South Dakota Archives and Libraries

United States South Dakota  Archives and Libraries

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



South Dakota State Archives 900 Governors Drive Pierre, SD 57501 Phone: (605) 773-3804 Fax: (605) 773-6041 E-mail: archref@state.sd.us

National Archives Rocky Mountain Region (Denver) Denver Federal Center Building 48 P.O. Box 25307 Denver, CO 80225-0307 Phone: (303) 407-5700 Fax: (303) 407-5707 http://www.archives.gov/rocky-mountain/

National Archives—Central Plains Region (Kansas City) 400 West Pershing Road Kansas City, MO 64108 Phone: (816) 268-8000

I.D. Weeks Library University of South Dakota 414 E. Clark Street Vermillion, SD 57069 Phone: (605) 677-5371 Fax: (605) 677-5488 E-mail: [mailto:weeksref@usd.edu weeksref@usd.edu]

Center for Western Studies P.O. Box 727 Augustana College Sioux Falls, SD 57197 Phone: (605) 336-4921 Fax: (605) 336-5447 To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of South Dakota counties, use the nine inventories of county archives produced by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has copies of most of these inventories.

South Dakota Digital Collections
has statewide online database links which may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.

Web Sites
You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from South Dakota in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost. Addresses on the Internet change frequently. The following sites are important gateways linking you to many more sites:


 * USGenWeb A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, state, and country.


 * Roots-L A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly-updated research coordination list.


 * FamilySearch™ FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.