Virginia Archives and Libraries

These repositories preserve sources, maintain indexes, and provide services to help genealogists document their ancestors who lived in Virginia. Remember: West Virginia was part of Virginia until 1863. See also West Virginia Archives and Libraries.

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories for Virginia
· · · (Philadelphia, PA)· · · · (Washington, DC)· · · (Annapolis, MD)· (Washington, DC)· (College Park, MD)· (PA)· · (New York City, NY)· (Harrisburg, PA)· · · (Salisbury, MD)· (Santa Cruz, CA)· · · · (Suitland, MD)·

Online Records of Virginia
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Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ G4 Washington, D.C. 20540-4660 Telephone: Reading Room: 202-707-5537 Fax: 202-707-1957 E-mail: Ask a Librarian form Website: Library of Congress
 * The Library of Congress "Local History and Genealogy Reading Room" has moved to the main reading room, but services are unchanged. They are part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North American (including Virginia), British Isles, and German sources.


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National Archives II
National Archives at College Park, Maryland (Archives II) 8601 Adelphi Road College Park, MD 20740-6001 Telephone: 866-272-6272 Fax: 301-837-0483 E-mail: I have a question form Internet: National Archives at College Park, Maryland
 * Archives II houses documents created after 1900 at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, and Treasury, modern military records, passport applications, and District of Columbia records. Many residents of Virginia are found among their records.

National Archives at Philadelphia
14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Telephone: 215-305-2044 Fax: 215-305-2052 E-mail: [mailto:Philadelphia.archives@nara.gov Philadelphia.archives@nara.gov] Website: National Archives Philadelphia
 * This branch has federal agency and court records for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. All U.S. federal censuses 1790-1940, and indexes. Also has passenger arrivals in Philadelphia 1800-1945 and Baltimore, pension and bounty land warrant applications, naturalizations 1790-1990, early federal history, diplomacy, military history, Chinese-Americans, World War II homefront, National Park Service, merchant marine, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, federal tax evasion and smuggling cases.

National Genealogical Society
3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300 Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370 USA Telephone: 703-525-0050 or  800-473-0060 Fax 703-525-0052 E-mail: [mailto:ngs@ngsgenealogy.org ngs@ngsgenealogy.org] Internet: National Genealogical Society
 * The National Genealogical Society (NGS) aims to serve and grow the genealogical community by providing education and training, fostering increased quality and standards, and promoting access to and preservation of genealogical records. It is the premier American national society for everyone from the beginner to the most advanced family historian. In conjunction with a sponsoring local genealogical society, it stages an annual NGS Conference. They also provide genealogical education courses, publications and videos. Their NGS Book Loan Collection is now housed at the St. Louis County Library in Missouri. Their online collections include The National Intelligencer (Washington, DC) newspaper index 1800-1850, indexed Bible records and family groups from NGS members.



Washington National Records Center
WNRC 4205 Suitland Road Suitland, MD 20746-8001 NARA telephone: 866-272-6272 NARA E-mail: Contact Us form Internet: Services for the Public
 * Older than 15-years federal criminal court, federal civil court, and federal bankruptcy court records, and the federal agency records from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Virginia Department of Health
VDH, Office of Vital Records 2001 Maywill Street (street address) P.O. Box 1000 (mailing address) Richmond, Virginia 23218-1000 Telephone: 804-662-6200 E-mail: [mailto:VitalRec.Questions@vdh.virginia.gov VitalRec.Questions@vdh.virginia.gov] Website: Division of Vital Records
 * The VDH Office of Vital Records has Virginia's births, marriages, and deaths 1853-1895, and 1912-present. (BMDs were not registered 1896-June 1912.) They also have divorces since 1918. In Virginia, death, marriage and divorce data become “public” information 25 years after the event; birth data are “public” after 100 years. Certificates are available to immediate family members only (mother, father, husband, wife, child, brother, sister and grandparents) with valid ID.
 * Online index. Virginia birth and death records from 1912-2014; divorce records 1918-2014; and marriage records 1936-2014 are now available in a free online index.
 * Genealogical copies. The Library of Virginia Archives Division has Virginia births and deaths 1853-1896, and marriages 1853-1895 and 1912-1936 (including marriage bonds before 1853).
 * Certified copies. Close relatives can obtain certified copies of BMD, and divorce from the VDH Office of Vital Records in these ways:
 * By Mail for about 1-2 week service.
 * Walk-in for same-day service.
 * Express delivery using a private company. For an additional fee, you can can receive express delivery by placing your order on the Internet or by telephone for official certified copies of Virginia birth, death, marriage, or divorce records from the private company VitalChek Virginia.
 * Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Certified copies of BMD, and divorce records are available for purchase at all full service Virginia DMV locations.

Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219-8000 Telephone: 804-692-3500 Fax: 804-692-3556 E-mail: Contact Us Select department to open dialog box Website: Library of Virginia
 * The Library of Virginia Archives Division has Virginia births and deaths 1853-1896, and marriages 1853-1895 and 1912-1936 (including marriage bonds before 1853). Their large genealogical collection also has family Bibles, divorces, histories, biographies, and newspapers. Many of their manuscripts are now online. The General Library contains printed materials, while the Research and Information Services Division consists of government records and other historical documents. Many collections are available online, such as Confederate pensions, veterans and widows, an index to wills and administrations, Revolutionary War bounty land, and Virginia Land Office patents and grants.

Virginia Historical Society
428 North Blvd Richmond, VA 23221-0311 Telephone: 804-358-4901 E-mail: Ask a Librarian form Website: Virginia Historical Society, Looking for People
 * County records such as marriages, county court records, wills, censuses, land, militia lists, bounty lands, passenger lists, tax lists, poll lists, genealogies, newspapers, family Bibles, and African American genealogy. They have a card index to 10 million documents of the Old Dominion, that is Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Virginia Theological Seminary
Archives of the Bishop Payne Library 3737 Seminary Road Alexandria, VA 22304 Telephone: 703-461-1731 E-mail: [mailto:AskArchives@vts.edu AskArchives@vts.edu] Website: Virginia Theological Seminary Archives
 * Houses many of the original Church of England (now Episcopalian Church) parish registers, vestry books, and manuscripts of colonial Virginia, as well as photos, and the African American Episcopal Historical Collection. Formerly known as the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia.

Bristol Public Library
701 Goode Street Bristol, VA 24201-4199 Telephone: 540-645-8780 Fax: 276-669-5593 E-mail: [mailto:bplref@yahoo.com bplref@yahoo.com] Website: Bristol Public Library


 * They have a relatively small family folder collection. Nevertheless, it is an important resource for settlers coming from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Virginia along the Great Valley Road into Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Germanna Foundation Library
on Virginia Route #3 (2062 Germanna Highway) P.O. Box 279 Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279 Telephone: 540-423-1700 Fax: 540-423-1747 E-mail: E-mail contact form Website: Germanna Foundation
 * German immigrants to Virginia in 1714-1717 descendants' database, list of original settlers, genealogies, articles, links, and DNA project.



Handley Regional Library
100 W. Piccadilly Street PO Box 58 Winchester, VA 22604 Telephone: 540-662-9041 Fax: 540-722-4769 E-mail: [mailto:archives@handleyregional.org archives@handleyregional.org] Website: Handley Regional Library
 * Very large collection on Germans and Scots-Irish who traveled the Great Valley Road from Pennsylvania  through Maryland to Virginia, including manuscripts, newspapers, biographies, and histories, and people of the Lower Shenandoah Valley since 1732, emphasizing Winchester and Frederick County in 4000 books, county court abstracts, county histories, genealogies, regimental histories, battles, newspapers since 1787, censuses, 600 linear feet of manuscripts, maps, photos, and oral history tapes.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg PO Box 1776 313 First Street Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776 Telephone: 757-565-8542 Fax: 757-565-8548 E-mail: [mailto:libref@cwf.org libref@cwf.org] Website: John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
 * Emphasis is on the history of colonial British America, the American Revolution, and the early United States with books, manuscripts, images, Civil War materials, family Bibles, and databases for research in the political and economic life of the thirteen colonies, the new republic, and African American studies.

Jones Memorial Library
2311 Memorial Avenue Lynchburg, VA 24501 Telephone: 434-846-0501 Fax: 434-846-1572 E-mail: [mailto:refdesk@jmlibrary.org refdesk@jmlibrary.org] Website: Jones Memorial Library
 * Really good historical materials, family folders, and genealogies of people migrating from the tidelands over the Blue Ridge Mountains into Virginia's Great Valley, many via Lynchburg. Covers Virginia and surrounding states, including county histories and court records, family histories and genealogies, the Civil War, county taxes, and census records.

Mary Ball Washington Museum Library
Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library 8346 Mary Ball Road Lancaster, Virginia 22503 Telehone: 804-462-7280 Fax: 804-462-6107 E-mail: [mailto:nfo@mbwm.org nfo@mbwm.org] Website: Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library
 * A small library with a good name index to nearly every history book published in Virginia  or Kentucky, including court records from 1651, indexes and abstracts, Virginia vital records, census records, county histories, biographies, church and cemetery records, family histories, newspapers, obituaries, vertical files, militia records, and fraternal organizations.

