North Carolina State Archives

United States North Carolina  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:archives@ncdcr.gov archives@ncdcr.gov]

Address:


 * 109 East Jones Street
 * (Mail to: 4610 Mail Service Center)
 * Raleigh, NC 27699-4610

Telephone: 919-807-7310 Fax:  919-733-1354

Search Room hours and holidays: Sunday-Monday closed; Tuesday-Friday: 8:00 - 5:30; Saturday 9:00 - 2:00. Closed on state holidays.

Map, parking, and public transportation:


 * Map: Google map
 * Parking: Visitors may park for a fee in one of three state government visitors' parking facilities:
 * Visitor Lot #1 (109 E. Jones Street), accessible from Jones or Edenton Streets.
 * Visitor Lot #3 (120 W. Edenton St), accessible from Salisbury Street.
 * Visitor Lot #2 (329 North Salisbury Street, ground level of Parking Lot 75), accessible from Salisbury and McDowell Streets.
 * Buses: The R-LINE, a free circulator bus service, is also available to visitors to downtown Raleigh. For more information on bus stops and pick-up times, consult the R-Line website.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Home: State Archives of North Carolina for the public, for government, for educators, visit us, contact, social media, laws and guidelines, get involved, search the catalog, duplication services, records by mail, online catalog, digital collections, types of government records, types of non-government records, Outer Banks History Center, and Western History Center.
 * Manuscript and Archives Reference System online catalog by title, subject, author, or donor.
 * Digital Resources: Genealogical Research alien registration and naturalization, Bible records, genealogy and information literacy playlist on YouTube, genealogy research, and North Carolina family records online.

Collection Description
Collection of country court records so large it has not all been cataloged. The North Carolina State Archives maintains original records of North Carolina governments on the state, district, and county levels. Includes audio visual material, government records, maps, War of 1812, Civil War, World Wars, newspapers, photos, county records, state agency records, veterans records, organization records, private collections, and defunct academic institution records.

Pictures of the archive and samples of records

Tips

 * You must have ID: Admission to the Search Room is by means of registering at the security desk, providing positive identification. An archives ID card will be issued for use in requesting original materials. Researchers request records by means of completing a call slip that will include the patron's archives ID number. The ID card will be surrendered to the staff while records are being used. The patron shall turn in the ID card at the security desk upon leaving the Search Room.
 * Power sources are limited. Charge your laptop before you come. Wireless is available.

Guides

 * Audio Visual Materials Finding Aids
 * County Records Box Lists
 * Military Collection Finding Aids
 * Organization Records Finding Aids
 * Outer Banks History Center Finding Aids
 * Private Collections Finding Aids
 * State Agency Finding Aids
 * Western Regional Archives Finding Aids


 * Beth Gilbert Crabtree, Guide to Private Manuscript Collections in the North Carolina State Archives. 3rd rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division, 1981). . . This lists about 12,000 collections with family histories, Bible records, biographical information, state and local records, records of organizations, banks, businesses (over 480 account books), schools, and historical subjects. The guide is well indexed.
 * North Carolina, Division of Archives and History. Guide to Research Materials in the North Carolina State Archives: County Records 11th rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina: Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1997). ..
 * North Carolina, Division of Archives and History.Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives, 12th rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina: Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 2009). ..
 * NC Archives YouTube Channel - Tutorials on how to use the North Carolina State Archives Online Search Catalog called MARS

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.
 * National Archives at Atlanta records of federal agencies and courts for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, Indian records, and military records.

Similar Collections


 * State Library of North Carolina, Raleigh, has Internet genealogy databases; digital: family Bibles, marriages, deaths, newspapers, and cemetery photos; genealogy guides; and county records.

Neighboring Collections


 * North Carolina Vital Records, Raleigh, order for a fee births since 1913, deaths since 1930, marriages since 1962, and divorces since 1958.
 * Wake County Register of Deeds births since 1913, marriages since 1770, deaths since 1913, and land entries since 1774.
 * Wake County Clerk of Superior Court probate records since 1770.
 * North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, Raleigh, publishes NC Historical Review.
 * Wake County Historical Society program archives, newsletter, and photos.
 * North Carolina Genealogical Society, Raleigh, NC Revolutionary War petitions and index, NC Loose Estates Records indexing project, newsletter, and society publications.
 * Wake County Genealogical Society meetings, newsletter, journal, and local genealogy publications.
 * Olivia Raney Local History Library, Raleigh, Internet databases, books, maps, photos, and files, and states from which Carolinians emigrated such as Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
 * U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina criminal and civil court records.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: Chattam, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, and Nash.
 * UNC Chapel Hill Libraries have the famed Southern Historical Collection  of plantation records, slavery, Civil War, families, religious communities, Civil Rights, NC books and their biographical index.
 * Duke University Perkins Library, Durham, largest manuscript collection in the South, including newspapers, county records, Bibles, and journals. Also census records from the National Archives.
 * Moravian Church Archives, Winston-Salem, for Moravians in southern states some diaries with name indexes, memoirs, published family histories, and research service for an hourly fee.
 * North Carolina Friends Historical Society, Greenboro, history of Quakers in North Carolina.
 * Presbyterian Heritage Center Research Library, Montreat, 35,000 books, Presbyterian church and congregation records, minutes, periodicals, church and mission histories.
 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
 * Chattanooga Public Library Downtown, Tennessee, has the Upper South's largest family folder collection which is heavy on North Carolina, Internet genealogy databases, census, newspapers, obituary index, county records, 30,000 books, manuscripts, and genealogical periodicals.
 * Knox County Public Library, Tennessee, has the best index to North Carolina families, Internet genealogy databases, 75,000 books, genealogies, First Families of Tennessee, manuscripts, censuses, state and local government records, newspapers, Knoxville city directories, maps, and photos.
 * Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown, California, holds the Tina Brayton Collection which is equivalent to the Draper Collection but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia  families.