Texas Archives and Libraries

United States Texas  Archives and Libraries

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

National
National Archives Southwest Region (Ft. Worth)


 * for Microfilm research and public access computers: 2600 West 7th Street Suite 162 Fort Worth, TX, 76107 Telephone: 817-831-5620 Fax: 817-334-5621


 * for Archival research using textual records by appointment: [[Image:NARA Fort Worth.jpg|border|right|250px|NARA Fort Worth.jpg]]1400 John Burgess Drive Fort Worth, Texas 76140 Telephone: 817-551-2051 Fax: 817-551-2034

Internet for both: http://www.archives.gov/southwest

Subject specialties include censuses, westward expansion into the Southwest and settlement of Native Americans (especially Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), slavery, bankruptcy court, ethnology, genealogy, military service records, pension and bounty land warrant applications, passenger lists and Dawes census cards and enrollment jackets for the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma.


 * For further information, see  National Archives Southwest Region (Ft. Worth).

State
Texas State Library and Archives Commission Building F 1201 Brazos P.O. Box 12927 Austin, TX 78711 Phone: (512) 463-5460 Fax: (512) 463-5436 Original manuscripts for Texas under Mexico, as a republic, and as a state, including all counties, vital records, newspapers, books, and maps. Three divisions of the Texas State Library house materials of interest to genealogists: the Information Services, the Archives, and the Local Records divisions. The Information Services Division contains such records as published histories, vital record indexes, census records, and military records. The Archives Division preserves colonial, republic, and state government records, while the Local Records Division maintains valuable city and county government records. Microfilm copies of the city and county records are distributed among 26 Texas repositories.

A helpful guide to important sources at the Texas State Archives is:


 * Jean Carefoot, Guide to Genealogical Resources in the Texas State Archives (Austin, Texas: Archives Division, Texas State Library, 1984. A 197? edition is on film

The Texas State Library will loan selected materials from their Genealogy Collection. For a list of materials available for circulation, see Texas State Library, Texas State Library Circulating Genealogy Duplicates List. Austin, Texas: Texas State Library, 1992. A 1985 edition is available on Briscoe Center for American History (University of Texas at Austin) 2300 Red River St. Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 2 Room 2.106 Austin, Texas 78712-1426


 * This collection is as large as the state archives including newspapers, biographies, private collections, the American South, military history, Western Americana, and photos, and the Natchez Trace Collection papers from Mississippi and Louisiana.

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research 5300 Caroline Houston, TX 77004 Telephone: 713-284-1999 Internet: http://www2.houstonlibrary.org/clayton/


 * One of America's best genealogical collections. Especially strong for Texas, adjoining states, and Tennessee.

Dallas Public Central Library 1515 Young St. Dallas, TX 75201-9987 Telephone: 214-670-1400 Internet: http://dallaslibrary2.org/genealogy/index.php


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

Regional
Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library P.O. Box 1401 San Antonio, TX 78205-1401 Phone: (210) 225-1071 Fax: (210) 212-8514


 * Especially good collection for the Mexican colonial era in Texas, good resources for the Texas Republic, and genealogical reference works.

San Antonio Public Library 600 Solidad Plaza San Antonio, TX 78205 Phone: (210) 207-2500


 * Good genealogy and Texana collection.

Ralph W. Steen Library (Stephen F. Austin State University) 1112 North St., Nacogdoches TX 75962 Phone: (936) 559-2970


 * Good genealogy collection including the pre-Civil War period, the East Texas lumber industry, and oral histories.

Galveston and Texas History Center (Rosenberg Library) 2310 Sealy Avenue Galveston, TX 77550 Phone: (409) 763-8854 Fax: (409) 763-0275


 * Their strength is records of ethnic Germans in Texas, and a database of immigrants to the Gulf Coast.

Fort Worth Public Library (Central Library) 500 W. Third St. Fort Worth, TX 76102-7305 Phone: (817) 392-7740


 * Very good genealogy collection of newspapers, obituaries, biographies, histories and genealogies covering the entire Southwest. Focus is on Texas, the South, the Midwest, and the original thirteen states.

Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center 650 FM 1011 Liberty, TX 77575 Phone: (936) 336-8821


 * Come here for records of some of the earliest Texas settlers. Also houses county records of Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, and Tyler counties.

Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association in Louisiana 2nd Floor Old Parish Courthouse Natchitoches, LA 71458-1349 Phone: (318) 357-2235.


 * "French" records from the early 1700's, with an index by the Parish Clerk. The collection has many references to Americans bound for Texas.

Baylor University Texas Collection P.O. Box 97142 Waco, TX 76798-7142

Texas State Genealogical Society c/o Scott Fitzgerald, Treasurer [scottfitzgerald at tyler.net] PO Box 7308 Tyler, TX 75711-7308 Phone: (903) 539-5572 Fax: (903) 592-6782

Archive Inventories
To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Texas counties, use the 24 inventories of the county archives produced by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has copies of all of these inventories.

The Texas County Records Inventory Project of North Texas State University Center for Community Services has produced more recent inventories of the records of about a third of the state's counties. These can be purchased from the Texas State Archives. The Family History Library has copies of most of these inventories. They are listed in the catalog under


 * TEXAS, [COUNTY] - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES.