Indiana Archives and Libraries

Public and private organizations, such as societies and churches, often place their old records in archives or libraries for safekeeping. Many archives and libraries have also prepared aids to help researchers find records in their collections. The archives, libraries, and societies listed below have major collections of compiled genealogies or services helpful to genealogical researchers. Compiled records are collections of information about a person, group, or family. You can save a lot of time by seeing what information others have already found about your family. You should use these secondary sources with caution and evaluate them for accuracy.

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services for Indiana genealogical research.

State Archives and Libraries
Commission on Public Records Indiana State Archives 140 North Senate Avenue, Room 117 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Telephone: 317-232-3660 Fax: 317-233-1085 Internet: http://www.in.gov/icpr/

The Indiana State Archives, Commission on Public Records, houses state and local government records including land office, census, and military records for Indiana.

Indiana State Library, Indiana Division 140 North Senate Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296 Telephone: 317-232-3670 Fax: 317-232-3728 Internet: www.statelib.lib.in.us

Indiana State Library, Genealogy Division 140 North Senate Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296 Telephone: 317-232-3689 Fax: 317-232-3728 Internet: http://www.in.gov/library/databases.htm

The Indiana State Archives is located in the same building as the State Library, but is a separate organization. The State Library’s Genealogy Division is well-known for its family and local histories and its census, military, cemetery, and vital records collections. The Indiana Division has county histories, Indiana periodicals, maps, photographs, and newspapers. It also houses a number of indexes to its collection. An important guide to the Indiana State Library is:

Miller, Carolynne L. Indiana Sources for Genealogical Research in the Indiana State Library. Indianapolis, Indiana: Genealogical Section, Indiana Historical Society, 1984. (Family History Library book 977.2 D23mc.)

A listing of family records and other sources at the Indiana State Library is found in:

Pumroy, Eric. A Guide to Manuscript Collections of the Indiana Historical Society and Indiana State Library. Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Historical Society, 1986. (Family History Library book 977.2 H23p.)

National Archives Regional Center
National Archives–Great Lakes Region (Chicago) 7358 South Pulaski Road Chicago, IL 60629 Telephone: 773-581-7816 Fax: 312-353-1294 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/great-lakes/

This center has federal censuses, passenger lists, Indian census rolls (1885–1940), records of marine inspection and navigation for Indiana (1865–1968; includes owners, masters, and crew members), naturalization indexes, General Land Office records for Indiana (1808–1876; listed by land office), U.S. District and Circuit Court records for Indiana (1819 –1961), military, and other records.

For more information about their holdings, see:

Szucs, Loretto Dennis, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. The Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1988. (Family History Library book 973 A3sz)

Genealogical and Historical Societies
Indiana Genealogical Society P.O. Box 10507 Fort Wayne, IN 46825-0507 Internet: http://www.indgensoc.org/

The Indiana Genealogical Society publishes an online newsletter in the Members Only area of the IGS website. The Indiana Genealogist, a quarterly journal, is in its last year as a print publication and will be published online in the future.

The Indiana Genealogical Society website includes numerous databases of interest to those with Hoosier ancestors. Some are available free and others are in the Members Only area of the website.

IGS directs the Society of Civil War Families of Indiana, a membership organization comprised of desendants of soldiers who served in the Civil War in Indiana units.

Applications for the Territorial Guard Society of Indiana, a membership organization of those who can prove direct ancestral residence within the boundaries of the present state of Indiana on or before 11 December 1816 will begin being accepted 1 January 2011, with the first inductees to be installed in April 2012. Watch for more information to appear on the IGS website.

Indiana Historical Society 315 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 Telephone: 317-232-1882 Fax: 317-233-3109 Internet: www.indianahistory.org

A guide to family records and other sources at the Indiana Historical Society is in Eric Pumroy’s book cited above.

See the "Genealogy" section of this outline for information about Ruth Dorrel’s book Pioneer Ancestors of Members of the Society of Indiana Pioneers. The records of the Society of Indiana Pioneers are in the basement of the Indiana Historical Society.

Allen County Public Library
Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center 900 Webster Street Fort Wayne, IN 46802 Telephone: 219-421-1225 Internet: www.acpl.lib.in.us

The Genealogy Centerhouses the second largest genealogy research collection in the United States, and the largest in a public library. It is primarily a North American collection, with some complementary resources for the British Isles and other European countries.

Cavanaugh, Karen B. A Genealogist’s Guide to the Allen County Public Library, St. Wayne, Indiana, 3rd ed. Fort Wayne, Ind.: The Author, ca. 1983. (Allen County Public Library, 977.202 F77cav); (Family History Library has the original 1980 edition titled A Genealogist's Guide to the Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Public Library, published by McDowell Pub., 1980 977.274/F1 A3c)

Loss of Records through Disasters
There have been over 50 courthouse fires and other natural disasters in Indiana that have caused significant losses of records. A list of these lost records was prepared by John J. Newman of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1988. In the list, the date in parentheses following the county name is the year the county was organized. A fire in one parent county might have affected other counties that were later divided off from it.


 * Boone (1830) 1856–loss of deed records (partially re-recorded), tax, and commissioner records
 * Brown (1836) 1873–loss of deed and mortgage records (partially re-recorded)
 * Clark (1801) 1937–flood, loss of original court, marriage, and probate files
 * Clay (1825) 1851–early probate and marriage records were destroyed (all deeds and mortgages survived)
 * Daviess (1817) 1891, 1927, 1985; 1891–fire heavily damaged deeds, mortgages, and commissioner records (fragments were re-recorded from original ledgers)
 * Dearborn (1803) 1826–loss of virtually all courthouse records
 * DeKalb (1837) 1913–loss of Clerk’s records, including naturalization, some marriages, most probate, and nearly all civil records
 * Dubois (1818) 1839–loss of all courthouse records (some court and deed records were re-recorded)
 * Jasper (1838) 1865–loss of all court and marriage records (a few were re-recorded)
 * Jennings (1817) 1859–loss of some records; 1950s– man-made loss of civil complete order books and naturalization records by mold due to poor storage
 * Johnson (1823) 1847 and 1874–loss of original papers; marriage book one begins July 1830, but a few marriage licenses date from 1823.
 * Knox (1790) 1814–loss of all deed and mortgage records
 * Madison (1823) 1880–loss of marriage, court, and probate records; 1950s–disposal of commissioner and tax records
 * Martin (1820) 1876–loss of some tax and commissioner records
 * Miami (1834) 1843–loss of all court and marriage records (deed and commissioner records generally survived)
 * Morgan (1822) 1876–loss of some court, probate, tax, and commissioner records
 * Noble (1836) 1843–loss of all courthouse records; 1859, loss of all court, probate, and marriage records
 * Parke (1821) 1833–loss of all courthouse records (some court and deed records re-recorded)
 * Porter (1836) 1934–loss of original court and probate files, most contemporaneous to the fire, but some earlier files were destroyed
 * Randolph (1818) 1955–disposal of court and probate ledgers, including naturalization records (court order books were not destroyed)
 * Spencer (1818) 1833–loss of most records (some court, probate, marriage and deed records survived)
 * Sullivan (1817) 1850–loss of virtually all courthouse records (some deed and one probate ledger survived)
 * Vermillion (1824) 1923–loss of some commissioner and tax records
 * Warren (1827) 1907–loss of commissioner records (many re-recorded) and tax records

Archives Inventories
Thompson, Donald E. Preliminary Checklist of Archives and Manuscripts in Indiana Repositories. Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Historical Society, 1980. (Family History Library book 977.2 A3p) This book contains lists of manuscripts, the counties they relate to, and the addresses of the libraries and archives that house them. It is arranged alphabetically by county and archive.

Web Sites
You can find computerized research tips and information about your ancestors from Indiana in a variety of Internet 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 are subject to frequent changes. The following sites are important gateways that link you to many more sites:

FamilySearch™ 

www.familysearch.org

At this site you can access the Family History Library Catalog, Ancestral File, International Genealogical Index, SourceGuide, lists of Family History Centers, web sites related to family history, and lists of researchers interested in similar genealogical topics. You can also learn about and order Family History Library publications.

Cyndi Howell’s List

www.cyndislist.com/in.htm

This list has more links to other Indiana genealogical sites and describes more resources than any other site on the Internet.

USGenWeb

www.rootsweb.com/~ingenweb/

This is 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

www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/usa/in.html

This useful list of sites and resources includes a large, regularly updated research coordination list.

Helm’s Genealogy Toolbox: Indiana 

http://www.genealogytoolbox.com/

This site lists family associations, maps, libraries, and county genealogical societies.

You can find Indiana archive directories, handbooks, and inventories by looking in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

INDIANA- ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

INDIANA, [COUNTY]- ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES