Pennsylvania Archives Online Resources

Update: The Pennsylvania State Archives will no longer require an appointment effective 6 April 2022! They will be open to researchers Wednesday – Friday 9 am – 4 pm.

Like many archives around the country, the Pennsylvania Archives closed to researchers during the pandemic and recently reopened by appointment only.

Even though in-person access is limited, many Pennsylvania Archives Online Resources are available. The trick is determining where to look. Below are some of the digitized collections that I use frequently

Military Records

(Updated July 2022) The Pennsylvania Archives Records Information Access System (ARIAS) has been decommissioned. The collections below are now available as the “Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Card Files, 1775-1916” collection at Ancestry.com. Read on to learn how Pennsylvania residents can access these collections for free.

• Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File
• Militia Officers’ Index Cards, 1775-1800
• Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866
• PA National Guard Veterans’ Card File, 1867-1921
• Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File of United States Volunteers
• Mexican Border Campaign Veterans’ Card File
• World War I Service Medal Application Cards

In addition, the following collections are available at the Pennsylvania Archives Website (though not through ARIAS):

• War of 1812 Soldier’s Index
• Register of Civil War Volunteers, 1861-1865

They also host an index for Revolutionary War Pension Records. Scroll down, because the index is below the fold on the webpage. In order to filter the list by the first letter of the last name, first, click on the filter button to the right of the search bar. Select the first letter of the surname, and select OK. That returns you to the index, and then you need to scroll down to the bottom to advance to the next page. Then the page with the surnames of the letter you selected will appear.

PA Power Library Collection

All of the records listed in the index are digitized on the PA Power Library Site, and a link is provided for each of the collections above the index. The link will actually take you to the Record Group Description, but you can scroll to the bottom and use the link “For Digital Images in the Power Library click here.” This is where it can get a little cumbersome. The link will take you to the whole digitized record group, so you’ll need to find the correct collection. These images are not indexed, so be sure to read the collection description to determine if they are arranged by date, alphabetically, etc. I recommend that you keep the index open in another tab, so you can refer back to it as needed.

Land Records

Applications for a warrant to survey are available on the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission’s website. The date of the application will determine in which collection the record is.

Warrant Registers (indexes) are also available at the PMHC Pennsylvania State Archives website. These provide the name of the warrantee and patentee; the warrant number; the date, location, and the number of acres; and the location of the recorded survey and recorded patent. To use these registers, determine the county at the time of the warrant.

The collection, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Land Warrants, 1733-1987,” at Ancestry.com is just an index of the above Warrant Registers. Use the PMHC Warrant Registers instead of this Ancestry collection because they contain more information.

However, the collection, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952,” at Ancestry.com includes a digitized image of the original warrant. This is an indexed database with images, so finding your ancestor is relatively simple.

Both of these Ancestry collections are available for free to Pennsylvania residents (see more below).

The Pennsylvania State Archives website digitized the Copied Survey Books. You’ll need to know the volume, subseries, and page number, which can be found in the Warrant Registers. Be sure to view the reverse of the page of the copied survey books for patent information, if available.

You can also view the Warrant Township Maps and the Connected Draft Maps, if they’re available for the location you’re researching. They will show you adjacent property owners, township boundaries at the time, and more. Be aware that the PMHC arranged both of these collections by the current county/township.

The Patent Indexes are also available online. Images of the patents are available in the collection “Patent Books, 1676-1960,” at FamilySearch.org. These records are not indexed. You’ll need to know the patent book and page number (which can be found on either the warranted register, the copied survey books, or the patent index).

If you know the name of the tract of land, you can search by tract name on the PMHC’s website. Ideally, you’ll want to have a rough idea of the issue date of the patent and select that collection. The index is then arranged alphabetically by tract name.

Read more about using Pennsylvania Land Records.

Pennsylvania Archives Records at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com hosts the following Pennsylvania Archives collections:

• Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1967
• Pennsylvania, Birth Records, 1906-1911
• Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999
• Pennsylvania, Births, 1852-1854
• Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952
• Pennsylvania, Oyer and Terminer Court Papers, 1757-1787
• Pennsylvania, Spanish War Compensation, 1898-1934
• Pennsylvania, Naturalizations, 1794-1908
• Pennsylvania, War of 1812 Pensions, 1866-1879
• Pennsylvania, Land Warrants, 1733-1987
• Pennsylvania, Civil War Border Claims, 1868-1879
• Pennsylvania, Marriages, 1852-1854
• Pennsylvania, Deaths, 1852-1854
• Pennsylvania, Records of Marriages, 1885-1889
• Pennsylvania, Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801
• Pennsylvania, Septennial Census, 1779-1863
• Pennsylvania, WPA Church Archives, 1937-1940
• Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Card Files, 1775-1916

Pennsylvania residents can access these collections for free by creating a free account here.

And More . . .

These are a small sampling of digitized collections. Check out the catalog of the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission’s Digitial Collections and the Pennsylvania State Archive Collection at the PA Power Library.

Finally, we can’t forget the published Pennsylvania Archives. These are transcriptions and compilations of records in a 138-volume, 10-series set of books published over nearly 100 years. They are available online in a few places, but the best place to view them is on Fold3.com. You do not need to have a Fold3 subscription or be a resident of Pennsylvania to view this collection for free. This is the most complete collection available online, and it is indexed and searchable. So, it is a great place to start. Just remember that like any derivative source, it may contain errors. So, treat it like a finding aid to the original source the editors used.