This is the official site for the Missouri State Archives. Their online records include birth and death records, naturalization records, land records, court records, prison records, military records, and more.
Birth, Marriage, & Death Records
Birth Records
Birth & Death Records Database, pre-1910
Death Records
Death Certificates, 1910 – 1970
Coroner’s Inquest Database – The database search engine allows searches by county, name of deceased, cause of death, and/or year of death (or range of years). A keyword search function is also available. The database offers the following information abstracted from the original records:
- Case number
- Name of deceased
- Age or date of birth
- Race
- Gender
- Date of death
- Cause of death
- Location of death
- Microfilm reel number
- Box and file number for original record
Residence Records
Census
Census Records and Tax Lists – The Missouri State Archives has territorial, state, federal and special census records from 1752 to 2004, which can be used to locate an ancestor’s specific location. In addition, tax lists are good substitutes when census records are not available. See the links below for more information.
Territorial Censuses (1752-1818) and Tax Lists (1814-1821)
State Censuses (1840-1876) and Tax Lists (years vary by county)
Federal Censuses (1830-1940)
Special Censuses (1857-2004)
Naturalization & Citizenship
Naturalization Records Database – Naturalization Records, 1816 – 1955
Land Records
Land Records Database – 1777-1969 – The Land Records database contains over 280,000 entries from French and Spanish land concessions, federal land sales and state issued patents. The records may include names of purchasers, claimants and assignees, county, date of purchase, and legal land description (township, section, range and number of acres sold).
Daily Life Records
Court Records
Missouri Supreme Court Historical Database – Missouri’s historic Supreme Court cases hold countless details about our state’s past. Tens of thousands of cases, dating back to 1783, examine topics such as slavery, agriculture, industry and education.
Missouri Judicial Records, Missouri State Archives – This database of circuit and probate court files for Greene County Circuit Court, Jasper County Circuit Court, New Madrid County Probate Court, St. Charles County Circuit Court, and St. Louis Probate Court.
Frank and Jesse James Circuit Court Documents
Documents that reveal many of the James brothers’ activities during the late nineteenth century and include several indictments showing criminal charges ranging from grand larceny to murder.
Diaries
American Civil War in Missouri – The American Civil War in Missouri collection includes manuscripts (letters and diaries) offering valuable insight into how Missourians – both civilians and those in the military – experienced the Civil War.
Ethnic
I Goes to Fight mit Siegel: Missouri’s Germans and the Civil War – German immigrants transformed Missouri’s economics, politics, religion, and culture. Dr. Ken Luebbering explores the important role Missouri’s German immigrants played in the years prior to and including the Civil War.
Government Records
County and Municipal Records on Microfilm
Elected Officials Website Archives
Official Manual of the State of Missouri -The Blue Book
Official Directory of Missouri for 1878
Official Directory of Missouri for 1879
Official Directory of Missouri for 1881
Official Directory of Missouri for 1883
Official Directory of Missouri for 1885
Official Directory of Missouri for 1887 – 1888
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1889 – 1890
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1891 – 1892
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1893 – 1894
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1895 – 1896
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1897 – 1898
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1899 – 1900
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1901 – 1902
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1903 – 1904
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1905 – 1906
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1907 – 1908
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1909 – 1910
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1911 – 1912
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1913 – 1914
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1915 – 1916
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1917 – 1918
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1919 – 1920
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1921 – 1922
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1923 – 1924
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1925 – 1926
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1927 – 1928
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1929 – 1930
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1931 – 1932
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1933 – 1934
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1935 – 1936
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1937 – 1938
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1939 – 1940
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1941 – 1942
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1943 – 1944
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1945 – 1946
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1947 – 1948
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1949 – 1950
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1951 – 1952
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1953 – 1954
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1955 – 1956
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1957 – 1958
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1959 – 1960
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1961 – 1962
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1963 – 1964
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1965 – 1966
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1967 – 1968
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1969 – 1970
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1971 – 1972
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1973 – 1974
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1975 – 1976
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1977 – 1978
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1979 – 1980
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1981 – 1982
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1983 – 1984
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1985 – 1986
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1987 – 1988
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1989 – 1990
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1991 – 1992
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1993 – 1994
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1995 – 1996
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1997 – 1998
Official Manual of the State of Missouri 1999 – 2000
Government & Politics
Benjamin Gratz Brown, 1871-1873
The records include commissions, correspondence, court proceedings, indictments, invitations, invoices, legal opinions by the Attorney General, maps, newspaper clippings, petitions, proclamations, receipts, reports, telegrams, and writs of election.
Claiborne Fox Jackson, 1861
The Records of Governor Jackson consist of four items of correspondence. He served as governor for less than a year before a convention was called to decide whether Missouri would secede from the Union.
Hamilton Rowan Gamble, 1861-1864
The Records (1861-1863) of Governor Hamilton Rowan Gamble include appointments, resignations, letters of recommendation, correspondence, memoranda, petitions, an oath of loyalty, and a proclamation.
Hancock Lee Jackson, 1857
The Records (1856-1857) of Governor Hancock Lee Jackson (1796-1876) include correspondence and petitions related to appointments, criminal cases, elections, extraditions, pardons, railroads, and swamp lands.
