New Hampshire
Secretary of State

Archives Vital Records Records Management Divisions

Send Mail to:
N.H. Department of State
9 Ratification Way
Concord, NH 03301

Come visit us:
9 Ratification Way
Concord, NH 03301

Contact Archives and Records Management:
The Division of Archives & Records Management has two principal functions.  The first function is to assist state agencies with the efficient and proper management of their records and in conjunction with that service, provide storage space for their less active records.  Our second function is to preserve documentation of the history of New Hampshire state government institutions and work to make them available to the public in as efficient a manner as possible.

Ashley Miller
State Archivist

Office Hours:
Monday through Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone Numbers:
603-271-2236
603-271-2272 (fax)

Archives and Records Management Email Address: archives@sos.nh.gov

Contact Division of Vital Records Administration:
The Division of Vital Records Administration has released new, web-based software that anyone can use to look at Vital Records statistical information ONLY (derived from records of birth, death, marriage and divorce).  The "New Hampshire Vital Records Information Network web" (NHVRINweb), is a real-time web-based data query system for accessing Vital Records statistical data.  This web-based tool allows access to de-identified Vital Records that date back to 1995.  You can also produce data reports in either a spreadsheet format or as a document, so that you can include this data in your own reports if desired.

Here is a link to our new software tool:  http://nhvrinweb.sos.nh.gov/.  Once you get into the site, you will be prompted to register yourself in order to look at the data in the birth, death, marriage and divorce tables.  The site also has the ability for you to provide feedback if you have any questions or comments.  Enjoy!  Please Note:  this is statistical information only.  Individual vital records data cannot be accessed using this tool. 

Kristin M. Kenniston
State Director of Vital Records

Office Hours:
Monday through Friday 8:30am - 3:30pm

Telephone Numbers:
Main Number - 603-271-4650 (8:00am-4:30pm)
TDD Number - 1-800-735-2964 (8:00am-4:30pm)
Fax Number - 603-271-3447 (8:00am-4:30pm)
DVRA Reception - 603-271-4650 (8:30am-3:30pm)
Genealogy Vault - 603-271-4650 (8:30am-3:30pm

Division of Vital Records Administration Email Address: vitalrecords@sos.nh.gov

Directions to Vital Records Administration

Genealogy

RESEARCHING YOUR FAMILY
New Hampshire Department of State, Division of Archives and Records Management
9 Ratification Way (formerly 71 South Fruit Street)
Concord, NH 03301
Tel. (603) 271-2236

Note: Official New Hampshire birth, death and marriage records are among holdings here, managed by the Division of Vital Records Administration, which may be accessed elsewhere on this website at this link, or by phone at 603-271-4650.

Genealogical and family history information may be found among archived records in the following collections:

1. Probate Records
   A. Provincial Period (1630s – 1771)
   B. Cheshire County (1771 – 1959)
   C. Grafton County (1773 – 1950)
   D. Hillsborough County (1771 – 1997)
   E. Merrimack County (1823 – 1992)
   F. Rockingham County (1771 – 1918)
   G. Strafford County (1771-1799): abstracts in Helen F. Evans, Strafford County NH Probate Records, 1771-1799 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1983)

2. Land Title Deeds
   A. Provincial Period (1630s – 1771)
   B. Rockingham County (1771 – 1824; Indexed 1771 – 1959)
   C. Grafton County (1773 – 1899) microfilm

3. Petitions to the Governor, Council and Legislature (1680 – c. 1850; + 1951)

4. New Hampshire State and Provincial Papers (1623 – 1800)
      40 vol. set & cumulative index

5. Military Information
   A. C. E. Potter’s Military History of New Hampshire, 1623 – 1861 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical
       Publishing Co., 1972)
   B. S. Lanzerdorf’s New Hampshire Militia Officers, 1820 – 1850
       (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1995)
   C. Revolutionary War Rolls (N.H. State & Provincial Papers)
   D. War of 1812 Soldiers Index (21st Regiment)
   E. A. D. Ayling’s Civil War Register Index
   F. Civil War Enlistment Cards and Papers
   G. Civil War Muster Rolls, Descriptive Rolls, & Returns
   H. Civil War Service Cards
   I. Civil War Pension Index
   J. Phyllis O. Longver, New Hampshire Civil War Death and Burial Locations (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2000)
   K. Civil War Death Rolls
   L. “Military Miscellaneous” V64 (Revolutionary to recent publications)

6. Censuses and Population Information
   A. J. M. Holbrook’s New Hampshire Residents, 1633 – 1699
   B. “Constructed” Censuses: 1732; 1765; 1776; some towns 1798
   C. Census Indices Only: 1800; 1810; 1820, 1850, 1860 (commercially published)
   D. Federal Census Books: 1850; 1860; 1870; 1880 (manuscript)
   E. Hillsborough County Census: 1801
   F. Strafford County Census: some towns 1840

7. Name Changes
   A. Published Index to N.H. Laws (1643 – 1883;
   B. Manuscript Index to NH Laws (1885 – 1995)
   C. Richard P. Roberts’ New Hampshire Name Changes 1768 – 1923
       (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1996)
   D. Index to N.H. Name Changes (1840 – 1940) (microfilm)

8. Photographs, Portraits and Prints
   A. Dunlap Photo Service Collection (1930s-1960s) – Concord area
   B. William Finney – Portraits
   C. Aerial Photographs
   D. Miscellaneous public figures and places in archived collections

9. Naturalizations
   A. Belknap County (1842 – 1975)
   B. Grafton County (1773 – 1906)
   C. Hillsborough County (1845 – 1990)
   D. Merrimack County (1847 – 1948)
   E. Rockingham County (1771 – 1919)
   F. Sullivan County (1800s – 1900s)

10. Voter Checklists (1904 – present)
   Towns are required to file voter checklists with the NH Secretary of State after every General State Election, and after the Presidential Primary

11. Warnings Out of Town

12. Secretary of State Miscellaneous Records

13. Handwriting and Paleography
   A. E. K. Kirkham’s Handwriting of American Records for a Period of
       300 Years
   B. E. K. Kirkham’s How to Read the Handwriting and Records of
       Early America

14. Prisoners Indices
   A. State Prison Register of Convicts 1812 – 1912
   B. State Prison Mittimus (“Mitt”) Files (1812 – 1973)
   C. Rockingham County Prisoners Index (1772 – 1840+)
   D. Milli S. Knudsen, Hard Time in Concord, New Hampshire (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2005)
       Brief profiles of some the prisoners

15. Town Records and Town Inventories Indices

16. Rosters of N.H. House of Representatives and Senate

17. Church of Latter Day Saints “Descriptive Index of the New Hampshire Collection”

18. Index to N.H. Laws (1643 – 1881; 1885 – 1995)

19. Index to Executive Council Minutes

20. Marriage & Divorce
   A. Pauline J. Oesterlin’s N.H. Marriage Licenses and Intentions, 1709 – 1961 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books) 1991
   B. Marriage Intentions (1770s – 1850s)
   C. City of Concord Intentions (1830 – 1869)
   D. Governor Wentworth Sanctions (1772 – 1775)
   E. Out of State Minister Marriage Intentions (1921 – 1961)
   F. Knudsen, Milli S., ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Marriages & Divorces from Cheshire County
       (1776-1899) (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2007
   H. Helen F. Evans, Index of References to American Women in Colonial Newspapers through 1800 (Bedford, NH: self-published, c. 1980-1995), 3 volumes.
   I. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992)

21. Maps and Plans
   A. Masonian Plans (1600s)
   B. Carrigain Town Maps (1805) and State Map (1816)
   C. Town and City Atlas of the State of New Hampshire D.H. Hurd & Co., Boston (1892)

22. County and Town Histories (small random collection)

23. Paupers
   A. Warnings Out
   B. Pauline J. Osterlin, Rockingham County Paupers Index (1772 – c. 1850)
       (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1992)
   C. Milli S. Knudsen, Obliged to Ask for Relief: The Journal of Cheshire County, New Hampshire,
       Pauper Records, 1885-1900 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2009)

24. New Hampshire Register (1796; 1807; 1810 – 1908; 1919 – 1921; 1942 – 1959)

25. Superior and Inferior Court Records
   A. Provincial Period (1630s – 1772)
   B. Belknap County unprocessed (1841 – 1899)
   C. Grafton County (1773 – 1899; Indexed 1773 – 1805 & 1817 – 1828)
   D. Hillsborough County (1772 – 1906+)
   Partially indexed: Pauline J. Osterlin, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Court Records,
       1772-1799) (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1996
   E. Merrimack County (1823 – 1900; Indexed 1824 – 1853)
   F. Rockingham County (1772 – 1980)
   G. Strafford County (1775 – 1899; partially indexed 1775 – c.1830)
   H. Sullivan County (1828 – 1972)

Revised March 2020

Archival Holdings

Architectural Drawings

Index to Dodge/Scan Microfilms (1987 - 1993)
Dodge Scans - Nashua Memorial Hospital (1993)

Court Records

Superior Court
Court of Common Pleas
County Court

Executive Records

Governors' messages and letters
Executive Council correspondence and minutes

Genealogy

General Court Records (1680-current)

Petitions Index (1680-1819)
Petitions Index (1820-1824)
Journals of House and Senate
Acts

Land Surveyors' Records

Land Title Research

Military Records

Revolutionary War Rolls
Civil War Papers
Militias

Provincial Land Records

Provincial Probate Records

Research Aids Include:

Guide to the New Hampshire State Archives
New Hampshire State Papers
Meshech Weare Personal Papers
Inventories and Indexes to individual collections, available in research area

Secretary of State Records

Corporations
Elections
Miscellaneous
Railroads

Secretary of State Treasury Records

Town Records

Municipal Records
Road and Highway Layout Records

Information for State Agencies

Municipal Records Board

The N.H. Municipal Records Board holds its authority under RSA 33-A. the New Hampshire General Court made provisions for the disposal of obsolete local records in 1967 (chapter 105). In 1977 (Chapter 358), the Legislature created the Municipal Records Board for the purpose of creating rules to update the list of disposable records.

In 1995, the Board issued a list of retention schedules which expired in August 2003. The board asked for an extension, which was approved through December 2004. Between 2001 and 2005, the Board undertook a comprehensive review of the 1995 schedules and prepared a major overhaul, attempting to clarify existing schedules, evaluate and approve new schedules recommended by local officials and finally, to codify the schedules in the statutes once again. House Bill 437 (Chapter 187) of the 2005 Session was passed and signed into law on June 20, 2005 and became effective on August 29, 2005.

N.H. Municipal Records Board Statute

Municipal Records Board Members
Under RSA 33-A: 4-a
Updated February 22, 2023

Archives Information Menu