Massachusetts Archives and Libraries: Difference between revisions

:The AAS is best known for its U.S. newspaper collection of over 18,000 bound volumes 1704-1820, history, genealogy, Bibles, maps, biography, directories, Native Americans, women, canals, railroads, photos, manuscripts.<ref name="DB59">Dollarhide and Bremer, 59.</ref>

:Connecticut, Maine, '''Massachusetts''', New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont documents, photos, and maps of 80 federal agencies, War of 1812, fortifications, coastal facilities, World War II research at Harvard and MIT, federal bankruptcy courts, First Circuit Court of Appeals, Navy, Coast Guard, westward expansion, ethnology, genealogy, Revolutionary War, Civil War, captured German records, territorial papers, censuses, passenger arrival records for Boston and New England, Canadian border crossings.<ref name="DB124">William Dollarhide and Ronald A. Bremer. ''America's Best Genealogy Resource Centers'' (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1998), 124. {{WorldCat|39493985}}. {{FSC|728550|item|disp=FS Library Ref Book 973 J54d}}.</ref><br><br>

:The Pittsfield Center has CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT federal government agency and court documents. Their large genealogy microfilm collection has been transferred to the '''''Berkshire Athenaeum ''''' listed below.<ref name="Pitts">[http://www.pittsfieldlibrary.org/genealogy.html Genealogy Resources] in Berkshire Athenaeum'' (accessed 14 November 2013).</ref>[[Image:NEHGS Newbury Street.jpg|thumb|right|210px|NEHGS 101 Newbury St in Boston]]<br><br>

:Best overall collection for New England vital records and probates, and excellent collection for Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe. The manuscript collection for members only has diaries, letters, account books, business papers, church and town records, sermons, maps, wills, deeds, unpublished town and family genealogies, photos, and papers of the region's best genealogists since 1850.<ref name="DB55759">Dollarhide and Bremer, 5, 57, and 59.</ref><br><br>

:Excellent historical materials, original town records, newspapers and genealogies. This collection does '''not''' repeat the New England Historic Genealogical Society collection.<ref name="DB57">Dollarhide and Bremer, 57.</ref><br><br>

:Government records, censuses, military records, land records, naturalizations, divorces, probate, name changes, and adoptions. Only 18 of the 328 volumes of the excellent ''Massachusetts Archives Collection'', aka Felt Collection, of 1629-1799 history are indexed online. The Archives' [http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/SearchWelcome.html online searchable collections] include:  

:*[http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/RevolutionarySearchContects.html The Massachusetts Archives Collection Database (1629-1799)] serves as a searchable, descriptive index and catalog for documents of eighteen volumes of the Massachusetts Archives Collection.  

:*[http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/PassengerManifestSearchContents.html Index to Passenger Manifests (1848-1891)]  

:*[http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/VitalRecordsSearchContents.html Index to Vital Records (1841-1910)]<br>

:*[https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/ Digital Commonwealth], Explore digitized photographs, maps, postcards, manuscripts, books and artifacts from libraries, museums and archives across Massachusetts.<br><br>

:The '''Registry of Vital Records and Statistics''' maintains birth, marriage, and death records that occurred in Massachusetts from 1926 to the present. Vital record events have been registered in Massachusetts towns since 1635. Earlier records to at least 1840 are available at the city or town where the event occurred. Statewide collection began in 1841. Records for events that occurred from 1841-1925 are available at the '''[[Massachusetts State Archives]]'''. The Registry also maintains an index of divorces from 1952 to the present. Copies of Massachusetts divorce records are available from the probate court where the divorce was obtained.<ref>Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, "Learn about conducting genealogical research", https://www.mass.gov/info-details/learn-about-conducting-genealogical-research, accessed 21 December 2023.</ref>  

:At the Registry Research Room you can use their birth, marriage, death and divorce indexes, and examine their vital records, and make extracts. Also, researchers (I.D. is required) may order certified copies of vital records:

::*'''''in person''''' at the Registry

::*'''''by mail''''' using their '''[https://www.mass.gov/how-to/order-a-birth-marriage-or-death-certificate online mail order form]'''  

::*for an ''additional fee'' '''''by telephone''''', '''''by fax''''', or '''''online through the Internet''''' via the private company '''[https://www.vitalchek.com/vital-records/massachusetts/massachusetts-vital-records VitalChek Massachusetts]'''.<br><br>

:Published books, periodicals, state and town histories, government publications, city directories, maps, tax records, newspapers and indexes.<ref name="DB57" /><br><br>

:Best genealogical respository in western Massachusetts, including newspapers, books, and family histories. Now includes the former '''''Pittsfield Federal Records Center''''''s 71,000 microfilms of censuses, Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrants, service records 1784-1901, Mexican War, Civil War, World War I, New England naturalizations, 1791-1966, passenger arrivals at Boston, New York, Philadelphia and east coast ports, Canadian border crossings, Indian enrollment cards, Russian Consular records, Barbour Collection for Connecticut, and Vermont vital records index.<ref name="Pitts" /> <ref name="DB59" /> <ref name="DB12425">Dollarhide and Bremer, 124-25.</ref><br><br>

:The largest FamilySearch Center in New England. They have published town and county histories of New England, social histories, vital records, family histories, and major indexes.<ref name="DB59" /><br><br>

:Their collection includes New England newspapers, city directores, town records, county and local histories, and genealogies.<ref name="DB57" /><br><br>

