North Dakota Historical Societies

This directory lists 3 historical societies, museums, and archives in North Dakota: the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck, which is also the state archives and preservation office, and the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Missouri near the Montana line, plus one more listing below. The research guide that follows is written for the typical North Dakota problem: an ancestor who homesteaded between 1880 and 1915, often with a surname that changes spelling from one record to the next.

Dakota Territory was organized in 1861 and North Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. Nearly all of the land passed from the federal government to settlers through homestead, preemption, timber culture, and cash entries, which means the richest single file on a North Dakota family is usually a land entry case file at the National Archives rather than anything in a courthouse. Civil registration arrived late and compliance was weak for decades, so the state censuses of 1915 and 1925, church records, and newspapers do much of the work that vital records do elsewhere.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories for North Dakota research

The State Archives of the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) is in the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum, 612 East Boulevard Avenue, Bismarck. It is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on the second Saturday of each month 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; appointments are recommended, phone 701-328-2091. Holdings include state and local government records, manuscript collections, more than a century of newspapers, photographs, maps, and the vital records indexes described below; most newspapers, state censuses, and early atlases circulate on microfilm through interlibrary loan. Search collections through the findhistory.nd.gov portal linked from history.nd.gov/archives.

• NDSU Archives and Institute for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, Fargo: regional manuscripts, county and family histories, photographs, and the statewide index to the 1885 Dakota Territory census (over 151,500 names) at library.ndsu.edu/db/census.
• Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, NDSU Main Library, 1201 Albrecht Blvd., Fargo: village maps, oral histories, and genealogical materials for the largest ethnic group in central and south-central North Dakota: library.ndsu.edu/grhc.
• Digital Horizons (digitalhorizonsonline.org): a shared digital collection of photographs, documents, and maps contributed by North Dakota institutions.

Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records in North Dakota

Statewide registration of births and deaths got under way in the first decade of the 1900s but was not generally followed until the mid-1920s, so expect gaps. Certified copies come from North Dakota Vital Records, Department of Health and Human Services, 600 East Boulevard Avenue, Dept. 325, Bismarck; birth records cost $15 per copy and death records $15 for the first copy and $10 for each additional copy. Birth certificates may be ordered only by the person named or a parent, and records of births out of wedlock are sealed. Two free indexes make deaths and older births far easier:

• Public Death Index at vrcerts.hhs.nd.gov/searchDeath, which by law excludes only deaths within the past year.
• State Archives birth and death indexes, provided jointly with Vital Records; birth entries appear only once a record is 125 years old. See history.nd.gov/archives/vitalrecords.html.

Marriages were recorded by the county from its organization and by the state only from 1925. The State Archives' online marriage index combines pre-1925 county data held in the Archives with 1925-to-present data from Vital Records, at history.nd.gov/archives/marriage.html. Divorces were granted by the district court in each county; the state did not begin collecting divorce reports until 1949, and the State Archives holds divorce or civil case files for more than half of the counties.

Land, deed, homestead, and property records

North Dakota is a public-land state. The first General Land Office in what is now North Dakota opened at Pembina in 1870, and successive district offices handled homestead, preemption, timber culture, and cash entries across the state as the railroads arrived. The completed patents are free online at the BLM's General Land Office Records site; the far more detailed land entry case files, which can include proof of citizenship, descriptions of the house and crops, and witness statements from neighbors, are at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., along with the tract books and township plats. The State Archives also holds tract-book material for North Dakota.

Deeds between private parties are recorded by the County Recorder. Until August 2001 that office was called the Register of Deeds, so older references, abstracts, and county histories use the earlier title. Many recorders now offer online indexes, but the pre-statehood deed books are typically available only at the courthouse or on microfilm at the State Archives. Because so much North Dakota land stayed in the original homesteading family for generations, the deed chain is often short and the homestead file is where the story is.

Newspapers and city directories

North Dakota's 1905 newspaper law required every official newspaper to deposit copies with the State Historical Society, which is why the State Archives newspaper collection runs from Dakota Territory to the present. By 1884 some 160 newspapers circulated in the territory and by 1910 more than 344 documented the new state, and the Archives' 'North Dakota Newspapers on Microfilm' database lists every roll it holds with the film number you need for an interlibrary loan request.