Portsmouth Public Library
601 Court Street Portsmouth, VA 23704 Telephone: 757-393-8501 E-mail: Ask a Librarian form Website: Portsmouth Public Library
 * A good solid genealogical collection. Materials about Portsmouth and Norfolk counties and surrounding areas of southeastern Virginia, including births, marriages, deaths, cemeteries, genealogies, memoirs, scrapbooks and notebooks of Portsmouth families and organizations, photos, Civil War, Jeffrey T Wilson – 1924 "Colored Notes" index and articles from Portsmouth Star newspaper; Bertha Edward - Notes on Portsmouth Black History; African American Historical Association of Portsmouth records, and high school yearbooks.

Roanoke County Public Library
706 S. Jefferson Street Roanoke, VA 24016 Telephone: 540-853-2073 E-mail: [mailto:virginiaroom@gmail.com virginiaroom@gmail.com] Website: Virginia Room
 * Wonderful southwest Virginia collection of family folders, books, genealogies, and indexes. Open by appointment, the Virginia Room comprehensively collects materials for the Roanoke Valley, for Virginia, and for closely associated states, including surname files, photos, vertical files and oral histories. The Great Valley Road forked here toward Knoxville, Tennessee, and toward Augusta, Georgia. Some families stayed-over in the area before moving on to Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia.

University of Virginia Library
PO Box 400113 Charlottesville VA 22904-4113 Telephone: 434-924-3021 Fax: 434-924-1431 E-mail: [mailto:library@virginia.edu library@virginia.edu] Website: Univ of Virginia Library
 * Virtually a second state archives with a large genealogical collection, colonial records, federal, private, and state manuscripts, vital records, censuses, maps, military records, newspapers, periodicals, African American genealogy, and computer databases.
 * University of Virginia Library, Virginia Genealogy: A Guide to Resources in the University of Virginia Library (Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1983). ..

William and Mary College Swem Library
P.O. Box 8794 Landrum Drive College of William and Mary Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8794 Telephone: 757-221-3050 Fax: 757-221-2635 E-mail: [mailto:sweref@wm.edu sweref@wm.edu] Website: EG Swem Library, Genealogy
 * Features the famous "Swem Index" of Virginia settlers. This library also has the original papers from Jamestown, the Virginia Company, manuscripts, and journals, including numerous genealogical references. This is the place for researching the earliest Virginia colonists. They also have censuses, ship's passenger lists, vital records, wills and probate records, local history, church records, funeral homes, cemeteries, newspapers, periodicals and indeses.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-5699 Telephone: 215-732-6200 Fax: 215-732-2680 E-mail: [mailto:ReadyReference@hsp.org ReadyReference@hsp.org] Internet: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
 * Has early Quakers, Germans, Scots-Irish, and other settlers in William Penn's colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This is also an excellent place to learn about early settlers who migrated to Maryland and Virginia. Records which have been published are normally well-indexed. This society also has 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century manuscripts (letters, diaries, account books, deeds, minutes, and scrapbooks), passenger arrival lists and indexes, local and regional history, ethnic and immigrant studies materials, 600,000 books, 20 million manuscripts, over 300,000 graphics items, and 300 years of newspapers.

Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Kiplinger Research Library Carnegie Library 2nd floor 801 K St NW Washington, DC 20001 Telephone: 202-249-3955 E-mail: [mailto:info@dchistory.org info@dchistory.org] Internet: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
 * Think of this as the state archives for the District of Columbia because of the 200 years of local history documents for genealogists. This includes families and notable individuals, organizations, businesses, neighborhoods, religious institutions, local houses of worship, funeral homes, diaries and personal papers, and early 18th century land records for the DC area of Maryland and Virginia. Researchers are welcomed in the Kiplinger Research Library by prior appointment only Tuesday through Friday. Access to the library and collections is free of charge.

Maryland State Archives
Hall of Records Building 350 Rowe Boulevard Annapolis, MD 21401 Telephone: 410-260-6400 Fax: 410-974-2525 E-mail: [mailto:ref@mdsa.net ref@mdsa.net] Internet: Maryland State Archives


 * This is the premier facility for locating Maryland ancestors who migrated into Virginia. The Maryland State Archives online has nearly all available public records from 1634 to 1789; most original state and county records through the mid-twentieth century; microfilm copies of land, probate, and vital records to the present; and over 130 major card indexes to Maryland land records and early settlers, newspapers, county records, church records, family, and business records. This is the most complete collection of any of the 13 colonies. It can take up the three days just to check the indexes. For more information about the state archives, see the following references.


