Georgia Historical Societies

This directory lists 5 historical societies, museums, and archives in Georgia, including the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, the Augusta Museum of History, and the Savannah History Museum. Each listing gives the organization's location, focus, and website so you can reach the right people before you plan a research trip.

Georgia was settled as a colony in 1733 and became the fourth state in January 1788. Its 159 counties were created over nearly two centuries, many of them carved from land handed out in the land lotteries of 1805 through 1833, so a family that never moved can still show up in three or four different county record sets. Courthouse fires are the other recurring problem: the Georgia Archives has compiled a list of dozens of counties whose courthouses burned or were otherwise damaged, which is why statewide collections such as tax digests, land lottery lists, and state-level land grants matter so much for Georgia research.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories in Georgia

The Georgia Archives (5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, operated by the University System of Georgia) is the state's official archive. Its research room is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and it sits next to the National Archives at Atlanta, so one trip covers both state and federal records. The Archives' online Virtual Vault is the portal to digitized Georgia documents from 1733 onward, and its research page hosts the Georgia Colonial and Headright Plat Index, built from the 1859 index to the state's recorded colonial and headright plats. Start at georgiaarchives.org.

• Georgia Historical Society, 501 Whitaker Street, Savannah. Founded in 1839, it holds about 5 million manuscript items. The Research Center is open Wednesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and on the first and third Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the Atlanta office is by appointment only. georgiahistory.com
• Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia, 300 South Hull Street, Athens. UGA's special collections unit for Georgia manuscripts, rare books, maps, and university archives. libs.uga.edu/hargrett
• Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative based at the UGA Libraries, aggregates free digitized collections from libraries, archives, and museums statewide and lets you browse by any of the 159 counties. dlg.usg.edu

Georgia has no separate state library for genealogy; the Archives in Morrow fills that role.

Georgia vital records

Statewide registration of births and deaths began in January 1919, and compliance was spotty for several years (deaths were generally complete by about 1922, births by about 1928). Certified copies from 1919 to the present come from the State Office of Vital Records, Georgia Department of Public Health, 1680 Phoenix Boulevard, Suite 100, Atlanta. A birth or death certificate costs $25, plus $5 for each additional copy ordered at the same time; online orders add a processing charge. Ordering options are at dph.georgia.gov/ways-request-vital-record.

• Before 1919: a few cities kept their own registers. Atlanta has births from 1887 and deaths from 1896 (Fulton County), Savannah has births from 1890 and deaths from 1803 (Chatham County), and Macon has births from 1891 and deaths from 1882 (Bibb County). Ask the county health department first, then the Georgia Archives.
• Marriages: licenses were issued by the county Court of Ordinary, later renamed the Probate Court, and the license books usually run back to the county's creation. The Georgia Archives holds many county marriage records dated before 1900.
• Divorces: filed in the Superior Court of the county. Statewide reporting of divorces to the vital records office only began in 1965, so earlier cases are found only at the courthouse.

Land, deed, and property records

Georgia is a state-land state: the colony and then the state granted land directly, so there are no federal General Land Office patents to search. Two systems governed original title.

• Headright grants (1756-1909) covered the older eastern counties. Transfers before 1777 were generally recorded in Savannah; the originals belong to the Surveyor General Department records at the Georgia Archives, and the Colonial and Headright Plat Index is searchable online.
• Land lotteries in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, 1832, and 1833 distributed the western and northern parts of the state after the Creek and Cherokee cessions. The lottery lists name every eligible drawer by county of residence, which makes them a census substitute for the lost 1790, 1800, and 1810 federal schedules.

Once land was in private hands, every later deed, mortgage, and plat was recorded by the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the land lies. Those deed books are still at the courthouse, often with an online index, and the Georgia Archives holds microfilm for many counties. For the step-by-step method see how to trace a property's deed history.

Newspapers and city directories

Georgia Historic Newspapers, run by the Digital Library of Georgia with GALILEO and the UGA Libraries, should be your first stop. It is free, full-text searchable, and covers more than 1,170 titles and 520,000 issues from 1763 to the present, browsable by title, city, and county. Chronicling America at the Library of Congress also carries Georgia titles, but the DLG site is larger for this state, so search it first.

City directories for Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, and Columbus survive in print and on microfilm at the Georgia Archives, the Georgia Historical Society, and the larger public libraries; check the Digital Library of Georgia catalog for digitized runs before you travel. Our guide to old city directories explains how to read the abbreviations and reverse (street) sections.

