Vermont Historical Societies

This directory lists 3 historical societies, museums, and archives in Vermont. That is a small sample of a state where nearly every town has its own historical society, so treat these cards as starting points and use the guide below to reach the town clerk, the state archives and the statewide library that together hold most Vermont records. We add verified listings as we confirm them.

Vermont governed itself as an independent republic from 1777 until it joined the Union as the fourteenth state on March 4, 1791, and its 14 counties have never been the main record keepers. Vital records, deeds and most early local records were created and are still held by the town or city clerk, a pattern inherited from New England and reinforced when the 1780s legislature gave town clerks jurisdiction over land records. Before statehood, 129 Vermont towns were chartered by New Hampshire between 1749 and 1764, and those "New Hampshire Grants" are the first layer of title for much of the state.

Featured Historical Societies

Vermont's main research repositories

• Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA), 1078 Route 2, Middlesex (postal address Montpelier, VT 05633-7701), a division of the Secretary of State. Reference room open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed state holidays; phone 802-828-3700. Holds state government records, Vermont town charters (1779-1846), petitions for land grants (1778-1811), a lotting-plans map database for original town divisions, and the statewide vital records index and copies from the 1760s up to five years before the present. sos.vermont.gov/vsara
• Vermont Historical Society, Leahy Library, Vermont History Center, 60 Washington Street, Barre. The statewide research library for town histories, maps, city directories, manuscripts and family papers. Open Tuesday to Friday and second Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Society's museum is separate, at 109 State Street in Montpelier (Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). vermonthistory.org
• University of Vermont Libraries, Burlington. Home of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project and of special collections of Vermont manuscripts and maps; its newspaper directory lists every known Vermont title with its run and holding repositories.
• Town and city clerks. Not a single repository but the most important one: the originals of every Vermont birth, marriage, death and deed are in the clerk's vault of the town where the event occurred.

Vital records: a town-based system with a state index

Town clerks began recording births, marriages and deaths with the earliest permanent settlement, around 1760. The present vital registration law dates from 1857, and a centralized state system was established in 1919. The result is three places to look, depending on date.

• Originals, any date: the town or city clerk's office. Records can be viewed there in person, and many clerks will search by mail for a fee set by the town.
• 1760 to about five years ago: VSARA holds the statewide index and copies of vital records and issues certified copies for historical research. This is the practical route when you do not know which town to ask.
• Most recent five years: the Vermont Department of Health, Vital Records Office in Burlington. Town clerks still file the record first and forward a copy to the Health Department. healthvermont.gov vital records
• Divorces: the Department of Health issues divorce certificates only for the last five years; an index to Vermont divorces 1925-2003 is available on Ancestry (subscription).
• Online: FamilySearch hosts free indexed images of Vermont Vital Records, 1720-1908 and Vermont Vital Records, 1760-2008; Ancestry carries Vermont birth and death records 1909-2008.

Land, deed, and property records held by towns

Vermont is a state-land state with no federal land office. Title begins with a town charter, either one of the 129 New Hampshire Grants issued between 1749 and 1764 (indexed in New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, volume 26) or a charter issued by Vermont itself between 1779 and 1846, which VSARA holds along with the land-grant petitions.

• Proprietors' records: the original grantees ("proprietors") divided each town into lots; their minute books and lotting plans are the first conveyances and survive in town vaults, at VSARA, and in the Public Records collection.
• Deeds before 1780: county courts handled land records; during the 1780s the legislature transferred that jurisdiction to the town clerk, who has held it ever since.
• Deeds since the 1780s: go to the town clerk, not the county. Grantor and grantee indexes are kept town by town, so you must know the town, and a farm straddling a town line will appear in two sets of books.
• Probate: handled by probate districts, which in some counties do not match county lines; the district records are now largely at VSARA.

Newspapers and city directories

The Vermont Digital Newspaper Project (VTDNP), run by UVM Libraries with the Vermont Department of Libraries, the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury and the Vermont Historical Society, has digitized Vermont newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 for the National Digital Newspaper Program. Roughly 260,000 pages from 59 titles are free and searchable on Chronicling America, including the Barre Daily Times, Bennington Banner, Brattleboro Reformer, Manchester Journal and the Italian-language Cronaca Sovversiva of Barre. library.uvm.edu/vtnp

• Finding the right title: VTDNP's directory lists each Vermont newspaper's town, life span and which libraries hold it, so you can request microfilm by interlibrary loan.
• Indexes: a 1940s WPA-era index covers the Burlington Free Press 1848-1865, including vital notices and advertisements; a later index covers the Free Press and Rutland Herald 1984-2009.
• City directories: Burlington, Rutland, St. Albans, Barre and Montpelier directories are held by the Leahy Library and the respective public libraries. Most Vermont towns were too small for directories, so use the town's grand list (annual property tax list) at the town clerk instead. See old city directories.

