About OldRecordsGuide
OldRecordsGuide is a free set of guides to where old and recent family records are kept in the United States: who holds them, what they cover, and what they cost.
What we do
- One page per state, built from the state's own vital-records pages, plus a national page for the federal census and a guide to finding old newspapers (free archives first, with one neutral note on a paid archive).
- For each record type we say where it is kept, the years covered, who can order a certified copy, the fee and the processing time, and we cite the official page for each fact.
- If we could not confirm something, the page says so instead of guessing. Every page has a "last verified" date.
Affiliate disclosure
Some links on this site may become affiliate links in the future. No link on this site earns us a commission today.
- Current status: we have no affiliate relationships and no link on this site earns us a commission. If that changes, affected links will be marked and this page will be updated before they go live. The old-newspapers guide names Newspapers.com and links to its home page with a plain, non-affiliate link.
- Companies we might link to later: Newspapers.com, Ancestry, MyHeritage. Naming them here is not an endorsement, and we have not tested their services.
- Official sources come first. Government pages and free archives appear before any paid genealogy service. Commissions, if they ever exist, will not change what a guide says.
Limits you should know about
- OldRecordsGuide is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with any government agency, archive or genealogy company, and it is not legal advice.
- Fees, dates and eligibility rules change. Always confirm on the official page before you pay or mail anything.
- Marriage, divorce and older records are often kept by counties, whose pages we have not yet covered state by state.