Maine Archives and Libraries

United States

U.S. Archives and Libraries

Maine

Archives and Libraries

Maine Wiki Topics

Beginning Research

Guided Research Research Strategies Record Finder

Record Types

Adoption Bible Records 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

Maine Background

Biography Further Reading Gazetteers History Maps Migration

Cultural Groups

African Americans Indigenous Peoples Cultural Groups Swedish American

Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Find a FamilySearch center

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 (Ft. Wayne IN) · American Antiquarian Society (Worcester MA) · Bangor Public Library · Farmington Public Library · Haverhill Public Library MA · Maine Franco-American Genealogical Society · Maine Historical Society · Maine State Archives · Maine State Library · Maine Vital Records Office · Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston MA) · Massachusetts State Archives (Boston MA) · National Archives at Boston (Waltham MA) · New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston MA) · Penobscot Marine Museum · Skidompha Public Library · University of Maine Fogler Library

Online Records of Maine

Maine Online Genealogy 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 Archives at Boston (in Waltham MA) National Repositories National Archives at Boston 380 Trapelo Road Waltham, MA 02452-6399 Phone: (781) 663-0130 Fax: (781) 663-0154 Website Email

The Boston archives branch has Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont documents, photos, and maps of 80 federal agencies, War of 1812, forts, World War II research at Harvard and MIT, federal bankruptcy courts, First Circuit Court of Appeals, Navy, Coast Guard, westward expansion, ethnology, Revolutionary War, Civil War, captured German records, territorial papers, censuses, passenger arrival records for Boston and New England, Canadian border crossings.

Statewide Repositories

Maine Franco-Amercian Geneal Society

Maine Franco-Amercian Genealogical Society Library
Fortin Group Funeral Home (2nd Floor)
217 Turner Street
Auburn, ME 04210
Telephone: 207-786-3327

{{Block indent|Over 1,700 volumes including marriage repertoires from Canada, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, the Loiselle Marriage Index of 520 Catholic parishes in Québec from mid-1600s to 1960, computers, books, microfiche, census indexes, Maine marriages 1892-1966, and local obituaries.

ME Historical Society Brown Library in Portland Maine Historical Society Brown Library 489 Congress Street Portland, ME 04101 Telephone 207-774–1822 Fax 207-775–4301 Website Email 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

Maine State Archives in Augusta

84 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0084
Telephone: 207-287-5790
Fax: 207-287-5517
Website

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 Memory NetworksIncluding letters,photographs, maps and much more.

Maine State Library

Maine State Library in Augusta

64 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Telephone: 207-287-5600
Fax: 207-287-5624
Website
There are boundary changes, rivers, maps, oral histories, and town/plantation records. This is the best genealogical repository in Maine.

Maine Vital Records Office

220 Capitol Street
11 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0011
Telephone: 207-287-3181 or 888-664-9491 toll free

Maine Vital Records collects records statewide of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces from 1892 to present, issuing certified copies on request. There are three ways to request their copies:

*Walk-in request with payment by cash or check

*Written request through the mail with payment by check or money order, or

*Online request (for an extra fee) with payment by credit card through the independent company VitalChek Maine.

Some local plantation or town records may also include BMD vital records before 1892.

Regional Repositories

Bangor Public Library

Bangor Public Library

Bangor Room
145 Harlow Street
Bangor, ME 04401
Telephone: 207-947-8336
Fax 207-945-6694
Website
Email

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

Farmington Public Library

117 Academy Street
Farmington, ME 04938
Telephone: 207-778-4312
Website
Email

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 in Searsport

Penobscot Marine Museum

Stephen Phillips Memorial Library
11 Church Street (PO Box 498)
Searsport, Maine 04974
Telephone: 207-548-2529 ext.212
Website
Email

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 in Damariscotta

Skidompha Public Library

Lincoln County Genealogy and History Center
184 Main Street (PO Box 70)
Damariscotta, Maine 04543
Telephone: 207-563-5513
Email
Website

Their genealogy and local history collection is outstanding.[3] It is strongest for Lincoln County, but also includes other areas of Maine, New England, US, Canada, and other countries. They have cemetery records, local ships and shipbuilding, maps, periodicals, scrapbooks, vertical files, some Lincoln County vital records, the Maine 1790 Census, town histories, 257 family histories/genealogies, military records from the Revolutionary War and Civil War, local history researchers' notes, and local history newspaper clippings. The library computers can be used to access Ancestry.com.[1]

UMaine Fogler Library in Orono

University of Maine Fogler Library

Orono, ME 04469-5729
Telephone: 207-581-1661
Fax: 207-581-1653
Website

They have excellent collections about early Maine settlers, fisheries, Acadians, ships, and shipping companies.[2] Their Special Collections is dedicated to Maine related material including printed bibliographical, historical, and descriptive works about Maine's cities, towns, counties, her people and institutions.[3] This library is a regional United States government document depository, and collects selected Canadian and United Nations documents as well.

Outside of Maine Repositories

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

Allen Co Public Library IN

Allen County Public Library

900 Library Plaza
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802
Telephone: 260-421-1225
Website
Email

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

American Antiquarian Society in Worcester MA

185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01609-1634
Telephone: 508-755-5221
Fax: 508-753-3311
Website
Email

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

Haverhill Public Library in Massachusetts

99 Main Street
Haverhill, Massachusetts 01830
Telephone: 978-373-1586
Website
Email

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

Massachusetts Historical Soc in Boston

1154 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215-3695
Telephone: 617-536-1608
Fax: 617-859-0074
Website
Email

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

Masschusetts State Archives in Boston

220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Phone: (617) 727–2816
Website
Email

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 Soc

NEHGS at 101 Newbury St in Boston

New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
101 Newbury Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116-3007
Telephone: 617-536-5740; Library 617-226-1231
Fax: 617-536-7307
info@nehgs.org]
Website
Email

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.

FamilySearch Centers

Some of the above collections are partially duplicated at the FamilySearch Library and its branch FamilySearch Centers around the world. Most centers can help you by:

• Giving you limited, personal, one-on-one research suggestions (but they do not do research for you)
• Providing access to genealogical records through the premium online Internet FamilySearch Center Portal for free.
• Offering free how-to classes (varies by location)
• Fostering contact between genealogical enthusiasts

There are several centers located in Maine, for example:

Bangor Maine FamilySearch Center
639 Grandview Ave
Bangor, Maine USA
Telephone: 207-942-7677

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 FamilySearch Center.

For Further Reading

• Maine State Archives, Public Record Repositories in Maine. (Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives, 1972). WorldCat 17248268; 1983 online digital edition. FS Library Film 928040 item 4; Fiche 6051251; Book 974.1 A3m.
• 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)