Home > Genealogical Resources > Records

• Census Records - US Federal
• Census Records - Massachusetts State Census (1855 & 1865)
• City Directories
• Employment Records
• Military Records
• Newspapers (Ethnic)
• Passenger List Records
• Quaker
• Religious Records
• Social Security Records
• Vital Records - Massachusetts
• Vital Records - Other New England States

Census Records - US Federal

• National Archives, New England Region
  Holdings include census schedules from 1790 to 1920 with indexes.
• National Archives, Northeast Region
  Holdings include census schedules from 1790 to 1920 with indexes.
• Boston Public Library
  Holdings include census schedules for all New England states from 1790 to 1920. Materials are located in the Microtext Department.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
  Holdings include census schedules for all New England states from 1790 to 1920 with indexes as well as census schedules for states outside New England from 1790 to 1850.

Census Records – Massachusetts State Census (1855 & 1865)

• Massachusetts State Archives
  Holdings include originals and microfilm copies of all extant returns.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
  Holdings include published transcriptions of some Massachusetts State Censuses, not all towns completed.

City Directories

• Boston Public Library
  Holdings include New England and non-New England City Directories.
• Massachusetts State Library - Special Collections
  Holdings include City Directories (names, addresses, occupations of residents, business listings, charitable organizations and societies, etc.), PSP directories (listings by street and telephone numbers only), voting lists (lists of persons eligible to vote arranged by wards and precincts), and miscellaneous information (a few foreign language directories).
• New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
  Holdings include large microfiche collection of Massachusetts city directories and miscellaneous New England directories.

Employment Records

• Boston Police Archives

Military Records

• Massachusetts Military Division History Research and Museum
  Holdings include early militia records (1776-1820), Massachusetts militia period (1820-1840), pre-Civil War period (1840-1860), Civil War (1861-1865), Reconstruction period after Civil War (1866-1897), Spanish American War/Philippines Insurrection (1898-1917), World War I period (1917-1919) including World War I State Guard records, and National Guard records (1920-1940).

• National Archives, New England Region
  Holdings include World War I draft cards, Civil War Pension Index, Revolutionary War Pension and Service Records, Veteran’s and Widows Special U.S. Census of 1890.

• National Archives, Northeast Region
  Holdings are same as above.

Newspapers (Ethnic)

Note: Newspapers are in foreign languages unless English appears in the "Notes" column. This is a select list of newspapers published in Boston. See the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts State Library for additional titles and holdings.

Passenger List Records

• National Archives, New England Region
  Holdings include passenger arrival records for the port of Boston, New Bedford, Providence, RI, and other misc. ports (with indexes).
• National Archives, Northeast Region
  Holdings include Port of New York Passenger Arrival Records (1820-1897, with index; 1897-1957, indexes 1902-1943) and Boston.
• Boston Public Library
  Holdings include New York, Boston, and misc. other New England and U.S. ports.
• Massachusetts State Archives
  Holdings include Port of Boston passenger lists and indexes.

Quaker

• Rhode Island Historical Society Library
  Holdings include records for the New England Yearly Meeting such as monthly meeting minutes, marriage intentions, marriage certificates, certificates of removal, disownment papers, and burials or deaths.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society
  Holdings include miscellaneous meeting records.
• Unitarian Universalist - Andover-Harvard Theological Library
  Holdings include minute books, financial records, membership, birth, death records, women’s and youth groups, Sunday schools records, some ministers vital records, etc..

Religious Records

• Archdiocese of Boston (Roman Catholic) Archives
  Holdings include baptisms, marriage banns, marriages, burials, First Communion, and Confirmation records.
• Congregational Library
  Holdings include baptisms, membership lists, marriages, burials, and minister’s records.
• Episcopal - The Diocesan Library and Archives
  Holdings include baptisms, marriages, burials, and communicant listings.
• Jewish – American Jewish Historical Society Library
  Holdings include birth records, circumcision, bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, marriage, death, and minute books (with information on meetings of the elders as well as documents relating to synagogue officials such as Rabbis, Cantors, etc.).
• Methodist Episcopal -Boston University School of Theology Library
  Holdings include baptisms, marriages, burials, and communicant listings.

Social Security Records

• Genealogy.com has free access to the Social Security Death Index on their web site.

Vital Records - Massachusetts

• Boston, City of, Registry Archives
  Holdings include vital records for Boston from the 1630s to 1869. Boston began complying with state registration in 1848.
• Massachusetts Department of Vital Statistics
  Holdings include birth, marriage, and death records from 1906 to the present.
• Massachusetts State Archives
  Holdings include birth, marriage and death records from 1841 to 1906.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society
  Holdings include birth, marriage and death records from 1841 to 1906, some additional indices for deaths after 1906, published vital records for Massachusetts cities and towns to 1850, and miscellaneous manuscript records.

Vital Records - Other New England States

• New England Historic Genealogical Society