Census, military, and statewide indexes

• Federal census: Georgia's 1790 and 1810 schedules are lost, and only Oglethorpe County survives for 1800. Complete coverage begins in 1820. Use land lottery lists and county tax digests at the Georgia Archives to bridge the gap.
• State censuses: only scattered county returns survive, including Taliaferro County (1827), selected counties in 1838, 1845, and 1852, Columbia and Terrell counties (1859), and an 1896 Atlanta city census. All are held by the Georgia Archives.
• Military: Confederate pension applications filed with the state are at the Georgia Archives, as are Georgia militia and Confederate service-related series; federal compiled service records are at the National Archives next door in Morrow.
• Court index: the Archives maintains an index to cases appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court from 1846 to 1917; the case files themselves are in Morrow and often contain land disputes and estate fights full of family detail.
• Land indexes: Georgia Headright and Bounty Land Records (1783-1909) are indexed on FamilySearch, and the Colonial and Headright Plat Index is on the Georgia Archives site.

Researching a house or building in Georgia

Georgia's State Historic Preservation Office is the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Community Affairs (dca.georgia.gov). It runs the National Register of Historic Places program for the state and has overseen a historic resources survey since 1974. Its public database, GNAHRGIS (Georgia's Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources GIS), maps more than 127,000 surveyed historic resources and includes every Georgia National Register listing with digitized nomination forms. Choose the public-access option; no login is required.

• Pull the deed chain at the Clerk of Superior Court, then read the county tax digests at the Georgia Archives to find the year a building value first appears on the parcel.
• Search the Digital Library of Georgia and the Library of Congress for Sanborn fire insurance maps of your town; they show footprints, construction materials, and street numbers year by year.
• The Georgia Historical Society has erected and maintains more than 2,200 roadside historical markers; the marker text is searchable on its website.

Our articles on dating a house and researching an old building walk through the general method, and finding a burial covers cemetery records for the families who lived there.

Working with Georgia's local societies

Most Georgia societies are organized by county rather than by town, and many are run by volunteers with hours of one or two days a week. Email before you drive; ask whether they hold the county's marriage or deed microfilm, cemetery surveys, or an obituary index, because those local indexes rarely appear online. For counties with burned courthouses, the local society is often the only place that has reconstructed deed abstracts or church registers. Pair a society visit with a day at the Georgia Archives in Morrow (Tuesday through Saturday) or the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, and bring a list of exact county names and years, since county boundaries shifted repeatedly as the lotteries opened new land.

Additional Georgia History Resources

• Georgia Archives - State archives in Morrow; research room Tuesday-Saturday, finding aids, headright plat index
• Georgia's Virtual Vault - Digitized Georgia Archives documents from 1733 onward, including county maps and plats
• Georgia Department of Public Health, Vital Records - How to order birth and death certificates from 1919 forward
• Georgia Historic Newspapers - Free full-text newspapers, 1763 to present, browsable by county
• Digital Library of Georgia - Statewide portal to digitized collections from Georgia libraries, archives, and museums
• Historic Preservation Division, Georgia DCA - State Historic Preservation Office; National Register and survey programs
• GNAHRGIS - Map-based database of surveyed historic resources and National Register listings
• Georgia Historical Society - Savannah research center, manuscripts, and the state historical marker program
• Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library - University of Georgia special collections in Athens
• FamilySearch Wiki: Georgia Vital Records - Record dates, custodians, and city registers before 1919

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Georgia start keeping birth and death certificates?

Statewide registration began in January 1919, with deaths generally complete by about 1922 and births by about 1928. Certified copies from 1919 forward are issued by the State Office of Vital Records in Atlanta for $25. Before 1919, only Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon kept city registers (Savannah deaths go back to 1803), held by the county health departments and the Georgia Archives.

Where are Georgia land lottery records?

The lotteries of 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, 1832, and 1833 are documented at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, which holds the Surveyor General Department records. The lists name every eligible drawer by county, so they double as a census substitute for the lost 1790, 1800, and 1810 federal schedules. Published transcriptions exist for every lottery, and the Archives' Virtual Vault carries related plats and county maps.

My ancestor's Georgia courthouse burned. What can I use instead?

Start with statewide series that never sat in the courthouse: county tax digests, land lottery and headright grants, Confederate pension files, and Supreme Court appeal files at the Georgia Archives. Deeds were often re-recorded after a fire, so later deed books may recite a full chain of title. Local historical societies frequently hold church registers, Bible records, and cemetery surveys that fill the gap.

Are old Georgia newspapers online for free?

Yes. Georgia Historic Newspapers, run by the Digital Library of Georgia, offers free full-text search of more than 1,170 titles from 1763 onward, browsable by county and town. It is larger than the Georgia portion of Chronicling America, so search it first and use the Library of Congress site as a backup.