With four National Digital Newspaper Program grants, SHSND has digitized nearly 400,000 pages, searchable free on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America. Because North Dakota towns were small and weekly papers printed everything from hospital stays to visiting relatives, these pages frequently supply the birth, marriage, and death dates that the civil registers missed. City directories were published only for the larger cities such as Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, and Minot; ask the State Archives which years it holds. See how to use old city directories.

Census, naturalization, and statewide indexes

Four territorial and state enumerations survive in addition to the federal censuses (1870 and 1880 as Dakota Territory, 1900 onward as a state):

• 1857 Minnesota Territory census, covering the Pembina area then attached to Minnesota.
• 1885 Dakota Territory census, indexed name by name by the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies with age, nativity, occupation, and county.
• 1915 and 1925 North Dakota state censuses, both indexed with images on FamilySearch and Ancestry; the 1925 schedules fall between the 1920 and 1930 federal counts and often catch families just before they left the state.

Because most homesteaders were immigrants, naturalization records matter: declarations of intention and petitions were filed in the district courts, and the State Archives holds the records from many counties. The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at NDSU and the church records of Lutheran and Catholic parishes supply the village of origin that the court papers usually omit.

Researching a house, farmstead, or building in North Dakota

The State Historic Preservation Office is a division of the State Historical Society of North Dakota at 612 East Boulevard Avenue in Bismarck (phone 701-328-2666). It handles National Register nominations, the statewide survey and inventory, and the historical marker program; the Archaeology and Historic Preservation File Room, which holds survey forms, is open to cultural resource professionals weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Start at history.nd.gov/hp. The North Dakota Historical Marker Register, authorized by the legislature and administered by SHSND, began numbering markers in 2016; sponsors pay all costs of production and upkeep.

For a town building, the Library of Congress's free Sanborn fire insurance map scans cover North Dakota cities and towns such as Bismarck and Grand Forks for editions before 1923, and NDSU Archives holds the 1922 Fargo set. For a farmstead, the homestead case file gives the construction date and size of the first house, then county plat books and the Recorder's deed indexes carry the chain forward; our guides to tracing a property's deed history and dating a house show the steps.

Working with North Dakota historical societies

With a small population spread across 53 counties, North Dakota's local history groups are mostly county historical societies that run a museum in the county seat, many of them open only in summer and staffed by volunteers. Many have compiled the county's cemetery readings and family-history books, which remain the best source for a burial location; use them alongside finding where someone is buried. Write ahead with the township and section number if you know it, since rural North Dakota research is organized by the land survey rather than by street address.

Additional North Dakota History Resources

• State Archives, State Historical Society of North Dakota - State archives in Bismarck: newspapers, county records, manuscripts, vital records indexes
• North Dakota Marriage Records Index - State Archives index combining pre-1925 county data and 1925-present state data
• North Dakota Vital Records - Certified birth, death, marriage, and divorce records
• North Dakota Public Death Index - Free searchable death index
• North Dakota State Historic Preservation Office - National Register, survey and inventory, historical markers
• 1885 Dakota Territory Census Index (NDSU) - Name index to the 1885 territorial census for North Dakota counties
• Germans from Russia Heritage Collection - NDSU Libraries collection on German-Russian settlers
• Digital Horizons - Shared digital collections from North Dakota institutions
• BLM General Land Office Records - Free homestead and cash-entry patents
• FamilySearch Wiki: North Dakota Vital Records - Dates, custodians, and online indexes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free North Dakota death index online?

Yes. North Dakota Vital Records publishes a public death index at vrcerts.hhs.nd.gov/searchDeath that by law omits only deaths within the past year. The State Archives also provides birth and death indexes with Vital Records, with births shown only after 125 years.

Where are North Dakota homestead records?

The final patents are free on the BLM General Land Office Records site. The full land entry case files, with the homesteader's proof of residence, house description, and witness statements, are at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., which also holds the tract books and township plats.

Which county office records deeds in North Dakota?

The County Recorder. The office was called the Register of Deeds until August 2001, so older abstracts and histories use that name. Pre-statehood deed books are usually only at the courthouse or on microfilm at the State Archives in Bismarck.

What state censuses exist for North Dakota?

The 1885 Dakota Territory census (indexed by NDSU with more than 151,500 names), the 1915 and 1925 North Dakota state censuses (indexed with images on FamilySearch and Ancestry), and the 1857 Minnesota Territory census for the Pembina area.