Virginia Archives and Libraries: Difference between revisions

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'''Remember:''' West Virginia was part of Virginia until 1863. '''See also [[West Virginia Archives and Libraries]]'''.

{{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Bristol Public Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Germanna Foundation Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Handley Regional Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Historical Society of Pennsylvania}} (Philadelphia, PA){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Historical Society of Washington, D.C.}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Jones Memorial Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Library of Congress}} (Washington, DC){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Library of Virginia}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Maryland State Archives}} (Annapolis, MD){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives I}} (Washington, DC){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|National Archives at College Park, Maryland|National Archives II}} (College Park, MD){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|National Archives at Philadelphia}} (PA){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|National Genealogical Society}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|New York Public Library}} (New York City, NY){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Pennsylvania State Archives}} (Harrisburg, PA){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Portsmouth Public Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Roanoke County Public Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Salisbury University Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture}} (Salisbury, MD){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown}} (Santa Cruz, CA){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|University of Virginia Library}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Virginia Department of Health}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Virginia Historical Society}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Virginia Theological Seminary}}{{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|Washington National Records Center}} (Suitland, MD){{·}}}} {{Nowrap|{{AutoLink|William and Mary College Swem Library}}}}

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[[Image:Library of Congress Jefferson Building.jpg|450px|Library of Congress Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C.]]

: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.<ref>[http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/lhgcoll.html The Collections] in ''Local History and Genealogy Reading Room'' in ''The Library of Congress'' (accessed 8 January 2014).</ref>

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:Nationwide (including '''Virginia''') censuses, pre-WWI military service and pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees. The National Archives Building in Washington, DC (Archives I), houses textual and microfilm records relating to genealogy, American Indians, pre-World War II military and naval-maritime matters, the New Deal, the District of Columbia, the Federal courts, and Congress.<ref>[http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/washington/researcher-info.html Information for Researchers at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC] in ''National Archives'' (accessed 31 December 2013).</ref> <br>

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: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.<ref name="DB12627">Dollarhide and Bremer, 126-27.</ref><br><br>

[[File:Washington National Records Center Stack Area with Employee Servicing Records.jpg|thumb|right|246px|WNRC stack area in Suitland, MD]]

: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.<ref name="DB29">Dollarhide and Bremer, 29.</ref><br><br>

:The '''Library of Virginia''' Archives Division has Virginia '''births''' and '''deaths''' 1853-1896, and '''marriages'''  before 1936 (including marriage bonds before 1853).<ref name="Gen">[http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/vital-records/genealogy/ Genealogy]  in ''Virginia Department of Health'' in Virginia.gov (accessed 15 May 2017).</ref> 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.<ref name="DB97" /> <ref>[http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/using_collections.asp#_guides Using the Collections] in ''Library of Virginia'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

:The '''VDH Office of Vital Records''' has:<ref name="Gen" />  

:*Virginia '''births''' 1853-1895, and 1912-present. (Births were not registered 1896-June 1912.)

:*Virginia '''deaths''' 1853-1895, and 1912-present. (Deaths were not registered 1896-June 1912.)

:*Virginia '''divorces''' 1918-present.

:'''Certified copies.''' Close relatives can obtain certified copies of BMD, and divorce records from the VDH Office of Vital Records in these ways:<ref name="Divi" />

:*'''By Mail''' for about 1-2 week service.

:*'''Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.''' Certified copies of BMD, and divorce records are available for purchase to walk-ins at all full service Virginia DMV locations including service centers and 2Go mobile offices.<br><br>

: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.<ref>[http://www.vts.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=118926 Archives] in ''Virginia Theological Seminary'' (accessed 5 January 2014).</ref> Formerly known as the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia.

[[File:Bristol library.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Bristol Public Library in Virginia]]

:German immigrants to Virginia in 1714-1717 descendants' database, list of original settlers, genealogies, articles, links, and DNA project.<ref>[http://germanna.org/resources/genealogy/ Genealogy] in ''Germanna Foundation'' (accessed 25 April 2016).</ref><br><br>

[[Image:Handley Library Winchester Virginia.jpg|thumb|220px|Handley Regional Libr., Winchester]]

: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.<ref>[http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary.cfm John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library] in ''Colonial Williamsburg'' (accessed 7 January 2014].</ref><br><br>

: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.<ref name="DB113">Dollarhide and Bremer, 113.</ref> <ref>[http://www.jmlibrary.org/index.php Home] in ''Jones Memorial Library'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

:Wonderful southwest Virginia collection of family folders, books, genealogies, and indexes.<ref name="DB113" /> 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.<ref>[http://www.virginiaroom.org/ Virginia Room] in ''Roanoke, Virginia'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

: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.<ref name="DB113" /> <ref>[http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/content.php?pid=81921&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;sid=608081 Genealogy] in ''University of Virginia Library'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br>  

: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.<ref name="DB113" /> <ref>[http://guides.swem.wm.edu/genealogy Genealogy Resources at Swem] in ''Swem Library'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

[[File:Historical Society of Pennsylvania.jpg|right|thumb|280px|Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia]]

: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'''.<ref name="DB55" /> 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, <ref>Dollarhide and Bremer, 95.</ref> 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.<ref>[http://hsp.org/collections/about-our-collections About Our Collections] in ''Historical Society of Pennsylvania'' (accessed 27 December 2013).</ref> <br><br>

:Think of this as the state archives for the District of Columbia because of the 200 years of local history documents for genealogists.<ref name="DB29" /> 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'''.<ref>[http://www.dchistory.org/research/about-library-collections/ About the Library and Collections] in  ''Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.dchistory.org/research/ Research] in ''Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref><br><br>

:This is the premier facility for locating Maryland ancestors who migrated into '''Virginia'''. The Maryland State Archives [http://msa.maryland.gov/ 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.<ref name="DB55">Dollarhide and Bremer, 55.</ref> For more information about the state archives, see the following references.

: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.<ref name="DB81">Dollarhide and Bremer, 81.</ref> For maps, try the Map Division at the same address.[[File:Pennsylvania State Archive building.jpg|thumb|right|142px|Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg]]<br><br>

: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.<ref>[http://www.salisbury.edu/nabb/ Nabb Research Center] in ''Salisbury University'' (accessed 25 April 2017).</ref><br><br>

*Giving you limited, personal, one-on-one research suggestions (but they do not do research for you)

*Offering free how-to classes (varies by location)

*Fostering contact between genealogical enthusiasts

:::Each center is staffed by volunteers and has varying hours and services. Telephone in advance to verify their hours.