Georgia Archives and Libraries

United States Georgia  Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have major collections or services helpful to genealogical researchers:

National
Dallas Public Central Library 1515 Young St. Dallas, TX 75201-9987 USA Telephone: 214-670-1433 E-mail: [mailto:genealogy@dallaslibrary.org genealogy@dallaslibrary.org] Internet: Dallas Public Library Genealogy


 * Outstanding genealogical collection with records for more than Texas, including Georgia, Oklahoma, the South, Mid-Atlantic, and New England states.

National Archives at Atlanta 5780 Jonesboro Road Morrow, Georgia 30260 USA Phone: 770-968-2100 Fax: 770-968-2547 E-mail: [mailto:atlanta.archives@nara.gov atlanta.archives@nara.gov] Internet: National Archives at Atlanta


 * Records from over 100 federal agencies and courts in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Also includes Vice Admiralty Courts of SC, evolution of federal courts, Constitutional rights, Revolutionary War, Civil War, reconstruction, World Wars I and II, and space exploration. Microfilms for censuses, diplomatic missions, military service records, bounty-land applications, passenger arrival lists, naturalizations, American Indians, and African Americans.

Statewide
Georgia State Archives 5800 Jonesboro Road Morrow, GA 30260 Phone: 678 364-3700 Internet: Georgia Archives


 * Holdings include state government records, county records, Georgia histories, newspapers, and some family histories. This is the best place to start family history research in Georgia. The Georgia Archives identifies and preserves Georgia's most valuable historical documents.


 * Georgia's Virtual Vault provides virtual access to historic Georgia manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records housed in the state archives. It includes Colonial will books, Confederate pension applications, County maps, County tax digests, Georgia death certificates, headright and bounty plats, marriage records, Spanish-American War service summary cards and more.


 * Two helpful guides to the collection are:


 * Georgia Department of Archives and History.A Preliminary Guide to Eighteenth-Century Records Held by the Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta, Georgia. The Department, 1976.


 * Davis, Robert Scott, Jr. Research in Georgia. Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1981.

Georgia Historical Society 501 Whitaker Street Savannah, GA 31499 Internet: Georgia Historical Society Library


 * They have almost as many genealogical sources as the Georgia Archives.

Georgia Genealogical Society P.O. Box 38066 Atlanta, GA 30334 Internet: Georgia Genealogical Society


 * They provide advice but have no building or library collection of their own.

Regional
Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room

2025 Baxter Street

Athens, GA 30606

Telephone: 706-613-3650 x350

Internet: Heritage Room "This book, map, microfilm and archival collection spans the southeastern United States and up the East Coast, with limited holdings pertaining to New England. Local history holdings include vertical files, surname files and newspapers. The Heritage Room is a department of the Athens-Clarke County Library, part of the Athens Regional Library System, and the Reading Room maintains separate hours of the rest of the Library. Registration with a government-issued photo ID is required." Atlanta History Center 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW Atlanta, GA 30305 Telephone: 404-814-4000 E-mail: Contact Us Internet: Atlanta History Center


 * Sources for studying Atlanta and southern regional history and culture. The 42,000 square foot library possesses over 15,000 cubic feet of records, including 33,000 published volumes, more than 2,000 manuscript and photograph collections, and 7,800 rolls of microfilm.

Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Central Library


 * Their Historic Georgia, and Genealogy collections are large with good coverage of the Southeast United States.

Coweta County Genealogical and Historical Research Library


 * Holdings include the best set of family folders in Georgia.

DeKalb History Center


 * Subject files, biographical files, DeKalb County cemetery index, maps, manuscripts, photographs, rare books, DeKalb County collection such as memoirs, yearbooks, and Atlanta City and suburban directories.

Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library Moultrie-Colquitt County Library 204 5th Street, S.E. Moultrie, Georgia 31768 USA Telephone: 229-985-6540 E-mail: [mailto:mccls@mccls.org mccls@mccls.org] Internet: Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library


 * Emphasizes Scottish immigrants to America, but also has a good basic American genealogy collection.

Huxford Spear Genealogical Library


 * Their genealogical collection covers the Southeast United States well.

John E. Ladson Jr. Genealogical and Historical Library 119 Church Street Vidalia, GA 30474 Internet: John E. Ladson Jr. Genealogical and Historical Library


 * This is primarily a book collection, but their genealogical sources cover the entire Atlantic seaboard.

Salzburger Society Loest Research Library 2980 Ebenezer Road Georgia Highway 275 Rincon, Georgia 31326 Telephone: 912-754-7001 E-mail: [mailto:gaslzbrgr@aol.com gaslzbrgr@aol.com] Internet: Georgia Salzburger Society


 * Histories, journals, genealogical records, and church histories.

Southwest Georgia Regional Library


 * They have very good books, surname folders, genealogies, newspapers, and oral history collections.

Thomasville Genealogical, History and Fine Arts Library 135 North Broad Street Thomasville, Georgia 31792 USA Telephone: 229-226-9640 Fax: 229-226-3199 E-mail: [mailto:glibrary@rose.net glibrary@rose.net] Internet: Thomasville Genealogical, History and Fine Arts Library


 * Good collection of southern states family history material.

University of Georgia Main Library


 * They have the largest collection in the state of manuscripts about early Georgia settlers. Also, they hold county histories, county records, family records, biographies and newspapers.

Washington Memorial Library Washington Memorial Library Middle Georgia Regional Library 1180 Washington Avenue Macon, GA 31201 Internet: Washington Memorial Library


 * One of the best collections in Georgia for genealogy, African Americans, and local history.

For Further Reading

 * Ellen Garrison, ed., Archives in Appalachia: A Directory (Boone, North Carolina: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1985). ; . This work covers the states of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The record is arranged alphabetically by state, then by the name of the repository. Each entry lists the archive, its address, phone number, inclusive dates of the collection, the records of the collection, what subjects are covered by the collection, and the size of the collection.