 * Maryland. Hall of Records. A Guide to the Index Holdings at the Hall of Records. Rev., Bulletin, [Maryland. Hall of Records] No. 17. (Annapolis, Maryland: Hall of Records, 1972.) This is a county-by-county list of indexes and years covered.
 * Papenfuse, Edward C., et al. A Guide to Government Records at the Maryland State Archives: A Comprehensive List by Agency and Record Series. (Annapolis, Maryland: Maryland State Archives, 1992.) This guide lists record types, years covered, and series number.
 * Papenfuse, Edward C., et. al. A Guide to the Maryland Hall of Records: Local, Judicial and Administrative Records on Microfilm. Volume 1. (Annapolis, Maryland: Hall of Records Commission, 1978.) Volume one is a detailed list of many records on microfilm for Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City, Maryland. These include court, probate, and land records. The archives has additional computer printout lists for all counties. You can write to them for information about records of specific localities and time periods.
 * Radoff, Morris Leon, et al. The County Courthouses and Records of Maryland, Part Two: The Records. (Annapolis, Maryland: Hall of Records Commission, 1963.) This is a county-by-county list of record types, years covered, and series number.

New York Public Library
U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy Division Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, Room 315S New York, NY 10018-2788 Telephone: 212-930-0829 E-mail: Ask a Librarian form Website: New York Public Library
 * This is one of the largest research libraries in the world, including excellent genealogical resources for Virginia. The library has city and telephone directories, vital records indexes, local histories, genealogies, federal and state censuses, passenger lists, genealogical collections (including DAR transcripts), and church records. For maps, try the Map Division at the same address.Pennsylvania State Archive building.jpg

Pennsylvania State Archives
300 North Street     (mail to:  350 North Street) Harrisburg, PA 17120 Telephone: 717-783-3281 E-mail: [mailto:ra-statearchives@pa.gov ra-statearchives@pa.gov] Internet: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
 * Their colonial records include many references to people who migrated to Virginia. This huge collection has indexes and original sources associated with the series, such as vital, military, prison, naturalization, land records, census, ships lists, railroads, mines, and 1.5 million online records including online genealogy guides.

Salisbury Univ Nabb Research Center
Salisbury University Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture Guerrieri Academic Commons (street address) (4th Floor, Room 430) 1101 Camden Ave (mailing address) Salisbury, MD 21801 Telephone: 410-543-6312 Fax: 410-677-5067 E-mail: [mailto:nabbcenter@salisbury.edu nabbcenter@salisbury.edu] Internet: Nabb Research Center
 * This repository has family files, family histories, local histories, photos, and artifacts from the Delmarva Penninsula (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) also called the "Eastern Shore." Includes correspondence, manuscripts, ledgers, diaries, local business and organizational records, maps, newspapers, land surveys, and oral histories. Microfilm collections hold governmental and church records of Somerset, Worcester, Dorchester and Wicomico counties in Maryland; Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia; and Sussex County in Delaware.

Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown
224 Church Street Santa Cruz, California 95060 Telephone: 831-427-7707 ext. 5794 E-mail: E-mail reference service form Website: Santa Cruz Public Library
 * Holds the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County's library, including the Tina Brayton Collection which is equivalent to the Draper Manuscript Collection  but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia families.

Family History Centers
Some of the above collections are partially duplicated at the Family History Library and its branch Family History Centers around the world. Most centers can help you by: There are several centers located in Virginia, for example:
 * Giving you limited, personal, one-on-one research suggestions (but they do not do research for you)
 * Providing access to genealogical records either through the premium online Internet FHC Portal for free, or a microfilm loan program
 * Offering free how-to classes (varies by location)
 * Fostering contact between genealogical enthusiasts
 * Williamsburg Virginia Family History Center 2017 Newman Road Williamsburg, VA 23188 USA Telephone: 757-220-0266 or 757-232-1417
 * Each center is staffed by volunteers and has varying hours and services. Telephone in advance to verify their hours.

To locate one of these 4,500 centers in your own neighborhood, see Find a Family History Center.

Guidebooks

 * Ellen Garrison, Archives in Appalachia: A Directory  (Boone, North Carolina: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1985). . . For Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, arranged alphabetically, each entry shows the archive, address, phone, inclusive dates of the collection, the records of the collection, subjects, and size of the collection. Indexed by record type, and by subject.