Virginia Historical Societies

This directory lists 32 historical societies, museums, and archives in Virginia, from the Virginia Historical Society (Virginia Museum of History & Culture) in Richmond and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to county groups such as the Historical Society of Fairfax County and the Historical Society of Washington County in Abingdon. Every card opens a page with the organization's address, website, and focus.

Virginia's records reach back to 1619, which is both the attraction and the trap. Counties began forming in 1634, and Virginia is a state-land state, so the earliest titles are colonial patents and Northern Neck grants rather than federal patents. Dozens of localities lost all or part of their court records to courthouse fires, the Civil War (the April 1865 evacuation fire in Richmond burned records that counties had sent there for safekeeping), theft, and water, and the Library of Virginia keeps the list. Add the fact that Virginia's independent cities are entirely separate from the counties around them, and the first question in any Virginia search is: which court had jurisdiction, and do its records survive?

Featured Historical Societies

The Library of Virginia and other major repositories

The Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond (804-692-3500), is both the state library and the state archives, and nearly every Virginia search runs through it. It holds more than 130 million items, and the collections genealogists use most are the Land Office patents and grants; the Chancery Records Index, a name index to scanned chancery suits from courts across the state, which are full of disputes over land and estates; the surviving 1853-1896 county birth and death registers and marriage records before 1936 on microfilm; the Lost Records Localities Collection; Virginia Untold, its African American records project; and the Virginia Chronicle newspaper archive. Staff will help you plan a visit and locate material. Library of Virginia

• The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (the Virginia Historical Society) in Richmond runs a private research library of manuscripts and family papers; see its page in our directory above.
• The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville holds Virginia manuscripts and a complete microfilm set of the Sanborn maps for every Virginia city and town, 1885-1970.
• The original deed books, will books, and order books remain in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of each county and independent city; the Library of Virginia holds microfilm of many of the older volumes.

Vital records: 1853-1896, the gap, and 1912

Virginia required county and city clerks to register births and deaths from 1853 until the law lapsed in 1896; the surviving registers are at the Library of Virginia. From 1896 until June 14, 1912 there was no statewide requirement, so for a death in 1900 you are looking at church registers, newspapers, and cemetery records rather than a certificate. Statewide registration resumed on June 14, 1912.

The Office of Vital Records, Virginia Department of Health (P.O. Box 1000, Richmond, VA 23218; 804-662-6200) issues certified copies of births and deaths from 1912, marriages from 1936, and divorces from 1918; the fee is $15 per certified copy or search. Marriage registers before 1936 are at the Library of Virginia and with the clerk of the circuit court that issued the license; before 1853 look for marriage bonds, ministers' returns, and church registers in the same clerk's office or at the Library. Divorces were chancery suits in the circuit court of the locality where they were filed, which makes the Library's Chancery Records Index a good finder for 19th-century divorces. VDH Office of Vital Records and the FamilySearch wiki page on Virginia Vital Records give the details.

Land: patents, Northern Neck grants, and the circuit court clerk

Virginia is a state-land state. Original title came from the colony or the Commonwealth, not the federal government, through two systems: Virginia Land Office patents (colonial patents, and state grants after the Land Office was created in 1779) and the Northern Neck Proprietary grants issued by the Fairfax family for the land between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers.

• Both series are at the Library of Virginia, with an online index and images in its Land Patents and Grants collection. Search by grantee and also by watercourse, because early patents were described by neighbors and streams rather than by surveys you can plot.
• After the first grant, every later transfer is a deed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court for the county or independent city. The clerk keeps the deed books and grantor-grantee indexes; many clerks now offer digital indexes in the office, and the Library of Virginia holds microfilm of older deed books. Our how to trace a property's deed history explains the method.
• Property inside an independent city is recorded by that city's circuit court clerk, not the county's, and when a city annexed county land the earlier deeds stay in the county books. Check annexation dates before you decide which courthouse to search.
• Virginia also granted land in what became Kentucky (separated 1792) and West Virginia (1863); those grants are in the Library's Land Office records too.

Newspapers and city directories

Virginia Chronicle (virginiachronicle.com), the Library of Virginia's free digital newspaper archive, holds more than 7.2 million pages from over 720,000 issues of Virginia newspapers, searchable by title, date, and keyword with no account required. The Library's wider newspaper collection runs to more than 4,000 titles in original and microfilm, so when a paper is not yet digitized the microfilm is in Richmond. Virginia titles also appear on Chronicling America.

City directories are strongest for Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, Alexandria, and Lynchburg; the Library of Virginia and the public library in each city hold them, and they are the quickest way to follow a family through a city between censuses or to find the occupant of a house in a given year. Our guide to old city directories covers the search technique.

Census, military, and statewide indexes

• Virginia has no state census. The 1790 federal census is lost, only Accomack and Louisa counties survive for 1800, and 1810 is missing 16 counties; complete returns exist from 1820 onward. The 1782-1785 state enumerations and personal property tax lists are the published substitute for 1790.
• Annual land tax and personal property tax lists, kept from 1782, are at the Library of Virginia and survive even for localities whose court records burned; they are the backbone of any Virginia search between 1782 and 1850.
• Virginia Confederate pension applications are indexed at the Library of Virginia; federal service and pension files for all wars are at the National Archives.
• Statewide name indexes at the Library include the Chancery Records Index, Virginia Untold, the Lost Records Localities database, and the index to the 1853-1896 vital registers; use them before writing to any courthouse.

Researching a house or building in Virginia

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), the state historic preservation office within the Secretariat of Natural and Historic Resources, administers the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register for Virginia (searchable through VLR Online), the Virginia Cultural Resource Information System (VCRIS) database of surveyed properties, state rehabilitation tax credits, preservation easements, and the Historical Highway Marker program, the silver-and-black roadside markers on every major route. Virginia DHR

For the building itself, the Library of Virginia gives Virginia residents online access to the Sanborn maps (1867-1970), UVA holds the full microfilm set, and the Library of Congress's free Sanborn collection covers many Virginia cities. The Library's annual land tax books are a Virginia-specific tool: from 1820 they record the value "added for buildings," so a jump in that column dates construction when no deed mentions a house. Build the chain of title at the circuit court clerk, then read the land tax books and directories. Our articles on when was my house built and researching an old building's history show the sequence.

Working around lost records

The Library of Virginia's Lost Records Localities Collection (formerly the Burned Records Counties Collection) gathers photocopies of deeds, wills, estate papers, and marriage records for localities whose records were destroyed by fire, war, neglect, pests, or flood, or that turned up in another county's files. The name changed because the losses were not all fires and not all counties: the cities of Richmond and Williamsburg lost major record groups, and counties such as King George, Culpeper, Accomack, and Botetourt suffered extensive losses that were not widely recognized. Each document is indexed by locality, name, record type, and date in the Library's database. When a courthouse has nothing, work the edges: adjoining counties' deed books (land often straddled a line), the state land and personal property tax lists, chancery suits filed in other courts, federal records, church registers, and newspapers. For burials, church and family cemeteries matter more in Virginia than municipal ones; our how to find where someone is buried explains where to look.

Additional Virginia History Resources

• Library of Virginia - State library and archives: land patents, chancery index, vital registers, lost records; Richmond
• Virginia Chronicle - Free digital newspaper archive, 7.2 million+ pages
• VDH Office of Vital Records - Births and deaths from 1912, marriages from 1936, divorces from 1918; $15
• Virginia Department of Historic Resources - SHPO: Virginia Landmarks Register, VCRIS, highway markers, tax credits
• Library of Virginia Digital Collections - Online entry point to Land Office patents, chancery records, and Virginia Untold
• FamilySearch Wiki: Virginia Vital Records - Registration dates, the 1896-1912 gap, and where records are held
• Chronicling America - Library of Congress newspaper archive including Virginia titles

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Virginia counties are 'burned counties'?

The Library of Virginia now uses the term Lost Records Localities, because records were lost to theft, water, and neglect as well as fire. Beyond the well-known Civil War losses, the Library has identified extensive losses in King George, Culpeper, Accomack, and Botetourt counties and in the cities of Richmond and Williamsburg, and it maintains a searchable database of surviving copies.

Why can't I find a Virginia birth or death record from 1900?

Virginia's 1853 registration law lapsed in 1896 and statewide registration did not resume until June 14, 1912. For 1896-1912 there is usually no certificate; use church registers, newspapers (Virginia Chronicle), and cemetery records instead.

Where are Virginia land patents and Northern Neck grants?

At the Library of Virginia in Richmond, which holds the Virginia Land Office patents and grants and the Northern Neck Proprietary grants with an online index and images. Later deeds are with the clerk of the circuit court in each county or independent city.

Are old Virginia newspapers online for free?

Yes. Virginia Chronicle, run by the Library of Virginia, has more than 7.2 million pages from over 720,000 issues, free with no login. Virginia titles are also on Chronicling America at the Library of Congress.