Delaware Archives and Libraries

These repositories preserve sources, maintain indexes, and provide services to help genealogists document their ancestors who lived in Delaware.

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories for Delaware
Allen County Public Library IN· American Swedish Historical Museum PA· Delaware Genealogical Society· Delaware Historical Society Library· Delaware Public Archives· Delaware State University Jason Library· Dorchester County Central Public Library MD· Dover Public Library· Free Library of Philadelphia PA· Hagley Museum and Library· Historical Society of Pennsylvania PA· Library of Congress DC· Maryland Historical Society· Maryland State Archives· National Archives I in DC· National Archives at Philadelphia PA· Office of Vital Statistics· Pennsylvania State Archives· Salisbury University Nabb Research Center MD· Talbot County Free Library MD· University of Delaware Morris Library· Wilmington Public Library

Online Records of Delaware
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Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ G4 Washington, D.C. 20540-4660 Telephone: Reading Room: 202-707-5537 Fax:  202-707-1957 E-mail:  Ask a Librarian Internet: http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/
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 * The LC "Local History and Genealogy Reading Room" has moved to the main reading room, but services are unchanged. They are part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. Delaware family history is well represented.

National Archives I
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington DC Telephone: 1-866-272-6272 Fax:  301-837-0483 E-mail: National Archives and Records Administration Internet: http://archives.gov/
 * Archives I has nationwide censuses, pre-WWI military service and pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees. The National Archives Building in Washington, DC (Archives I), houses textual and microfilm records relating to genealogy, American Indians, pre-World War II military and naval-maritime matters, the New Deal, the District of Columbia, the Federal courts, and Congress. Their collection includes many people who settled in Delaware.

National Archives at Philadelphia
14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Telephone: 215-305-2044 Fax: 215-305-2052 E-mail: [mailto:Philadelphia.archives@nara.gov Philadelphia.archives@nara.gov] Internet: http://www.archives.gov/philadelphia/
 * This archives branch has federal agency and court records for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. All U.S. federal censuses 1790-1940, and indexes. Also have passenger arrivals in Philadelphia 1800-1945 and Baltimore, pension and bounty land warrant applications, naturalizations 1790-1990, early federal history, diplomacy, military history, World War II homefront, National Park Service, merchant marine, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and federal tax evasion and smuggling cases.

Delaware Genealogical Society
505 N. Market Street Wilmington, Delaware 19801-3091 Email: [mailto:president@delgensoc.org president@delgensoc.org] Website: Delaware Genealogical Society
 * This Society focuses on Delaware and surrounding states. They provide education and research assistance via their website, monthly seminars, newsletter, twice-yearly journal, DGS blog, queries, projects, free help, and fee-based help. Delaware Historical Society Library.JPG

Delaware Historical Society Library
505 N. Market Street Wilmington, DE 19801 Telephone: 302-655-7161 E-mail: [mailto:deinfo@dehistory.org deinfo@dehistory.org] Website: Delaware Historical Society
 * This an important facility for finding early Delaware sources: colonial records, newspapers, church records, state records, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Delaware histories and genealogies.

Delaware Public Archives
121 Duke of York St. Dover, DE 19901 Phone: (302) 744-5000 Fax: (302) 739-6710 E-mail: Contact form Website: Delaware Public Archives Facebook: Delaware Public Archives
 * They have good coverage of the colonial sources for each "hundred" and each county. Also, they provide finding aids and digitized records online. For a guide see:
 * Joanne Mattern, and Harold B. Hancock, comps. A Preliminary Inventory of the Older Records in the Delaware Archives. (Dover, Delaware: Delaware Public Archives, 1978). ; . This source briefly describes jurisdiction, record type, number of volumes, and dates covered.

Office of Vital Statistics
Division of Public Health 417 Federal Street Dover, DE 19901 Telephone:877-888-0248 Website: Birth & Death Records - Office of Vital Statistics
 * Obtain copies from the Office of Vital Statistics of birth, marriage, and death certificates either in person, by telephone, by written request—or by going online to the VitalChek Delaware webpage and using a credit card to pay the added fee for online BMD vital records requests. Delaware statewide registration began for births / deaths in 1881, and marriages in 1847. Some local counties or cities have some spotty earlier records.