Census, military, and statewide indexes

• No state census: none is known to exist. Federal schedules begin with 1790 (actually taken in 1791 after admission) and run through 1950.
• Census substitutes: town grand lists (annual tax lists), proprietors' records, VSARA's general and land-grant petitions (1778-1811), and town meeting records, all of which name adult men year by year.
• Vital records index: the statewide card index to births, marriages and deaths, compiled under the 1919 law from town records back to the 1760s, is the single most useful Vermont index; it is the source of the FamilySearch 1720-1908 and 1760-2008 collections.
• Military: Revolutionary War service under the Vermont republic, War of 1812 and Civil War rosters are at VSARA and in published state rosters at the Leahy Library.

Researching a house or building in Vermont

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (VDHP), within the Department of Housing and Community Development, is the state historic preservation office. It maintains the State Register of Historic Places and handles National Register nominations, runs the Roadside Historic Markers program, administers rehabilitation tax credits, and publishes survey and nomination documents in its Historic Preservation Online Resource Center. accd.vermont.gov/historic-preservation and Online Resource Center

• Search the Online Resource Center for the town's historic sites and structures survey; most Vermont villages were surveyed in the 1970s-1980s and each entry gives a construction date range and description.
• Build the deed chain at the town clerk's office, using the grantor-grantee indexes and the method in tracing a property deed history; if you reach a proprietor's lot number, use VSARA's lotting plans to locate it.
• Date the structure with grand lists (which show when a building first appears on the tax roll), Beers county atlases of the 1860s-1870s, and Sanborn fire insurance maps, which exist for the larger Vermont towns and are online at the Library of Congress. See when was my house built.

Working with Vermont historical societies

Vermont historical societies are organized by town, and a typical one is staffed entirely by volunteers, opens one afternoon a week from late spring through fall, and keeps its collection in a former schoolhouse or a room in the town library. They are worth the effort: town societies hold the photographs, store ledgers, school registers and family files that neither VSARA nor the Leahy Library has. Write before visiting, give the house location or family name and the decade, and ask whether the society has indexed the town's cemeteries, since Vermont cemetery commissions and societies have transcribed most burial grounds; combine that with finding where someone is buried. The Vermont Historical Society supports local societies through its League of Local Historical Societies and Museums, and its staff can tell you whether a town society is active.

Additional Vermont History Resources

• Vermont State Archives and Records Administration - State archives in Middlesex; vital records index, town charters, land petitions
• VSARA Research Guide - How to request archival records and what VSARA holds
• Vermont Department of Health, Vital Records - Certified copies for the most recent five years; forms and instructions
• Vermont Historical Society - Leahy Library in Barre and Vermont History Museum in Montpelier
• Vermont Digital Newspaper Project - UVM project: titles digitized for Chronicling America and a statewide newspaper directory
• Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - SHPO: State and National Registers, roadside markers, tax credits
• Historic Preservation Online Resource Center - Searchable survey and nomination documents by town
• FamilySearch Wiki: Vermont Vital Records - Dates, custodians and online collections for Vermont vital records

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I get a Vermont birth or death record from the 1800s?

Start with the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration in Middlesex, which holds the statewide vital records index and copies from the 1760s up to about five years ago. The original register is in the town clerk's office where the event happened, and FamilySearch has free images in its Vermont Vital Records 1720-1908 collection.

Are Vermont deeds kept at the county courthouse?

No. Since the 1780s Vermont land records have been kept by the town or city clerk, not the county. Each town has its own grantor and grantee indexes, so you must know the town; pre-1780 conveyances were handled by county courts and the earliest titles are in the town's proprietors' records.

Which Vermont newspapers are online for free?

The Vermont Digital Newspaper Project at UVM has placed about 260,000 pages from 59 Vermont titles (1836-1922) on Chronicling America, including the Barre Daily Times, Bennington Banner, Brattleboro Reformer and Manchester Journal, all free and keyword searchable.

Did Vermont take state censuses?

No state or territorial census records are known to exist for Vermont. Use the federal censuses from 1790 (taken in 1791) onward, and fill the gaps with town grand lists, proprietors' records and the land-grant petitions held by the State Archives.