New Hampshire Historical Societies

This directory lists 5 historical societies, museums, and archives in New Hampshire. The list is small, but New Hampshire's records are unusually concentrated: the State Archives, the Division of Vital Records Administration, and the New Hampshire Historical Society are all in Concord within a few minutes of each other, and the ten county Registries of Deeds share one web portal. This guide explains what each one holds so you can plan a single trip or a single afternoon online.

New Hampshire was settled from 1623, governed as a royal province from 1679, and became the ninth state on June 21, 1788. Its counties did not exist until 1769, when the first five (Cheshire, Grafton, Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Strafford) were created; before that, every deed in the province was recorded in a single registry at Portsmouth. Births, marriages, and deaths have been kept by town clerks since the 1600s, but the state did not begin collecting copies effectively until the 1880s, and the returns are not reasonably complete until after 1901. Those two facts, late counties and town-based vital records, shape every search below.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories in Concord and beyond

Three institutions in Concord hold most of what a New Hampshire researcher needs.

• New Hampshire Division of Archives and Records Management (the State Archives), 9 Ratification Way, Concord, formerly addressed as 71 South Fruit Street. It preserves the permanent records of state government and the provincial period: pre-1772 province deeds, provincial probate files from the 1630s to 1771, court records, legislative papers, and town records transferred to the state. The Archives' genealogy page is at sos.nh.gov.
• Division of Vital Records Administration, same address. Besides issuing certificates, it runs a Genealogical Research Center with a public research vault whose records reach back to 1640 (sos.nh.gov/vital-records-0).
• New Hampshire Historical Society, 30 Park Street, Concord. Founded in 1823 and housed in a landmark building completed in 1911, it describes its library as the most comprehensive collection of New Hampshire history anywhere: manuscripts, maps, newspapers, town histories, genealogies, and photographs, all searchable through an integrated catalog with finding aids. Staff research services are available for those who cannot visit (nhhistory.org).

Ask the New Hampshire State Library, also in Concord, about printed town histories and newspaper microfilm; it is a sensible second stop after the Historical Society. Outside the capital, check the special collections catalogs at the University of New Hampshire in Durham and Dartmouth College in Hanover for regional manuscripts.

New Hampshire vital records: towns, the state vault, and the 100-year rule

Town clerks have recorded births, marriages, and deaths in New Hampshire since the early 1600s, and the town office remains the primary custodian. State-level copies are a later layer: until 1883 fewer than half of the population appears in state vital records, and the returns only become reasonably complete after 1901. For a 19th-century event, therefore, go to the town first and treat the state copy as a bonus.

• Public access: New Hampshire treats birth records more than 100 years old as public, and they can be searched by anyone at the Genealogical Research Center in Concord. More recent births and the other record types are restricted to people with a direct and tangible interest, generally family members.
• Ordering: certified copies come from the Division of Vital Records Administration or from the clerk of the town or city where the event occurred. Upon receipt of a completed application, identification, and the fee, Vital Records staff will also research older records for you.
• Marriages: recorded by the town clerk that issued the license, with a copy sent to the state.
• Divorces: an index to divorces and annulments prior to 1938 and divorce certificates for 1938 to 1947 are available on microfilm; later divorce records are held by the state and by the superior court that granted the decree.

One tip: when a town's early vital records were published, compare the printed version against the vault copy, because transcription errors in the printed volumes are common.

Land, deed, and property records: provincial deeds and county registries

New Hampshire is a state-land state. Land passed into private hands through town grants made by the Masonian Proprietors (the heirs and purchasers of Captain John Mason's 1629 patent) and by the provincial and later state governments, not through federal patents, so there are no General Land Office records to search.

• Before 1772: every deed in the province was recorded at Portsmouth. All surviving pre-1772 province deeds are now at the New Hampshire State Archives and on microfilm; FamilySearch holds them as New Hampshire Province Deeds and Probate Records, 1623 to 1772, 118 reels with indexes.
• From 1771 onward: deeds are recorded by the Registry of Deeds in each county. New Hampshire now has ten counties (Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, Strafford, and Sullivan), and all ten registries are reached through a single portal at nhdeeds.org. Most registries have scanned their historical deed books and grantor-grantee indexes, so a chain of title back to the county's founding can usually be run online.
• Town grants and proprietors' records: the Masonian Proprietors' grants and many individual town charters from 1629 into the 1800s are printed in volumes 24 to 29 of the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, which are online and on microfilm. The original proprietors' books for a given town are often still in the town office.

Remember that the county a deed is filed in depends on the date. A 1760s transaction in what is now Merrimack County will be in the Portsmouth province deeds; a 1790s one will be in Rockingham or Hillsborough County, because Merrimack did not yet exist. Our guide to tracing a deed chain explains how to carry a search across those boundaries.

Newspapers and city directories in New Hampshire

New Hampshire does not have a single state-run digital newspaper portal comparable to its neighbors. The practical sequence is:

• New Hampshire Historical Society: its library lists newspapers among its core collections, and its catalog is the best way to find out which titles exist for a given town and decade.
• New Hampshire State Library: newspaper microfilm for the major dailies and many weeklies.
• Chronicling America, the Library of Congress's free historic newspaper database: search by state to see which New Hampshire titles have been digitized.
• Local public libraries: many have digitized their own town weekly through a vendor, and these often do not show up in national databases. Ask the reference desk.

City directories exist for Manchester, Nashua, Concord, Portsmouth, Dover, and Keene from the second half of the 1800s; ask the Historical Society and the State Library which runs they hold. Because New Hampshire mill cities drew heavily on French-Canadian, Irish, and Greek immigrants, a directory entry is frequently the first record of a family's arrival, years before they appear in a town vital record. Our article on old city directories covers how to use them.

Census, military, and statewide indexes

New Hampshire took no state censuses. Federal censuses exist for every decade from 1790 through 1950, along with non-population schedules: mortality schedules for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880, the 1840 pensioners list, and the 1890 veterans schedule (the only part of the 1890 census that survives for most of the state). An index titled 1640 to 1890 New Hampshire: Miscellaneous Censuses and Substitutes on American Ancestors (New England Historic Genealogical Society) pulls together tax lists, petitions, and other pre-1790 name lists that stand in for a census.

Other statewide finding aids:

• Vital records index at the Genealogical Research Center: the state's consolidated index covers births more than 100 years old and is the single fastest way to locate which town recorded an event.
• Provincial probate, 1630s to 1771: at the State Archives, with an index; much of it is also printed in the Provincial and State Papers.
• Military rosters: the state published its Revolutionary War and Civil War rolls in the nineteenth century, arranged by regiment with towns of residence; the Historical Society and the State Library hold them, and the Society's manuscript collections add letters and diaries.

Researching a house or building in New Hampshire

The state historic preservation office is the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, part of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in Concord (nh.gov/nhdhr). It administers the National Register of Historic Places and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, maintains the statewide inventory of surveyed properties, and, jointly with the Department of Transportation, runs the Historical Highway Marker program, which has placed roadside markers since 1958. An interactive map of the markers is on the Division's website; as of early 2025 the program was repairing existing markers rather than accepting new proposals.

• Survey files: ask the Division whether your property has an individual inventory form or sits in a surveyed district or National Register nomination; those files usually contain a researched construction date and owner chain.
• Deeds: use nhdeeds.org to work back through the county registry, then the province deeds at the State Archives for anything before 1772.
• Maps: county atlases of the 1850s to 1890s label houses with owners' names; the Historical Society holds them. Sanborn fire insurance maps exist for the cities and mill towns; check the Library of Congress's online Sanborn collection and the State Library.
• Town tax inventories: where they survive, in the town office or the State Archives, they can date a house to within a year by the jump in valuation.

See our guides on dating a house and researching an old building, and use finding a burial to confirm death dates for former owners before ordering probate files.

Working with New Hampshire's town historical societies

As in the rest of New England, New Hampshire's historical societies are organized by town. They are typically volunteer-run, open seasonally or by appointment, and strongest in photographs, family papers, and the local weekly newspaper. County societies barely exist, so if your town's society has no online presence, the town library and the town clerk are the next calls. When you write, give the family name, the approximate years, and the village or road if you know it; many New Hampshire towns contain several distinct villages.

Additional New Hampshire History Resources

• New Hampshire State Archives (Division of Archives and Records Management) - Concord; provincial deeds and probate, court and town records, genealogy guidance
• New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration - Certificates and the Genealogical Research Center with records back to 1640
• New Hampshire Historical Society - 30 Park Street, Concord; founded 1823; research library and catalog
• New Hampshire County Registers of Deeds - Portal to all ten county Registries of Deeds
• New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources - State Historic Preservation Office: National and State Registers, historical highway markers
• FamilySearch Wiki: New Hampshire Vital Records - Record-by-record guide to town and state vital records with microfilm references
• FamilySearch Wiki: New Hampshire Land and Property - Province deeds, Masonian grants, and county registries explained

Frequently Asked Questions

Where are New Hampshire's oldest birth, marriage, and death records?

In the town where the event happened, and in the Genealogical Research Center run by the Division of Vital Records Administration at 9 Ratification Way (formerly 71 South Fruit Street) in Concord. The Center's public research vault holds records dating back to 1640, and birth records more than 100 years old are open to anyone. State-level coverage is thin before 1883 and not reasonably complete until after 1901.

Does New Hampshire have state census records?

No. New Hampshire never took a state census. Use the federal censuses from 1790 to 1950, the mortality schedules for 1850 to 1880, and the 1890 veterans schedule, plus the 1640 to 1890 Miscellaneous Censuses and Substitutes index on American Ancestors for pre-1790 tax lists and petitions.

Where do I find a deed from before New Hampshire had counties?

At the New Hampshire State Archives in Concord. Before 1772 all province deeds were recorded in one registry at Portsmouth; those books are now at the Archives and on microfilm (FamilySearch's New Hampshire Province Deeds and Probate Records, 1623 to 1772, 118 reels). From 1771 onward, deeds are at the county Registry of Deeds, and all ten registries are searchable through nhdeeds.org.

Who runs New Hampshire's historical highway markers?

The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources and the Department of Transportation jointly. Markers have been placed since 1958, an interactive map is on the Division's website, and new markers normally require a petition signed by at least 20 New Hampshire residents, though as of early 2025 the program was focused on repairing existing markers rather than adding new ones.