Delaware State University Jason Library
William C. Jason Library 1200 N. DuPont Highway Dover, DE 19901-2277 Telephone 302-857-6191 Fax: 302-857-6177 E-mail: List of contacts Website: Library
 * They have a very good historical collection for Delaware.

Dover Public Library
35 Loockerman Plaza Dover, DE 19901 Telephone: 302-736-7030 E-mail: Ask a Delaware Librarian form Website: Dover Public Library
 * Collection covers Delawareana, the Delmarva Peninsula sources, local histories and genealogies.



Hagley Museum and Library
298 Buck Road (P.O. Box 3630) Wilmington, DE 19807-3630 Telephone: 302-658-2400 Fax: 302-658-0545 E-mail: [mailto:research@hagley.org research@hagley.org] Website: Hagley Research
 * This is in effect a second state public archives. They have early Delaware records, diaries, plat maps, and colonial records which cannot be found in the Delaware Public Archives. They also have records and publications of more than 1,000 businesses, and some families, especially the DuPont and related families. A guide to their records is:
 * John Beverley Riggs, A Guide to Manuscripts in the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library (Greenville, Delaware: First Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, 1970). 1970 ed., and 1978 supplement . This guide lists records acquired through 1965. The supplement lists records acquired through 1975.UDel - Morris library.jpg

University of Delaware Morris Library
181 South College Avenue Newark, DE 19717-5267 USA Telephone: 302-831-2965 E-mail: Ask the Library e-mail form Website: University of Delaware Library
 * This is virtually a second state archives. Wilmington Public Library, Wilmington, Del (62235).jpg

Wilmington Public Library
10 E 10th Street Wilmington, DE 19801 USA Telephone: 302-571-7400 E-mail: [mailto:wilmref@lib.de.us wilmref@lib.de.us] Website: The Wilmington Library
 * Delawareana, genealogies, and histories, Delaware Index of newspapers, city directories, maps, censuses 1810-1930, obituary searches for a fee, and digitized collections.



Allen County Public Library
900 Library Plaza Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802 Telephone: 260-421-1225 E-mail: [mailto:genealogy@acpl.info genealogy@acpl.info] Internet: Genealogy Center ACPL
 * This is the second-largest genealogy collection in the United States and the largest genealogy collection in a public library. Its holdings include more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items on microfilm and microfiche. It has a premier genealogical periodical collection, local histories, genealogies, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic sources, and Canadians. They have a great eastern seaboard and Delaware collection.

American Swedish Historical Museum
1900 Pattison Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19145 Telephone: 215-389-1776 E-mail: [mailto:info@americanswedish.org info@americanswedish.org] Internet: http://www.americanswedish.org/
 * New Sweden colony, and Swedish heritage in the Delaware Valley (northern Delaware, southern New Jersey, and southeast Pennsylvania).

Dorchester County Central Public Library
303 Gay St. Cambridge, MD 21613 Telephone: 410-228-7331 Internet: Dorchester County Public Library
 * Their collection includes many Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware historical sources.

Free Library of Philadelphia
1901 Vine Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-1157 (between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway) Telephone: 215-686-5322 E-mail: E-mail a Librarian form Internet: http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=cen
 * There are many historic Delaware manuscripts, books, Quaker and early settlement sources.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-5699 Telephone: 215-732-6200 Fax: 215-732-2680 E-mail: [mailto:ReadyReference@hsp.org ReadyReference@hsp.org] Internet: http://hsp.org/
 * More information here about early Delaware than in Delaware. Has early Quakers, Germans, Scots-Irish, and other settlers in William Penn's colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Records which have been published are normally well-indexed. This society also has 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century manuscripts (letters, diaries, account books, deeds, minutes, and scrapbooks), passenger arrival lists and indexes, local and regional history, ethnic and immigrant studies materials, 600,000 books, 20 million manuscripts, over 300,000 graphics items, and 300 years of newspapers.

