and genealogical reference works.

San Antonio Public Library 600 Solidad Plaza San Antonio, TX 78205 Phone: (210) 207-2500 Website


 * Good genealogy and Texana collection.

East Texas Research Center (Stephen F. Austin State University) 1112 North St., Nacogdoches TX 75962 Phone: (936) 468-4100 Website


 * Good genealogy collection including the pre-Civil War period, the East Texas lumber industry, and oral histories.

Galveston and Texas History Center (Rosenberg Library) 2310 Sealy Avenue Galveston, TX 77550 Phone: (409) 763-8854 Fax: (409) 763-0275


 * Their strength is records of ethnic Germans in Texas, and a database of immigrants to the Gulf Coast.

Fort Worth Public Library (Central Library) 500 W. Third St. Fort Worth, TX 76102-7305 Phone: (817) 392-7740


 * Very good genealogy collection of newspapers, obituaries, biographies, histories and genealogies covering the entire Southwest. Focus is on Texas, the South, the Midwest, and the original thirteen states.

Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center 650 FM 1011 Liberty, TX 77575 Phone: (936) 336-8821


 * Come here for records of some of the earliest Texas settlers. Also houses county records of Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, and Tyler counties.

Harrison County Historical Museum 117 East Bowie Street (P.O. Box 1987) Marshall, Texas 75671 Phone: 903-938-2680 Website [mailto:info@harrisoncountymuseum.org/ Email]
 * A key repository for locating selected early Missouri  and Texas  settlers. This was a center for Missouri Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. It has a great collection of family folders, books, letters, diaries, journals, and surname lists for northeast Texas.

University of Texas Arlington Central Library 702 Planetarium Place Arlington, TX 76019 Telephone: 888-565-9023 Website [mailto:library-ref@uta.edu/ Email]


 * Good Texas newspapers collection, including many online.

Baylor University Texas Collection P.O. Box 97142 Waco, TX 76798-7142 Phone:1-800-229-5678

Texas State Genealogical Society c/o Scott Fitzgerald, Treasurer [scottfitzgerald at tyler.net] PO Box 7308 Tyler, TX 75711-7308 Phone: (903) 539-5572 Fax: (903) 592-6782

Out of State
Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association in Louisiana 2nd Floor Old Parish Courthouse Natchitoches, LA 71458-1349 Phone: (318) 357-2235.


 * "French" records from the early 1700's, with an index by the Parish Clerk. The collection has many references to Americans bound for Texas.

Family History Centers. Some of the collections described above are at least partially available on microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and through thousands of its branch Family History Centers. For further information see Introduction to LDS Family History Centers. To locate a center near you, see Find a Family History Center.

Guides
To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Texas counties, use the 24 inventories of the county archives produced by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has copies of all of these inventories.

The Texas County Records Inventory Project of North Texas State University Center for Community Services has produced more recent inventories of the records of about a third of the state's counties. These can be purchased from the Texas State Archives. The Family History Library has copies of most of these inventories which are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under


 * TEXAS, [COUNTY] - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES.