Georgia Archives and Libraries

United States     Georgia     Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have major collections or services helpful to genealogical researchers:

Archives

• The Georgia Archives
  5800 Jonesboro Road
  Morrow, GA 30260
  Phone: 678 364-3700
  The Georgia Archives identifies and preserves Georgia's most valuable historical documents.

Georgia's Virtual Vault provides virtual access to historic Georgia manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records housed in the state archives. It includes Colonial will books, Confederate pension applications, County maps, County tax digests, Georgia death certificates, headright and bounty plats, marriage records, Spanish-American War service summary cards and more.

Two helpful guides to the collection are:

• Georgia Department of Archives and History.A Preliminary Guide to Eighteenth-Century Records Held by the Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta, Georgia. The Department, 1976. FHL fiche 6100334; book 975.8 A3pg
• Davis, Robert Scott, Jr. Research in Georgia. Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1981. FHL book 975.8 D27d.

• The National Archives at Atlanta
  5780 Jonesboro Road
  Morrow, GA 30260
  Telephone: 770-968-2100

Libraries

• Georgia Historical Society Library
  501 Whitaker Street
  Savannah, GA 31499

• Washington Memorial Library
  Middle Georgia Regional Library
  1180 Washington Avenue
  Macon, GA 31201

• John E. Ladson Jr. Genealogical and Historical Library
  119 Church Street
  Vidalia, GA 30474

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Georgia counties, use the nine inventories of the county archives published by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. Eight of these inventories are available at the Family History Library. In the FamilySearch Catalog do a title search for "Inventory of the county archives of Georgia."

Thomasville Genealogical, History and Fine Arts Library
135 North Broad Street
Thomasville, Georgia 31792 USA
Telephone: 229-226-9640
Fax: 229-226-3199
E-mail: glibrary@rose.net
Internet: Thomasville Genealogical, History and Fine Arts Library

Good collection of southern states family history material.

Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library
Moultrie-Colquitt County Library
204 5th Street, S.E.
Moultrie, Georgia 31768 USA
Telephone: 229-985-6540
E-mail: mccls@mccls.org
Internet: Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library

Emphasizes Scottish immigrants to America, but also has a good basic American genealogy collection.

Societies

• Georgia Genealogical Society
  P.O. Box 38066
  Atlanta, GA 30334

Georgia Online Records

Links to online databases and indexes that may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.

See Also

A resource for locating archives in Appalachia is:

• Archives in Appalachia: A Directory. Boone, North Carolina: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1985. (Family History Library book 975 A3a.) The record covers the states of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The record is arranged alphabetically by state, then by the name of the repository. Each entry lists the archive, its address, phone number, inclusive dates of the collection, the records of the collection, what subjects are covered by the collection, and the size of the collection. There are two indexes: Record type, and Subject, with reference numbers corresponding to the repository. Also included is a list, under “Coming Attractions,” of agencies that do not currently collect manuscript materials but plan to do so in the future.