What are examples of primary sources for genealogy research and where to find them?
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Executive summary
Primary sources for genealogy include vital records (birth, marriage, death), census returns, military and pension files, land deeds and probate/wills, church and parish registers, city directories, newspapers and obituaries, and original manuscripts such as family Bibles and letters; major repositories and portals that hold or index these records include the U.S. National Archives (census, military, immigration, naturalization, land) [1] [2], the Library of Congress digital collections (manuscripts, photographs, historic newspapers, maps) [3] [4], and large online aggregators or subscription services such as GenealogyBank, Ancestry/Fold3 partnerships with NARA, and FamilySearch [5] [6] [7]. Experts and institutional guides consistently advise starting with primary sources and using secondary materials as leads [8].
1. Start with the essentials: what counts as a primary record
Genealogical "first‑hand" records commonly considered primary include vital records (birth, marriage, death), census schedules, land deeds, wills and probate, military service and pension files, immigration and passenger lists, naturalization records, and church/parish registers; academic and library guides list these exact categories as foundational primary materials for family history research [9] [1].
2. Where to find government primary records at scale
The U.S. National Archives is the central repository for many genealogically important federal records — census, military, immigration (ship passenger lists), naturalization, and land records — and offers both online finding aids and digitized holdings, including partner digitization on Ancestry and Fold3 with free access inside NARA facilities [1] [6] [2].
3. Libraries and national repositories for digitized primary sources
The Library of Congress hosts millions of digitized primary items useful for genealogy — manuscripts, images (photographs and architectural drawings), maps and historic newspapers — and publishes research guides to help family historians navigate those digital collections [3] [4]. Smithsonian and other major research libraries also curate Archives Unbound and other Gale digital collections that include primary documents and family histories [10] [11].
4. Newspapers and obituaries: story and fact in one place
Historical newspapers are repeatedly identified as rich primary evidence for obituaries, local events, and family details; commercial services such as GenealogyBank advertise billions of newspaper records and updated title collections, while the LOC and library archives point researchers to NEH‑partnership digitized newspaper runs [12] [3] [5].
5. State, local, and special collections matter more than you expect
State archives, university special collections, county courthouses, and historical societies often hold unique primary materials — state censuses, county probate, land patents, and compiled pension files — and many institutions are increasingly digitizing or indexing these records online [13] [14] [15]. Library guides emphasize using state and local portals in addition to national resources [14] [15].
6. Aggregators and subscription services: reach and limits
Commercial and aggregator platforms (Ancestry, Fold3, Gale Primary Sources, ArchiveGrid, HeritageQuest) index and deliver access to vast primary sources, but institutional guides note these are sometimes paid services and that some holdings were digitized via partnerships [11] [16] [6] [17]. The National Genealogical Society and major libraries also publish curated lists of free, high‑value websites to combine paid and free research paths [18].
7. Family records, oral evidence, and how to treat them
Family Bibles, letters, oral histories and photos are primary when created contemporaneously; methodology guides urge treating them as primary but corroborating with government or institutional records because memories and transcriptions can be inaccurate [19] [8].
8. Practical roadmap: how to prioritize your searches
Start locally with known facts and seek contemporaneous primary documents (vital records, census) before relying on secondary compiled trees; use national portals (NARA, LOC, FamilySearch) for broad searches, consult state archives and county courts for localized records, then newspapers and special collections for context and leads [1] [4] [7] [14].
Limitations and competing perspectives: institutional guides and commercial vendors agree on core primary record types, but they differ on access models — many repositories provide free searches while aggregators offer convenience at a price and sometimes repackage NARA digitizations [6] [11]. Available sources do not mention pricing details, specific search tactics for every record type, or country‑by‑country options beyond U.S. and selected international portals (not found in current reporting).