Oregon Historical Societies

This directory lists 15 historical societies, museums, and archives in Oregon, including the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City, the town where the Oregon Trail ended and where the first federal land office west of the Rockies opened. The guide below explains which Oregon records exist for each period, where the Oregon State Archives, the Oregon Historical Society, and the county clerks fit, and how to use the free indexes that make Oregon one of the easier western states to research.

Oregon's government came in stages: a settler-run provisional government in 1843, Oregon Territory in 1848 (which until 1853 included all of present Washington), and statehood as the thirty-third state on February 14, 1859. Most early families arrived under the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, which gave free land to settlers who arrived before December 1, 1855, and the claim files they left are unusually rich in birth, marriage, and migration details. Oregon also took its own censuses from 1845 through 1905 and began statewide death registration in 1903, both earlier than many neighbors.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories for Oregon records

The Oregon State Archives, a division of the Secretary of State, occupies the Cecil L. Edwards Archives Building at 800 Summer Street NE in Salem (503-373-0701, reference.archives@state.or.us). The reading room is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment. It holds provisional and territorial government records, state agency records, transferred county records, older vital records, and the microfilm behind the online indexes described below. Its Oregon Historical County Records Guide is the first thing to open for any county: it contains a history of each of the 36 counties and a descriptive inventory of the records held at the State Archives, at the county courthouse, and at local museums.

The Oregon Historical Society Research Library, 1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland (503-306-5240, libreference@ohs.org), is open Tuesday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with no admission fee. It describes itself as the world's largest collection of Oregon-related material: manuscripts, photographs, maps, newspapers, and oral histories, with the catalog at librarycatalog.ohs.org and digitized items at digitalcollections.ohs.org. Details are on the research and library page.

Two more stops: the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, 2505 SE 11th Avenue, Suite B018, Portland, runs the largest genealogical library in the Pacific Northwest (more than 60,000 holdings) and publishes Oregon-specific indexes (see gfo.org); and University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives in the Paulson Reading Room of Knight Library, Eugene, holds more than 170,000 items of Oregon manuscripts, photographs, and architectural drawings, with materials requested at least five business days ahead through library.uoregon.edu.

Vital records and the Oregon Historical Records Index

Statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1903; marriages were coordinated statewide from 1906, though some counties recorded them from 1849. Access is governed by age of record: births are closed for 100 years and death certificates for 50 years (OAR 333-011-096).

• Recent records: births under 100 years old, and deaths, marriages, and divorces under 50 years old, come only from the Oregon Health Authority Center for Health Statistics, Portland State Office Building, 800 NE Oregon Street, Portland (971-673-1190), by VitalChek, phone (888-896-4988), mail, or appointment.
• Older records: once a record passes the restriction it moves to the State Archives. At the start of 2026 the Archives opened the 1925 birth certificates and the 1975 death certificates and marriage and divorce returns; the returns list birthplace, occupation, and number of previous marriages. Supply a name, date, and city or county and staff will search and copy for a fee; the About Vital Records page lists every county's pre-1903 registers held in Salem, including Portland's birth register (1864-1900) and death register (1881-1917).
• Marriages and divorces before the state copies: marriages are in the County Clerk's records and divorces in the circuit court files of the county, many of which are now at the State Archives.

The Oregon Historical Records Index is a free name index to selected Archives holdings, compiled by volunteers: statewide divorces 1852-1922 and 1936-1960, marriages 1848-1896 and 1910-1935, naturalizations 1887-1931, change-of-name records 1878-1928, probates, estates, guardianships, widows' pensions, coroner's reports, Portland births 1881-1902 and deaths 1881-1917, and county-level series such as the 1865 census. Search by surname only at first; entries use the abbreviations found in the originals (Wm, Chas). The companion Early Oregonians Database attempts to document every person living in Oregon from 1800 to 1860, built from the 1850 and 1860 censuses with linked probate, death, and land records.

Donation Land Claims, patents, and county deeds

Oregon is a public-land state, and its first wave of titles came from the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, which granted free land to settlers who arrived before December 1, 1855 (acreage varied by date of arrival and marital status, with a married couple able to claim twice a single man's share). The claim applications record birthplace, date of arrival in Oregon, marriage date and place, and citizenship, which makes them a substitute for vital records that did not yet exist.

• The original DLC files, tract books, and plats are at the National Archives; the Oregon State Archives holds microfilm copies; and the Genealogical Forum of Oregon publishes a searchable index to donation land claims and to the earlier provisional-government land claims.
• Patents issued after the DLC period (cash entries, homesteads, timber claims) are searchable by name on the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records site.
• Once land was private, every deed and mortgage was recorded by the County Clerk. Under ORS 205.130 the clerk keeps all deeds and mortgages and the maps, plats, and contracts affecting title, indexed by grantor and grantee; a few counties label the function Recorder or Records and Licenses, as Benton County does, but it is the same office. Many older deed books have been transferred to the State Archives, and the county inventory in the Historical County Records Guide tells you which.

