Maine Archives and Libraries

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Adoption Bible Records Biography Cemeteries Census Church Records Colonial Records Correctional Institutions Court Records Crime & Punishment Directories Emigration & Immigration Genealogies Land & Property Military Records Naturalization & Citizenship Newspapers Obituaries Online Collections Periodicals Plantations Probate Records Taxation Town Records Townships Vital Records Voter Records

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Cultural Groups

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Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Find a FamilySearch center

United States Maine Archives and Libraries

These archives, libraries, societies, and museums preserve sources, maintain indexes, and provide services to help genealogists document their ancestors who lived in Maine. Remember, Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1819, so early Maine records are often found in Massachusetts repositories.

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories for Maine

Allen County Public Library · American Antiquarian Society · Bangor Public Library · Farmington Public Library · Haverhill Public Library · Maine Historical Society · Maine State Archives · Maine State Library · Massachusetts Historical Society · National Archives at Boston · New England Historic Genealogical Society · Penobscot Marine Museum · Skidompha Public Library · University of Maine Fogler Library

Maine 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.

National Repositories

National Archives at Boston 380 Trapelo Road Waltham, MA 02452-6399 Phone: (781) 663-0130 Fax: (781) 663-0154 E-mail: waltham.archives@nara.gov Internet: National Archives at Boston 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.

Statewide Repositories

Maine Historical Society Brown Library 489 Congress Street Portland, ME 04101 Telephone 207-774–1822 Fax 207-775–4301 E-mail: info@mainehistory.org Internet: Maine Historical Society Brown Library They have a very good collection for genealogists including 100,000 books, and 2 million manuscript pages from the 1400s to the present. They also provide in-library online access to NewEnglandAncestors.org, Ancestry Library, HeritageQuest™ Online, and the Proquest Digital Sanborn Maps of Maine.

Maine State Archives
State House Station 84
Augusta, ME 04333-0084
Telephone: 207-287-5795
Fax: 207-289-5739
Internet: Maine State Archives

Original records from all Maine counties, towns, and plantations. A wiki article describing this collection is found at Maine State Archive Collections (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Maine State Library
64 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Telephone: 207-287-5600
Fax: 207-287-5624
E-mail: Ask a Librarian, Information Form
Internet: Maine State Library

Has history, genealogy, town histories, counties, Indians, boundary changes, rivers, maps, oral histories, and town/plantation records. This is the best genealogical repository in Maine.

Regional Repositories

Bangor Public Library
Bangor Room
145 Harlow Street
Bangor, ME 04401
Telephone: 207-947-8336
Fax 207-945-6694
E-mail: info@bangorpubliclibrary.org
Internet: Local History, the Bangor Room, and Special Collections

Genealogical and historical references for Bangor, the Penobscot Valley, the state of Maine, and the entire region of New England. They have censuses, Maine Register town histories, the Bangor Daily News Index, county histories, family records and research, genealogy handbooks, Bangor city directories, military histories, passenger lists, and scanned photos. They also provide free access to Ancestry Library and HeritageQuest Online.

Farmington Public Library
117 Academy Street
Farmington, ME 04938
Telephone: 207-778-4312
E-mail: jenscott@farmington.lib.me.us
Internet: Farmington Public Library

The Genealogy Room has over 1,700 works: town histories, published and unpublished family histories, local newspapers, Ancestry.com access, vital records, and cemetery transcripts.

Penobscot Marine Museum
Stephen Phillips Memorial Library
11 Church Street (PO Box 498)
Searsport, Maine 04974
Telephone: 207-548-2529 ext.212
E-mail: cgood@pmm-maine.org
Internet: Stephen Phillips Memorial Library

Their collection includes an important biographical index of Maine people. They also have records of shipping companies, ship registers, logbooks, and journals.

Skidompha Public Library
Lincoln County Genealogy and History Center
184 Main Street (PO Box 70)
Damariscotta, Maine 04543
Telephone: 207-563-5513
E-mail: skid@msln.net
Internet: Genealogy:Find Your Roots

Their genealogy and local history collection is outstanding. It is strongest for Lincoln County, but also includes other areas of Maine, New England, US, Canada, and other countries.

University of Maine Fogler Library
Orono, ME 04469-5729
Telephone: 207-581-1661
Fax: 207-581-1653
E-mail: Ask a Librarian form
Internet: University of Maine Fogler Library

They have excellent collections about early Maine settlers, fisheries, Acadians, ships, and shipping companies.

Out of State Repositories

Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1819, so early Maine records are often found in Massachusetts repositories.

Allen County Public Library

900 Library Plaza
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802
Telephone: 260-421-1225
E-mail: genealogy@acpl.info
Internet: Genealogy Center ACPL

This is the second-largest genealogy collection in the United States 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. 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 Maine collection.

American Antiquarian Society
185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609-1634
Telephone: 508-755-5221
Fax: 508-753-3311
E-mail: Library@americanantiquarian.org
Internet: American Antiquarian Society

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. They have Maine vital records, newspapers, and town histories. One of the best genealogy centers in America.

Haverhill Public Library
99 Main Street
Haverhill, Massachusetts 01830
Telephone: 978-373-1586
E-mail: hpl-ref@mvlc.org
Internet: Haverhill Public Library Special Collections

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. Their collection of New England and Maine sources is larger than most.

Massachusetts Historical Society Library
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215-3695
Telephone: 617-536-1608
Fax: 617-859-0074
E-mail: Contact Us
Internet: Massachusetts Historical Society

Excellent historical materials, original town records, and genealogies related to Maine. This collection does not repeat the New England Historic Genealogical Society collection.

Massachusetts State Archives
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Phone: (617) 727–2816
E-mail: archives@sec.state.ma.us
Internet: Massachusetts Archives Division

The Massachusetts Archives Index, also known as the Colonial Index, cites almost every early New England immigrant inlcuding those for Maine.

New England Historic Genealogical Society
101 Newbury Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116-3007
Telephone:  617-536-5740; Library 617-226-1231
Fax:  617-536-7307
E-mail:  info@nehgs.org
Internet: AmericanAncestors.org

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. The Maine collection has great detail on some early families, unpublished family histories, and many town and county histories.

Maine Repositories Guide and Online Lists

• Maine State Archives, Public Record Repositories in Maine. (Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives, 1972). WorldCat 17248268; 1983 online digital edition. FHL Film 928040 item 4; Fiche 6051251; Book 974.1 A3m.
• Maine (Directory of Historical Societies) in D'Addezio A Directory of Historical Societies in the United States, Canada and Australia online.
• Usgennet.org Online Historical and Genealogical Societies of Maine.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

• Maine State Archive Collections (FamilySearch Historical Records)