Tips for Salem Research

• Researching Family History
• Researching Houses and Buildings
• Researching Streets & Neighborhoods
• Historic Maps

Couldn’t find it on Ancestry.com?

Try the Massachusetts State Archives.

The Massachusetts Archives holds the official records created by Massachusetts state government. Holdings are organized by agency and date from 1629 to the present. Click here to access general information about the state archives including address, directions and hours.

Genealogy Research
Included in the Archives’ holdings

• Passenger Lists
• Vital Records: Pre-1841
• Vital Records: 1841-1920
• Vital Records: Post-1920
• Census Schedules
• Military Records
• The Massachusetts Archives Collection
• Papers Relating to Maine
• Records of State Institutions
• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives
• The Suffolk Files
• Naturalizations
• Divorces
• Probate
• Name Changes
• Adoptions
• Suffolk County Deeds
• African-American and Native American Resources

Librarians have maintained a gathering of newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets, brochures, photographs, postcards, and other ephemera relating to people, places, and things in Salem and the surrounding communities. It is intended to provide patrons with historic and background information on each topic. It is a great place to start! Please note: these files are not all-inclusive for any given topic. It is likely that additional material for each topic is available within other Salem Public Library holdings as well as other collections in the North Shore area.  A complete list of files maintained by the library is listed below.

List of Vertical Files available@ your Library