State-by- State Websites
Alabama
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Contains over 550 ledger books of federal land transactions
Has an online soldier database
Contains a newspaper database
Alabama Department of Public Health - for vital records
Alabama Mosaic contains records compiled from archives and libraries across the state as well as oral histories, naturalization records, school yearbooks and Civil War diaries and letters.
University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections - contains information regarding African American research
Alaska
Contains spreadsheets with indexes to naturalization records, probate records, WWI veterans, and vital statistics
Project Jukebox - University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program
American Samoa
Arizona
Arizona Genealogy Record Search - vital records
Arizona Memory Project includes oral histories, city directories, tax rolls and photos.
Arkansas
Contains records of Japanese-American WWII internment camps
Contains a searchable death records index
Central collection of vital records did not begin until 194. Before 1914 only Little Rock and Fort Smith kept birth and death records.
California
Calisphere - digitization of photographs, documents, letters, diaries, oral histories, and more
Colorado
Colorado Historical Society has newspapers dating back to 1859
Colorado Newspaper Collection contains more than 600,000 digitized newspaper pages from 1859-1923.
Denver Public Library Digital Collections
Contains a browsable mariage index for 1858-1939
Connecticut
Connecticut Digital Archives features a collection of indexed cemetery, church, marriage, and town records from across the state.
Dunham-Wilcox-Trott-Kirk although this is a family website, it gives you free access to many genealogy resources from New England and the Mid-Atlantic.
University of Connecticut’s Map and Geographic Information Center
Delaware
New River Notes is a good resource for place-name changes
District of Columbia
Note – Records of early DC settlers might be in either Maryland or Virginia
DC Health for vital records
DigDC contains digital collection of maps, photos, postcards, pamphlets, and historical newspapers
District of Columbia Courts for marriage records
OTR Recorder of Deeds for land records
Florida
Contains Spanish land grants, Confederate pension applications, WWI service cards and Works Projects Administration records.
Georgia
Visit the Department of Vital Records for birth certificates from 1919 to the present and death records from 1940 to the present
A list of county offices is available here
Contains colonial wills, confederate records, history books, photographs
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Georgia Towns and Cities, 1884-1941
GIL is an online book and manuscript collection catalog
Madison Cemeteries – local database maintained by the Madison City Cemetery Commission
Guam
Hawaii
Has ship passenger manifests from 1843 - 1900
Holds records from 1909 forward
Papakilo Database - contains both English and Hawaiian-language papers
Ulukau – Click on English Text link
Contains indexes to marriage, divorce, probate, and citizenship records
Idaho
Illinois
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library holds pre-20th century genealogical resources such as county histories, published genealogies, atlases, and plat books
CyberDrive Illinois contains the guide to the Illinois Regional Archives Depository, which will show you where to search for elusive records.
Illinois Department of Public Health – for vital records
Illinois State Library has release a research guide for each county.
The Newberry Library is home to Chicago’s history projects.
The collection includes translated foreign-language newspaper articles from the 1860’s to the 1930’s.
Indiana
Allen County Public Library has one of the largest genealogical research collections available
Indiana Department of Health - for vital records
Indianapolis Donation Database – for information about early settlers
Iowa
(Iowa) Department of Health - to order vital records
State Historical Society of Iowa
Contains collections of county vital records
Kansas
Kansas Memory - letters, diaries, photographs, newspapers
Kentucky
Louisiana
Marriages were recorded by parish clerks of court, and can be found by contacting each clerk individually
Maine
Contains a guide outlining which town records are online
Maine Office of Vital Statistics
Contains all vital records after 1892
Contains military records
Maine records created before 1920 may be with the Massachusetts State Archives Holdings for Maine
Maryland
Collection incluea African American funeral programs, Civil war records, diaries, oral histories, slave lists, etc.
Maryland Deparment of Health – for vital records
MDLANDREC (Maryland Land Records)
Massachusetts
Has the full run of Boston city directories, starting in 1789.
Houses multiple newspaper collections, with obituary and marriage indexes dating to the 1700’s.
Contains a database of arrivals through the port of Boston (1848-1891), and a database of Massachusetts birth, marriage, and death records (1841-1910).
