Vermont Archives and Libraries

United States

U.S. Archives and Libraries

Vermont

Vermont Archives and Libraries

Vermont 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 and Punishment Directories Emigration & Immigration Genealogies Land & Property Military Records Naturalization & Citizenship Newspapers Obituaries Online Collections Periodicals Probate Records Public Records Taxation Town Records Vital Records Voter Records

Vermont Background

Biography Church History 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 repositories preserve sources, maintain indexes, and provide services to help genealogists document their ancestors who lived in Vermont.

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories for Vermont

Albany Institute of History and Art NY · Allen County Public Library (Ft. Wayne IN) · American Antiquarian Society (Worcester MA) · Bennington Museum Research Library · Brattleboro Historical Society History Center · Brooks Memorial Library · Columbia County Historical Society (Kinderhook NY) · Martha Canfield Library Russell Collection · National Archives at Boston (Waltham MA) · New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston MA) · University of Vermont Bailey/Howe Library · Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society · Vermont Historical Society Leahy Library · Vermont Old Cemetery Association · Vermont State Archives · Vermont State Library Online Records of Vermont Vermont 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 Frederick C. Murphy Federal Center 380 Trapelo Road Waltham, MA 02452-6399 Phone: (781) 663-0130 Fax: (781) 663-0154 Email: waltham.archives@nara.gov Website: National Archives at Boston

This National Archives branch collects 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, and Canadian border crossings.

Vermont Historical Society in Barre Statewide Repositories Vermont Historical Society Leahy Library Vermont History Center 60 Washington Street Barre, Vermont 05641 Telephone: 802-479-8500 Email: info@vermonthistory.org Website: Vermont History Center VHS is definitely the best research center for early Vermont residents because of their many manuscripts, family histories, periodicals, maps, and family folders.

*Brigham, Loriman S. Guide to the "Miscellaneous File" of Uncatalogued Material in the Vermont Historical Society: With a Supplementary Index to the Guide. Montpelier, Vermont: n.p.,1969. WorldCat 679814; FS Catalog book 974.3 A3b; film 908069, item 20; fiche 6046847. This card index of persons, places, and subjects includes family histories and court, business, and land records. The family histories listed may have genealogies, pictures, military records, financial family papers, and correspondence.

*Brigham, Loriman S. A Calendar of Manuscripts in Certain Boxes at the Vermont Historical Society. Montpelier, Vermont: n.p., 1970. WorldCat 679715; FS Catalog book 974.3 A3br; film 908503 item 1. This is a continuation of the above guide.

*Brigham, Loriman S. A Calendar of Manuscripts in Document Boxes at the Vermont Historical Society. Montpelier, Vermont: n.p., 1972. WorldCat 865949996; FS Catalog book 974.3 A3bri; film 908503 item 2 This is a continuation of the above guide.

Vermont State Archives

1078 Route 2, Middlesex
Montpelier, Vermont 05633-7701
Telephone: 802-828-2308
Email: archives@sec.state.vt.us
Website: Vermont State Archives

They have original state, county, and town records at all levels of government from all over Vermont. This includes all birth, marriages, deaths, and divorces prior to 2012. For vital records 2012 to present contact the Vermont Department of Health.

Vermont State Library

109 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05609
Telephone: 802-828-3261
Email: Contact the Department of Libraries form
Website: Vermont Department of Libraries

Large collection of books with many periodicals and a great historical reference collection.

Regional Repositories

Bennington Museum

Bennington Museum Research Library

75 Main Street
Bennington, Vermont 05201-2885
Telephone: 802-447-1571
Email: tresch@benningtonmuseum.org
Website: Bennington Museum Research Library

Their collection includes early Connecticut, New York, and Vermont records. It is a great place to find records of families that moved up the Connecticut River and then west.

Brattleboro Historical Soc History Center

Brattleboro Municipal Center

Brattleboro Historical Society History Center
History & Research Room
230 Main Street, 3rd floor
Brattleboro, VT 05301-6392
Telephone: 802-258-4957
Email: histsoc@sover.net
Website: Brattleboro Historical Society

A good regional library with many genealogies, family folders, books, periodicals, maps, indexes, cemeteries, and obituaries.

