Delaware Archives and Libraries

United States   Delaware    Archives and Libraries

Delaware Public Archive 121 Duke of York St Dover, DE 19901 Telephone: 302-744-5000 Fax: 302-739-6710 Website: http://archives.delaware.gov/ Mabel Lloyd Ridgely Research Room All times 8:00am - 4:15pm except as noted: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:15pm 1st Saturday - 9:00 am - 4:15 pm Sunday - Closed State Holidays - Closed

The Delaware Public Archives has a number of finding Aids and digitized records online. The Archives is also on Facebook. There is an online guide to the collection that was begun in 1978. It comprises approximately 3,600 separate word processing files, each of which represents portions of records groups within the collection.

A guide to some of the records of the Delaware Public archives is:


 * Mattern, Joanne, and Harold B. Hancock, comps. A Preliminary Inventory of the Older Records in the Delaware Archives. Dover, Delaware: Delaware Public Archives, 1978. (Family History Library fiche 6331225.) This source briefly describes jurisdiction, record type, number of volumes, and dates covered.

National Archives—Mid-Atlantic Region (Downtown Philadelphia) 900 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-4292 Telephone: 215-606-0100 Fax: 215-606-0116 Website: http://www.archives.gov/midatlantic/

National Archives—Mid-Atlantic Region (Northeast Philadelphia) 14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1025 Telephone: 215-305-2000 Fax: 215-305-2038 Website: http://www.archives.gov/midatlantic/

The Delaware Genealogical Society 505 Market Street Wilmington, DE 19801-3091 Website: http://delgensoc.org/

The Delaware Genealogical Society hold their meetings at the Delaware Historical Society on the third Tuesday of most months. Among their publications is The Delaware Genealogical Society Journal published semi-annually and the Delaware Genealogical Society Newsletter published five times a year. A Table of Contents for all volumes to the through April 2010 and a master index for mos volumes is available at the website.

A DGS committee is working to create a genealogical data for the families that lived in Delaware during its founding as a state 1787-1800.

Delaware Historical Society 505 Market Street Mall Wilmington, DE 19801-3091 Telephone: 302-655-7161 Fax: 302-655-7844 E-mail: [mailto:hsd@hsd.org hsd@hsd.org ] Website: http://www.dehistory.org/

Research Library Telephone: 302-655-7061

Research Library Hours: Mondays: 1:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 .m. - 1:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Closed Wednedays and for major holidays. The Society has collections of books, ephemera, newspapers, serials, maps, manuscripts and photographs relating to the history of Delaware and its people collected over 135 years. Their catalog is online.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Library 1300 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-5699 Telephone: 215-732-6200 Fax: 215-732-2680 Website: http://www.hsp.org/

Library Hours:•Monday Closed, •Tuesday 12:30-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.), •Wednesday 12:30-8:30 (last admittance at 7:45 p.m.), •Thursday 12:30-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.), •Friday 10:00-5:30 (last admittance at 4:45 p.m.), closed Saturdays and Sundays and major holidays.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is one of the nations largest family history libraries with an excellent collections on local and regional history, and a manuscript collection renowned for its 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century holdings. The Society merged their holdings with the Balch Institute’s in 2002 and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in 2006 through a Strategic Alliance Agreement, making it also one of the nation’s leading repositories of ethnic and immigrant studies materials. It houses some 600,000 books, pamphlets, serials, and microfilm reels; 20 million manuscripts; and over 300,000 graphics items, becoming one of the largest non-governmental repositories of documentary materials. There is an inline catalog to the Society's holdings.Ther are also manuscript and research guides, finding aids, indexes, and other tools dor accessing their collection. Many are online.

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania 2207 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-301

Telephone: 215-545-0391 Fax: 215-545-0936 Website: http://www.genpa.org/

Library Hours are: Saturday – Monday: closed; Tuesday: 12:30 – 5:30; Wednesday: 12:30 – 8:30; Thursday: 12:30 – 5:30; Friday: 10:00 – 5:30.

The Genealogical Society publishes The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine twice a year.

University of Delaware Library 181 South College Avenue Newark, DE 19717-5267 Telephone: 302-831-2965 Website: http://www.lib.udel.edu/

Hagley Museum and Library P.O. Box 3630 Wilmington, DE 19807-0630 Telephone: 302-658-2400 Fax: 302-658-0545 Website: http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/

The records and publications of more than 1,000 businesses, and some families, especially the DuPont and related families, are at the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Library. A guide to their records is:

Riggs, John Beverley. A Guide to Manuscripts in the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library. . . Greenville, Delaware: Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, 1970. This guide lists records acquired through 1965. The supplement lists records acquired through 1975.

For more information about Delaware repositories see:

Holley, Barbara Ann, ed. Directory of Libraries and Information Sources in the Philadelphia Area (Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Special Libraries Association, Philadelphia Chapter, 1977. (Family History Library book 974.811 J54s 1977; film 1036557 item 9.) Briefly lists address, phone, hours, collection, and use of interlibrary loan.

Historical Records Survey (Delaware). ''Inventory of the County Archives of Delaware. Number 1. New Castle County''. Dover, Delaware: The Public Archives Commission, 1941. (Family History Library book 977.11 A3i; film 897354 item 1; fiche 6051279.) Detailed description of each record type including years covered, number of volumes, and contents.

Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards
Computers with modems are important tools for obtaining information from selected archives and libraries. The Internet, certain computer bulletin boards, and commercial on-line services help family history researchers:


 * Locate other researchers
 * Post queries
 * Send and receive E-mail
 * Search large databases
 * Search computer libraries
 * Join in computer chat and lecture sessions

You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Delaware in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost.

Addresses on the Internet change frequently. As of June 2007, the following sites are important gateways linking you to many more network and bulletin board sites:

The USGenWeb Project
A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, state, and country.

Roots-L
http://www.rootsweb.com

A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly-updated research coordination list.

Internet sites specifically about Delaware family history include:

Delaware Families Project

http://delgensoc.org/delfam.html

Documents all families living in Delaware between 1787 and 1800.

Delaware Genealogical Society

http://delgensoc.org/

Lists key repositories and publications.

Sources of Genealogical Information in Delaware

http://www.everton.com/reference/usa/de.php

Lists counties, when created, and their resources.

For further details about using computer networks, bulletin boards, and news groups for family history research, see the United States Research Outline, Second Edition, "Archives and Libraries" section.

FamilySearch™
FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.