Sturgis Library Newspaper Index - covers Cape Code newspapers
Michigan
Michigan Department of Community Health: for vital records
Michigan State University Library - contains some court records
Seeking Michigan contains death certificates, Civil war records, land records, lighthouse histories, and much more.
Minnesota
Minnesota Department of Health, Office of the State Registrar for vital records
Minnesota Digital Library contains newspapers, photographs, diaries, maps, plat books, oral interviews and more.
Offers Research Guides to record groups
Searchable Index to Births from 1900-1934, Deaths from 1908 – 2001 and Veteran’s Grave Registrations from 1857-1975
Mississippi
Missouri
Missouri Digital Heritage contains military records, naturalization documents, land patents, birth and death records, photographs, old newspapers, and much more.
Missouri State Archives - vital records, searchable database
State Historical Society of Missouri Digital Collection features a large newspaper collection
Montana
Montana.gov - state office of vital statistics
Nebraska
The History Harvest contains family histories and artifacts relating to immigrant families in Nebraska
Nevada
Nevada Department of Health and Human Services - Vital Records
Nevada Tribal Websites - list of websites for contemporary Indigenous tribes
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Jersey Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registrations
Contains Tax Records from 1772-1822
Contains birth records prior to 1922
Contains marriage and death records prior to 1940
Collection include military records, newspapers, city directories, Sanborn fire insurance maps, family histories and more.
Rutgers University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives
New Mexico
Visit Atlas of Historical County Boundaries for information on New Mexico county formation
New Mexico State Archives – holds a wide variety of records from territorial days.
Rocky Mountain Online Archives has a collection of funding aids for New Mexico holdings
New York
Contains a Guide to Military Records and a database of Civil War Soldiers
New York State Health Department for vital records
Old Fulton NY Post Cards – newspapers from 1795 – 2007
North Carolina
North Carolina Digital Collections
Contains 1901 Confederate Pension Applications, Alien Registration and Naturalization, Family Records, War of 1812 pay vouchers and more.
North Dakota
State Historical Society of North Dakota
Contains a Naturalization Records Database and original naturalization records
Has conducted an Oral History Project and a Veteran’s History Project
Northern Mariana Islands
Ohio
Cincinnati Digital Library provides access to photos, city directories, local histories, old yearbooks and atlases.
The Stark County District Library of Canton, OH has a digital archive of it’s oldest newspapers available here
Oklahoma
Gateway to Oklahoma History is a great resource for newspapers dating from 1840 – 1920
Oklahoma State Department of Health for vital records
Oregon
Access Genealogy contains information about Oregon’s American Indian tribes and the state’s five reservations
Center for Health Statistics – contact for vital records
Has online indexes to donation and provisional land claims
Has a register of pre-1900 settlers and their descendants
Pennsylvania
Department of Court Records has marriage records for Allegheny County
Puerto Rico
Digital Library of the Carribean - Newspapers from Barbados, Puerto Rico, and Cuba
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO)
Rhode Island Historical Society
Contains some military records
Rhode Island Judicial Records Center
Contains naturalization records
South Carolina
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control - for vital records
South Carolina Historical Society
University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections - family Bible records, city directories, church records, Civil War soldiers’ letters, historical newspapers, and interview with former slaves
South Dakota
Sioux Valley Genealogical Society’s marriage index (1872-1896) – for ancestors who married in Minnehaha County.
Tennessee
Note: Was not included in the US census until 1910.
Tennessee Department of Health Vital Records Office
Holds birth records less than 100 years old and death, marriage, and divorce records less than 50 years old
Older records are filed at the county level
Texas
Contains newspaper collections
Texas Digital Newspaper Program
Also contains maps and yearbooks.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Utah
Vermont
Vermont History (historical society)
Survey of town and church record inventories can be found here
Virginia
Virginia Department of Health - for vital records
Virginia Memory - includes drawings of historic houses, family bibles, cohabitation registers of former slaves, Revolutionary War land bounties and Civil War pension rolls.
Washington
West Virginia
Note: West Virginia did not appear in the federal census under that name until 1870. For 1810-1860 census, look under Virginia
West Virginia Archives and History - contains a county-by-county map
West Virginia Health Statistics Center – for vital records
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Department of Health – for vital records
Wisconsin Historical Society – features birth, death and marriage record indexes, newspaper clippings, property records and photos.
Wyoming
Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection - includes publications going back to 1849