South Carolina Historical Societies

This directory lists 3 historical societies, museums, and archives in South Carolina, including the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia. The cards below give each organization's location and website; the guide that follows explains which Columbia and Charleston repositories hold the records you will need and how the state's shifting jurisdictions affect where to look.

English settlement began at Charles Town in 1670, and South Carolina ratified the Constitution on May 23, 1788 as the eighth state. Its local jurisdictions changed names three times, which is why the same place is called a county in one record and a district in the next: the 1785 act created counties inside the circuit court districts, in 1800 the counties were abolished and replaced by districts, and the Constitution of 1868 renamed the districts counties for good. Until 1785, deeds for the whole province were recorded centrally in Charleston, so early land research starts there rather than in the county seat.

Featured Historical Societies

Major repositories in South Carolina

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH), 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, is an independent state agency that holds the state's colonial and state government records and also houses the State Historic Preservation Office. The Research Room is open Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.; it offers indexes to state and local records, microfilm of county documents, and wireless access. Its Online Records Index and SCERA digital collections are free. Main site: scdah.sc.gov.

• South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia. One of the largest Southern manuscript collections in the country: family papers, plantation account books, church and business records, WPA folklore and local history files, South Carolina newspapers, maps, and pamphlets. sc.edu (South Caroliniana)
• South Carolina Historical Society, founded in 1855, the state's only statewide private historical organization. Its archives are housed in Special Collections at the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library, 205 Calhoun Street, and its museum is in the Fireproof Building at 100 Meeting Street, Charleston. schistory.org
• South Carolina State Library, 1500 Senate Street, Columbia. Holds the state documents collection and a print and digital collection of public-domain material about South Carolina. statelibrary.sc.gov

South Carolina vital records

The law requiring birth and death certificates took effect on January 1, 1915. Certified copies are issued by the Division of Vital Records, South Carolina Department of Public Health, whose state office is at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, with county offices around the state. The search fee is $12 per record and includes one certified copy if the record is found; a $5 expedite charge applies to faster service. The department also posts death indexes for 1915-1967 online. Details: dph.sc.gov/public/vital-records.

• Before 1915: there is no statewide series. Charleston kept its own death records from 1821 and birth registers from the late 1870s; a short-lived registration act of 1853 was repealed in 1861. Church registers, which begin in 1706, and family Bibles are the usual substitutes.
• Marriages: statewide registration began July 1, 1911. The Department of Public Health issues certificates only for marriages from July 1950 through December 2023; for anything earlier or later you contact the Probate Court in the county that issued the license. Marriage certificates page
• Divorces: divorce was not legal in South Carolina until 1949. The Department of Public Health provides Reports of Divorce for decrees from July 1962 through December 2023; earlier files are with the court in the county where the case was heard.

Land, deed, and property records

South Carolina is a state-land state, so original title came from the Lords Proprietors (1670-1719), the Crown (1719-1775), and then the state. The colonial plats and land grants and the state grants administered by the Surveyor General from 1784 to 1882 are at SCDAH, and the plat index is searchable on the Online Records Index. After 1790 the Surveyor General kept separate offices in Charleston and Columbia, and Columbia plats were recorded in their own volumes from 1796.

• Deeds, 1719-1786: recorded centrally in Charleston by the Register of Mesne Conveyance for the whole province, regardless of where the land lay.
• Deeds after 1785: recorded in each district or county. Today 24 counties have a separate Register of Deeds (an office renamed from Register of Mesne Conveyances on January 1, 1998), including Charleston, Richland, Greenville, Spartanburg, Lexington, Horry, and Beaufort; in the other counties the Clerk of Court records deeds.
• Because districts were renamed and split repeatedly, check the SCDAH county formation maps before you decide which courthouse holds a given decade of deeds.

Our guide to tracing a property's deed history shows how to run a grantor-grantee chain once you know the right office.

Newspapers and city directories

Historical Newspapers of South Carolina, run by the University of South Carolina Libraries, gives free online access to local and regional papers from 1815 onward, with recent additions from Aiken, Gaffney, and McCormick and a dedicated set of civil rights and African American titles. Some of the same titles also appear on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, but the USC site is the state's own program and should be searched first. For papers not yet digitized, the South Caroliniana Library holds the largest collection of South Carolina newspapers in print and on microfilm.

City directories for Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and Spartanburg are held by the South Caroliniana Library and the larger county public libraries; ask the reference desk for the years you need. Our city directory guide explains how the reverse street sections help with an address search.

Census, military, and statewide indexes

• Federal census: South Carolina is in every federal enumeration from 1790 onward, with the usual loss of 1890.
• State censuses: taken in 1829, 1839, 1869, and 1875 and available through FamilySearch, plus local counts for Aiken (1868), Union County (1869), Edgefield Village (1891), and Georgetown (1920).
• Online Records Index at SCDAH: the central index to state series, including plats, land grants, wills recorded at the state level, legislative petitions, and Confederate pension and military files. Record images for many entries can be ordered or viewed through the Archives.
• Death indexes 1915-1967 from the Department of Public Health, the fastest way to get a certificate number before ordering.
• SCERA, the Archives' digital collections platform, carries scanned record series and county maps.

Researching a house or building in South Carolina

The South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office is part of SCDAH, established in 1969 to carry out the National Historic Preservation Act (scdah.sc.gov/historic-preservation). Three of its tools matter for house research: the South Carolina Historic Properties Record (SCHPR), a searchable database of National Register and statewide survey records; SC ArchSite, the GIS layer of recorded historic and archaeological sites; and the National Register program's nomination files. The South Carolina Historical Marker Program, run by the SHPO since 1936, has approved more than 2,000 markers; its page at scdah.sc.gov explains how to look one up or apply for a new one.

• Sanborn fire insurance maps: the South Caroliniana Library holds more than 4,600 sheets covering 97 South Carolina towns from 1884 to the 1960s, with the 1885-1934 sheets digitized in USC's Digital Collections; SCDAH also keeps select microfilm. The Library of Congress has a free national set.
• Run the deed chain at the Register of Deeds or Clerk of Court, then look for the owner in the 1869 and 1875 state censuses and the Charleston or Columbia directories.

See how to find out when your house was built and how to research an old building for the general method.

Planning research trips in South Carolina

Think in two cities. Columbia gives you SCDAH, the South Caroliniana Library, and the State Library within a few miles of each other, which covers state land grants, plats, state-level court and legislative records, manuscripts, and newspapers in one trip. Charleston gives you the Historical Society's archives at Addlestone Library and the pre-1785 deed and probate world of the colonial capital. County and town historical societies in between are often small and open limited hours; ask whether they hold cemetery surveys, church registers, or an obituary index for the local paper, and whether the county's older deed books have been microfilmed by SCDAH, which saves a courthouse visit.

Additional South Carolina History Resources

• South Carolina Department of Archives and History - State archives and SHPO in Columbia; research room Tuesday-Saturday
• SCDAH Online Records Index - Index to plats, land grants, wills, petitions, and other state series
• SCDAH Research and Genealogy - Research room hours, request forms, and genealogy guides
• SCDAH County Formation Maps - Maps tracing districts and counties from 1785 to the present
• SC Department of Public Health, Vital Records - Birth and death certificates from 1915; death indexes 1915-1967
• South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office - National Register, statewide survey, markers, SCHPR, and ArchSite
• South Carolina Historic Properties Record - Searchable database of National Register and survey records
• Historical Newspapers of South Carolina - Free USC Libraries newspaper archive from 1815
• South Caroliniana Library - USC manuscripts, newspapers, maps, and Sanborn maps
• South Carolina Historical Society - Charleston archives at Addlestone Library and museum in the Fireproof Building

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my South Carolina ancestor's record say 'district' instead of 'county'?

Between 1800 and 1868 South Carolina's local jurisdictions were officially districts. The 1785 act had created counties inside the circuit court districts, the 1800 reorganization abolished most of those counties and made the districts the unit of government, and the Constitution of 1868 renamed every district a county. Use the SCDAH county formation maps to match the name to the modern county.

When did South Carolina start recording births and deaths?

Statewide registration began January 1, 1915. The Department of Public Health's Division of Vital Records issues certificates for $12, which includes one certified copy if the record is found, and posts death indexes for 1915-1967 online. Before 1915 only Charleston kept registers, with deaths from 1821; otherwise rely on church registers and family records.

Where are South Carolina colonial land grants and plats?

At the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia. Proprietary and royal grants, the original plats, and the state grants issued by the Surveyor General from 1784 to 1882 are all there, and the plat index is searchable on the Archives' Online Records Index. Deeds from 1719 to 1786 were recorded in Charleston for the whole province.

How do I find old South Carolina newspapers online?

Start with Historical Newspapers of South Carolina from the University of South Carolina Libraries, which is free and covers papers from 1815 onward, including civil rights and African American titles. Check Chronicling America for overlapping titles, and for anything not digitized ask the South Caroliniana Library, which holds the state's largest newspaper collection.