Brooks Memorial Library

224 Main Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Telephone: 802-254-5290
Email: info@brookslibraryvt.org
Website: Brooks Memorial Library

A very big collection of genealogy books, periodicals, family folders, genealogies, newspapers, obituaries, biographies, and many indexes to genealogical material. Website contains links to some important genealogical websites in their Databases collection.

Halton Hills Public Library

9 Church St, Georgetown
Tel: 905-873-2681
TTY: 905-873-0644
Toll Free: 1-877-712-2205 ext. 2502
Website: Halton Hills Public Library
Email: askus@haltonhills.ca

Martha Canfield Library Russell Collection

528 East Arlington Road
Arlington, VT 05250
Telephone: 802-375-6153
Email: martha_canfield_lib@hotmail.com
Website: Russell Collection

They have collected many rare books and unique genealogical sources about early Vermont residents. The Russell Collection is open for research on Tuesdays, or call for an appointment.

University of Vermont Bailey/Howe Library

538 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05405-0036
Telephone: 802-656-2023
Fax: 802-656-4038
Email: Ask a Librarian form
Website: Special Collections Bailey/Howe Library

Their holdings include Vermont local histories, oral histories, and Civil War sources.

Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society

Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society
Vermont Genealogy Library
57 River Road, Suite 1027
Essex Jct., Vermont 05452
Phone: 802-871-5647
Email: mail@vtgenlib.org
Website: Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society

Reference books, manuscripts, periodicals and microfiche, published "repertoires" of church record baptisms, marriages, and burials. They have a library and research facilities at Dupont Hall at the Fort Ethan Allen complex, Colchester, Vermont.

Vermont Old Cemetery Association

961 Grafton Road
Townshend, VT 05353
Telephone: 802-365-7937
Website: Vermont Old Cemetery Association

Statewide coverage of most cemetery records for all of Vermont including great indexes.

Out of State Repositories

Albany Institute of History and Art NY

Albany Institute of History and Art

125 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12210
Telephone: 518-463-4478
Email: information@albanyinstitute.org

This is the best collection of indexes and original records for "old" Albany County, New York, part of which included what is now all of Vermont. During the 1600s many families which started in Connecticut later migrated into Vermont and upstate New York.

Allen Co Public Lib IN

Allen County Public Library

900 Library Plaza
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Telephone: 260-421-1225
Email: genealogy@acpl.info
Website: Genealogy Center ACPL

Allen County Public Library 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 Vermont collection.

American Antiquarian Society

American Antiquarian Society Worcester MA

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

They have many Vermont vital records, newspapers, and town histories. The AAS is best known for their U.S. newspaper collection of over 18,000 bound volumes 1704-1820, history, genealogy, Bibles, maps, biography, directories, Native Americans, women, canals, railroads, photos, and manuscripts.

Columbia County Historical Society

Barbara P. Reilly Memorial Library
5 Albany Avenue
Kinderhook, NY 12106
CCHS Telephone: 518-758-9265
Library Email: Library@CCHSNY.org
Website: Barbara P. Reilly Memorial Library

The Barbara P. Reilly Memorial Library has a large collection of family folders for early settlers, including many from Vermont and New England (Columbia County is on the Hudson River along the main route from New England into upstate New York).

NEHGS 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
Email: info@nehgs.org
Website: AmericanAncestors.org

Best overall collection for New England (and Vermont) 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.

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 Vermont, for example:

Newport Vermont FamilySearch Center
283 James St.
Morris Township, NJ
Telephone: 973-539-5362.

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

• A Guide to Vermont’s Repositories. Montpelier, Vermont: Vermont State Archives, 1986. FS Catalog book 974.3 A3g At various libraries (WorldCat) This guide gives addresses, phone numbers, brief descriptions of holdings, years covered, hours, copying facilities, and whether they accept mail-in requests. It includes an index.
• Basic Sources for Vermont Historical Research. Montpelier, Vermont: Secretary of State, 1981? (FamilySearch Library 974.3 A1 no.44.) At various libraries (WorldCat This guide provides names of officers, addresses, telephone numbers, hours, and brief descriptions of collections and services at six repositories in Vermont.
• Leclerc, Michael J., editor. Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research. Boston, Massachusetts : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012. FS Catalog book 974 D27g 2012 At various libraries (WorldCat)