Georgia Historical Society

United States Georgia  Chatham  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:ghslib@georgiahistory.com ghslib@georgiahistory.com]

Address: Physical address: 501 Whitaker Street Mailing address: 104 W. Gaston Street Savannah, GA 31401 Telephone:  Tel 912.651.2125   Toll Free: 877.424.4789 Research Center: 912.651.2128 Fax:  Fax 912.651.2831 Research Center Hours:  Wed., Thu., Fri. 12 - 5, and 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month 10 - 5.

Map, and public transportation:


 * Map: Google map: Georgia Historical Society
 * Public transportation:  The Chatham Area Transit bus route #4 Barnard stops at Barnard and Gaston streets two blocks west of the Georgia Historical Society.

Internet sites and databases:


 * About the Research Center collection, building history, contact information.
 * GHS online catalog to non-circulating books, pamphlets, serials, and archival materials.
 * GHS digital image catalog selected images from the archives.
 * Finding Aids for Archival Collections 2,000 finding aids include detailed inventories of personal papers, family papers, organizational records, and business records.

Collection Description
They have almost as many genealogical sources as the Georgia Archives. Birth, marriages, and deaths 1803-1890. Their collection has 4 million manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, 30,000 architectural drawings, 15,000 books, maps, portraits, and artifacts. This includes family papers, military records from every Georgia war, papers of Georgia’s leaders, colonial account books, diaries, plantation records, papers of social and cultural organizations, and business records from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The periodical collection includes the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection of photographs holds portraits of many Georgia leaders.

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

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives at Atlanta federal censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty-land, photos, passengers lists, naturalizations, Native Americans, African Americans, and workshops.
 * Federal Records Center, Ellenwood, GA., receives federal agency and court records of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
 * Georgia Archives, Morrow, is the best place to start family history research in Georgia. Genealogies, county histories, newspapers, tax digests, private papers, church records, cemeteries, Bible records, municipal records, census, maps, land plats, photographs, Georgia Confederate service and pension records, colonial, headright bounty land grants, land lottery, and Georgia county records.

Neighboring Collections


 * Chatham County Register of Deeds has deeds, births, marriages, and deaths.
 * Coastal Health District GDPH has births 1890-now, marriages, and deaths 1891-now.
 * Chatham County Probate Court has wills and early marriages.
 * U.S. District Court
 * Bull Street Branch, Live Oak Public Libraries genealogy collection.
 * Catholic Diocese of Savannah Archives baptism, confirmations, marriages, deaths, and other parish records.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties in Georgia: Bryan, Effingham, in South Carolinia:  Beau, and Jasper.


 * Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Central Library, large collection with good coverage of the southeast USA. They have county histories, family histories, will indexes, deeds, military rosters, passenger lists, Atlanta city directories, Georgia censuses 1820-1930, local histories, and newspapers.
 * Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center, extensive Georgia family and county histories, Sons of the American Revolution library, holdings for North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama genealogy.
 * Afro-American Historical and Geneaylogical Society, Atlanta, members, meetings, newsletter, surname queries, links.
 * Jewish Genealogical Soc. of Georgia, Atlanta, family histories, immigration, East Europe, Georgia, North America.


 * Georgia Genealogical Society, Atlanta, events, meetings, membership, publications and index, and research tools, but no library.
 * University of Georgia Main Library, Athens, largest collection for early Georgia settlers. Also, they hold county histories, county records, family records, biographies and newspapers.
 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
 * Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH), Montgomery, military and state censuses, county records on microfilm, family histories, and newspapers.
 * State Archives of Florida, Tallahassee, public records, family/county histories, Memory Project.
 * North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, has so many county court records they have not all been cataloged, NC government records at the state, district, and county levels, maps, War of 1812, Civil War, World Wars, newspapers, and photos, organization records, private collections, and defunct academic institution records.
 * South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, county, district, colonial, state records, censuses, wills, Confederate penions, criminals, and land grants.
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, vital records, censuses, county records, tax lists, local histories, school censuses, military records, Native Americans, newspapers, obituary lists, and maps.