Maryland Historical Society
201 West Monument St. Baltimore, Maryland 21201-4674 Telephone: 410-685-3750 E-mail: [mailto:reference@mdhs.org reference@mdhs.org] Internet: Maryland Historical Society Library Overview
 * This facility has a large genealogical book collection for Delaware, and family Bibles, newspapers, and biographies.

Maryland State Archives
Hall of Records Building 350 Rowe Boulevard Annapolis, MD 21401 Telephone: 410-260-6400 Fax: 410-974-2525 E-mail: [mailto:ref@mdsa.net ref@mdsa.net] Internet: Maryland State Archives
 * A good resource for finding early Delaware ancestors. The Maryland State Archives online has nearly all available public records from 1634 to 1789. This is the most complete collection of any of the 13 colonies. It can take up the three days just to check the indexes. For more information about the state archives, see the following references.
 * Maryland. Hall of Records. A Guide to the Index Holdings at the Hall of Records. Rev., Bulletin, [Maryland. Hall of Records] No. 17. (Annapolis, Maryland: Hall of Records, 1972.) This is a county-by-county list of indexes and years covered.

Pennsylvania State Archives
300 North Street     (mail to:  350 North Street) Harrisburg, PA 17120 Telephone: 717-783-3281 E-mail: [mailto:ra-statearchives@pa.gov ra-statearchives@pa.gov] Internet: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
 * Colonial references to Delaware settlements. This huge collection has indexes and original sources associated with the series, such as vital, military, prison, naturalization, land records, census, ships lists, railroads, mines, and 1.5 million online records including online genealogy guides.

Salisbury Univ Nabb Research Center
Salisbury University Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture Guerrieri Academic Commons (street address) (4th Floor, Room 430) 1101 Camden Ave (mailing address) Salisbury, MD 21801 Telephone: 410-543-6312 Fax: 410-677-5067 E-mail: [mailto:nabbcenter@salisbury.edu nabbcenter@salisbury.edu] Internet: Nabb Research Center
 * This repository has family files, family histories, local histories, photos, and artifacts from the Delmarva Penninsula (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) also called the "Eastern Shore." Includes correspondence, manuscripts, ledgers, diaries, local business and organizational records, maps, newspapers, land surveys, and oral histories. Microfilm collections hold governmental and church records of Somerset, Worcester, Dorchester and Wicomico counties in Maryland; Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia; and Sussex County in Delaware.

Talbot County Free Library
The Maryland Room 100 W. Dover St. Easton, Maryland 21601 Telephone: 410-822-1626 Fax: 410-820-8217 E-mail: Ask a Question form Website: Maryland Room: Local History and Genealogy Special Collections
 * Many Delaware and Eastern Shore historical sources.

Family History Centers
Some of the above collections are partially duplicated at the Family History Library and its branch Family History Centers around the world. Most centers can help you by: There are several centers located in Delaware, for example:
 * Giving you limited, personal, one-on-one research suggestions (but they do not do research for you) Family History Center Located in this Church Building .JPG
 * Providing access to genealogical records through the premium online Internet FHC Portal for free.
 * Offering free how-to classes (varies by location)
 * Fostering contact between genealogical enthusiasts
 * Wilmington Delaware Family History Center 143 Dickinson Lane Wilmington, DE Telephone: 302-654-1911
 * Each center is staffed by volunteers and has varying hours and services. Telephone in advance to verify their hours.

To locate one of these 4,500 centers in your own neighborhood, see Find a Family History Center.

Guidebooks

 * Barbara Ann Holley, ed. Directory of Libraries and Information Sources in the Philadelphia Area (Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware). (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Special Libraries Association, Philadelphia Chapter, 1977). ; . Briefly lists address, phone, hours, collection, and use of interlibrary loan.


 * Delaware Historical Records Survey, Inventory of the County Archives of Delaware. Number 1. New Castle County. (Dover, Delaware: The Public Archives Commission, 1941). ; Detailed description of each record type including years covered, number of volumes, and contents.