Joseph Washington McClurg, 1869-1871
Records include: appointment commissions; correspondence; legal opinions from the Missouri Attorney General; loyalty oaths; newspaper clippings; pardons; petitions; Thanksgiving proclamations; resolutions; trial transcripts; committee and other reports; railroad statistics; and writs of election.
Missouri House and Senate Journals, 1820-1881
This collection contains 19th Century Journals of the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri Senate. These Journals record the proceedings of the state legislature.
Robert Marcellus Stewart, 1857-1860
The Records (1857-1860) of Governor Robert Marcellus Stewart (1815-1871) include appointments, correspondence, petitions, and swamp land records.
Thomas Clement Fletcher, 1865-1869
The collection include affidavits, testimonies, and other court materials; appointment requests; certifications of vacancies and gubernatorial orders of elections; commissions; correspondence; minutes; oaths of loyalty; petitions; and proclamations.
Willard Preble Hall, 1864-1865
This collection consists of the records of Governor Willard Preble Hall, including commissions, correspondence, and petitions. When the state convention of July 1861 vacated statewide offices, Hall was chosen to serve as lieutenant governor.
Libraries, Museums, & Archives
Local Records Inventory Database
Newspapers
Border Star
This collection includes issues of the Border Star newspaper published weekly in Westport, Missouri from the years 1858 to 1860, covering various concerns of Westport, especially slavery.
Cape Girardeau Argus
A weekly newspaper for Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which was published by W. H. Hamilton. The paper runs from June 18, 1863 through June 1, 1871, covering the Civil War era.
Hannibal Clipper
The issues from this Hannibal, Missouri newspaper are from 1874-1875 and 1877.
Liberty Tribune
A newspaper from Clay County, Missouri covering the years 1846-1848, 1852-1867, 1869-1878, 1880, 1882, and 1883.
Phelps County New Era
Missouri University of Science and Technology has digitized the Phelps County New Era for 1875-1878; issues are displayed here.
St. Louis Christian Advocate
The St. Louis Christian Advocate Newspaper was published weekly by a committee of ministers for the Methodist Episcopal Church South in St. Louis. This collection covers August 22, 1857 through October 22, 1879.
St. Louis Daily Missouri Republican, 1861-1865
The Daily Missouri Republican printed four pages each day, providing extensive war coverage with descriptions of significant events and the many Missourians who played key roles in the larger conflict.
Photographs
Guerrillas and Outlaws
Part of the Missouri Valley oversize artwork, these 53 drawings feature members of William Quantrill’s Guerrillas, the James-Younger gang, and others associated with these men, like Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby.
Trans-Mississippi Theater Photo Archive – Hundreds of photographs from the Civil War.
Trans-Mississippi Theater Virtual Museum – Civil War-era artifacts including letters, maps, diaries, weapons, flags, uniforms and photographs.
Prisons & Prisoners
Missouri State Penitentiary Database
Palmyra Massacre Collection – The Palmyra Massacre occurred in 1862 in Palmyra, Marion County, Missouri, when 10 Confederate prisoners were shot in retaliation for the abduction of a local Union sympathizer.
Slaves and Slavery
Freedom Suits Case Files, 1814-1860 – These case files consist of 301 legal petitions for freedom by people of color originally filed in St. Louis courts between 1814 and 1860. They make up the largest corpus of freedom suits available to researchers in the United States.
The Revised Dred Scott Case Collection – The records displayed in this exhibit document the Scotts’ early struggle to gain their freedom through litigation and are the only extant records of this significant case as it was heard in the St. Louis Circuit Court.
Women
Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation, and the American Civil War – In this documentary, 12 distinguished historians consider how women’s reactions to occupation affected both the strategies of military leaders and ultimately even the outcome of the Civil War.
Military Records
War of 1812 – WW1 Database
Missouri Soldier’s Database: War of 1812 – WWI – Over 380,000 records of Civil War soldiers can be found in this database, which also includes the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, the Heatherly War, the Mormon War, and the Iowa War.
Civil War Records
Union Provost Marshal Records – During the war, each division, brigade, and corps of the Union Army included a provost marshal. These records offer a unique look at the lives of citizens who came into contact with the military.
Civil War Records at Missouri Digital Heritage, more than 500,000 digitized Civil War records
Civil War History
American Civil War in Missouri – The American Civil War in Missouri collection includes manuscripts (letters and diaries) offering valuable insight into how Missourians – both civilians and those in the military – experienced the Civil War.
Boone County Historical Society Civil War Collection – This Civil War collection of personal letters, diaries and photographs is held by the Boone County Historical Society.
Civil War eBook Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri – This collection contains various documents related to the Civil War in Missouri.
Civil War Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Missouri – A selection of documents coving topics such as the impact an encamped army has on nearby towns, families with relatives imprisoned for Confederate sympathies, guerrilla warfare in Missouri, and the organization of troops.
Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865 – Documents related to the hostilities that shook the Missouri-Kansas border region before and during the American Civil War. The collection includes photographs, letters, diaries, maps, and military records from over 25 contributing institutions.
Community and Conflict: the Impact of the Civil War in the Ozarks – An online digital collection of documents and artifacts that depict life in the Ozarks between 1850 and 1875 through letters, maps, diaries, court records and photographs.
The Civil War in the United States is a fascinating era in our history. This collection focuses on the Civil War in Missouri.
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