:Great collection of manuscripts including deeds, vital and town records from the 15 towns created from old Dedham (south of Boston).<ref name="DB57" /><br><br>

:Manuscripts and rare books from many nations, but especially New England, Britain and Europe, historical archives of publishing history, political and missionary archives, paintings and artifacts. Largest volume of primary historical documents.<ref name="DB57" /><br><br>

:One of New England's largest collections of original manuscripts, books, genealogical periodicals, and surname folders, local history collection, genealogy databases, Massachusetts vital records to 1910, federal and state censuses, 9,000 New England town and family histories.<ref name="DB59" /> <ref>[http://www.haverhillpl.org/about/local-history/#genealogy-resources Genealogy Resources] in ''Haverhill Public Library'' (accessed 14 November 2013).</ref><br><br>

:The Boltwood Collection includes 20,000 documents, genealogies, family folders, genealogy periodicals, newspapers, and local histories with an emphasis on Amherst and the Pioneer Valley.<ref name="DB59" /> <ref>[http://www.joneslibrary.org/specialcollections/collections/index.html Collections and Finding Aids] in ''Jones Library - Special Collections'' (accessed 14 November 2013).</ref><br><br>

:Essex County books, manuscripts, and government records such as probate records, customs records, and maritime records. Can often help find trans-Atlantic ship logs, and ship images.<br><br>

:Almost all published histories and genealogies of early Massachusetts settlers are here.<ref name="DB59" /><br><br>

:Can help identify Massachusetts emigrants headed west using vital records, land records, and probate records from many New England towns. They also have French Canadian records, the Loiselle Index, New York passenger arrivals, computer databases, over 20,000 genealogy books, 6,000 microforms, 50,000 photos and 2.5 million manuscripts including diaries, and account books.<ref name="DB59" /> <ref>[http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/springfield_history/exhibits/view/156-springfield_history_library_archives#.UoTortJQFu0 Springfield History Library and Archives] in ''Springfield Museums'' (accessed 14 November 2013).</ref><br>[[Image:UMass at Amherst W.E.B. DuBois Library.jpg|thumb|right|190px|UMass Amherst Library]]<br>

:Very large set of biographies, genealogies, and never-published histories, and church, business, fraternal, insurance, and manufacturing records. They also have the ''Massachusetts Archives Collection '' microfilms, Franklin, Hampshire, and Suffolk counties' probate records, especially Connecticut River Valley towns.<ref name="DB59" /><br><br>

:This is the second-largest genealogy collection in the United States<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_County_Public_Library Allen County Public Library] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' (accessed 28 April 2010).</ref> and the largest genealogy collection in a public library. Its holdings include more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items on microfilm and microfiche.<ref name="ACPLGC">[http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/ Genealogy Center] in ''Allen County Public Library'' (accessed 28 April 2010).</ref> It has a premier genealogical periodical collection, local histories, genealogies, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic sources, and Canadians. They have a great eastern seaboard and '''Massachusetts''' collection.<ref>[http://www.genealogycenter.org/docs/default-source/resources/aboutusbrochure.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Genealogy Center Collections] in ''Genealogy Center'' (accessed 27 February 2015).</ref><br><br>

:The Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; manuscripts, photos; New York censuses, directories, vital records, Revolutionary War soldiers, Irish in America, and '''Massachusetts''' records.<ref name="DB81">Dollarhide and Bremer, 81.</ref><br><br>

:10,000 family folders for northeastern families, including many from '''Massachusetts'''.<ref name="DB59" /><br><br>

:Their collection includes a comprehensive name index of '''Massachusetts''' people, strong collection of family and town histories of New England, vital records, cemetery transcripts, genealogical periodicals, manuscripts, maps, and photos.<ref name="DB59" /><ref>[http://vermonthistory.org/research/genealogy/genealogy-research-at-the-vhs Genealogy Research at the Vermont Historical Society] in ''Vermont Historical Society'' (accessed 14 November 2013).</ref><br><br>

:The Western Reserve was a large part of Ohio at first intended for settlement by '''Connecticut''' Revolutionary War refugees. The '''Research Library''' at the '''''Western Reserve Historical Society''''' ''History Center '' is the premier repository for Cleveland, Ohio and the ''Connecticut Western Reserve '' history material. This important collection includes original land records, as well as many genealogies, biographies, histories, and Bibles from Pennsylvania, New York, and '''New England'''.<ref name="DB89">Dollarhide and Bremer, 89.</ref> Includes over 20 million manuscripts for genealogical research and northeast Ohio history. They have the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Shaker materials. Other important collections include the American Civil War, and the automotive industry.<ref>[http://www.wrhs.org/research/library/significant-collections/ Significant Collections] in ''Western Reserve Historical Society'' (accessed 27 February 2015).</ref>

:*Kermit J. Pike, ''A Guide to the Manuscripts and Archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society'' (Cleveland, Ohio: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1972). {{WorldCat|483574}}; {{FSC|94342|item|disp=FS Library Book 977.1 A3p}}.<br>  

:*Western Reserve Historical Society. History Library. ''Card Catalog to the Manuscripts Collection in the Library of the Western Reserve Historical Society'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1974). {{WorldCat|865891564}}; {{FSC|210248|item|disp=FS Library Films 934566-69; 934617-18}}.<br><br>

::[[Franklin Massachusetts FamilySearch Center]]<br>91 Jordan Rd<br>Franklin MA 02038 USA<br>Telephone: 508-553-0977.

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