Newspapers and city directories

Historic Oregon Newspapers, run by University of Oregon Libraries as the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program, is one of the largest state newspaper sites in the country: more than 3.5 million full-text searchable pages from 1846 to the present, free, with basic and advanced search. Because it is hosted at UO rather than only at the Library of Congress, it includes many titles and later years that never went to Chronicling America, though Oregon's NDNP pages are searchable there too.

The Oregon Historical Society Research Library is the main repository for Oregon newspapers in print and on microfilm, and for Portland city directories, which begin in the 1860s and cover the whole metropolitan area by the 1900s; Salem, Eugene, Astoria, Pendleton, and other cities have their own runs at local libraries. Our guide to old city directories explains how to work them alongside the Portland birth and death registers indexed in the Oregon Historical Records Index.

Census, naturalization, and other statewide sources

Oregon took provisional, territorial, and state censuses in 1845, 1849, 1850, 1853-1859, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1885, 1895, and 1905, though coverage varies by county and some survive only in part; the State Archives holds them, and several are indexed in the Oregon Historical Records Index. Federal censuses run from 1850 (as Oregon Territory, including the future Washington) through 1950.

Naturalizations before 1906 happened in county courts; the Historical Records Index covers 1887-1931 statewide plus longer county runs (Multnomah County 1851-1971, for example). Probate and guardianship files, also indexed, are the key to Oregon families whose land passed by inheritance rather than deed. Military sources include the Archives' Oregon Civil War-era militia and Indian War records and the GFO's indexes to World War I draft registrations and pension records.

Researching a house or building in Oregon

Oregon's State Historic Preservation Office operates as Oregon Heritage within the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, 725 Summer Street NE, Suite C, Salem (503-986-0690, oregon.heritage@oprd.oregon.gov; program site). Its public Oregon Historic Sites Database is the best starting point for any building: search by city and street name, or by property name, style, or original use, and each record shows the year built, National Register status, and links to survey forms and nominations. Statewide this covers tens of thousands of surveyed properties, not just listed ones.

For the ownership chain, pull the current deed, then work backward through the County Clerk's grantor-grantee indexes to the patent or Donation Land Claim, as described in our guide to tracing a property's deed history. Sanborn fire insurance maps cover Portland from 1879 and most Oregon towns from the 1880s to the 1950s; the Library of Congress has digitized its pre-1900 sheets, and the Oregon Historical Society and UO hold later editions. Roadside interpretation is handled separately by the Oregon Travel Information Council, which maintains the state's historical markers and an online marker map. Then follow when was my house built for the architectural and tax-record clues.

Working with Oregon's local societies

Oregon's societies are a mix of county societies, often running the county museum, and town or valley groups. Many county museums hold transferred county records that the state inventories list, such as early marriage registers or school census books, so check the county inventory in the Historical County Records Guide before assuming a record is in Salem. Coastal and eastern Oregon societies may open only on weekends outside summer; email the volunteer archivist with the family name, the claim or address, and the years, and ask whether a local DLC map or township plat has been annotated with settler names, as many have.

Additional Oregon History Resources

• Oregon State Archives - State archives in Salem; territorial, county, and older vital records, by appointment
• Oregon Historical Records Index - Free name index to marriages, divorces, probates, naturalizations, and more
• Oregon Historical County Records Guide - County histories and record inventories for all 36 counties
• Early Oregonians Database - People living in Oregon from 1800 to 1860, linked to census and probate records
• Oregon Health Authority, Center for Health Statistics - Recent birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates
• Oregon Historical Society Research Library - Manuscripts, photographs, maps, and newspapers in Portland, free admission
• Historic Oregon Newspapers - More than 3.5 million pages of Oregon newspapers from 1846, free full-text search
• Oregon Historic Sites Database - SHPO database of surveyed and National Register properties, searchable by address
• Genealogical Forum of Oregon - Largest genealogical library in the Pacific Northwest, Donation Land Claim index
• BLM General Land Office Records - Federal land patents and survey plats searchable by name

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Donation Land Claim and where are the records?

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 granted free Oregon land to settlers who arrived before December 1, 1855. The claim files record birthplace, arrival date, marriage, and citizenship. The originals are at the National Archives, the Oregon State Archives holds microfilm, and the Genealogical Forum of Oregon publishes a searchable index.

When did Oregon start keeping birth and death records?

Statewide registration began in 1903, with some counties and the City of Portland keeping registers earlier (Portland births from 1864, deaths from 1881). Births are closed for 100 years and deaths for 50; records younger than that come from the Oregon Health Authority, older ones from the Oregon State Archives in Salem.

Is there a free index to Oregon marriages, divorces, and probates?

Yes. The Oregon Historical Records Index at the Oregon State Archives indexes statewide divorces 1852-1922 and 1936-1960, marriages 1848-1896 and 1910-1935, naturalizations 1887-1931, and probates, estates, guardianships, and other series, plus the Early Oregonians Database for people in Oregon from 1800 to 1860.

Where do I search old Oregon newspapers?

Historic Oregon Newspapers at the University of Oregon Libraries offers more than 3.5 million free, full-text searchable pages from 1846 to the present. The Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland holds print and microfilm copies of titles not yet digitized.