• NJ Home
• NJ Genealogical Records
  • Census Records
  • Church Records
  • Court Records
  • Land Records
  • Military Records
  • Vital Records
• NJ Cities
• NJ Maps
• NJ Archives & Societies
• NJ Newspapers
• NJ Periodicals
• Search NJ Databases
• Blog

New Jersey Societies and Archives

Genealogists are generally positive and energetic, and most are ready to share their findings or research experience with anyone they can help. There are hundreds of genealogical societies at the grass-roots level. Knowledge of the genealogical community will place you in the midst of much activity, increase your productivity, and alert you to the importance of research standards and etiquette.

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

New Jersey Archives

It is wise to acquaint yourself with any repository which you might visit by writing to the appropriate archive or library in advance. Every repository has published materials that introduce its collections and research policy. State archives and historical agencies also have Internet sites that provide the same information. Some even have downloadable databases for some or parts of their collections.

• Department of State Division of Archives and Records Management
  Bureau of Archives and Records Preservation State Library Bldg, 185 West State Street, CN-307, Trenton, NJ 08625-0307
   The New Jersey State Archives has many of the basic research materials for the state, such as federal and state census records; probate, land, and court records; newspapers; and vital records. Mail requests are accepted for some of the collections and require a $2 fee for each item requested, in addition to copying charges.
• Department of Special Collections and Archives, Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 
  Perhaps the best published collection of New Jersey material, Rutgers also has a wealth of manuscripts, including the collections of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey.

New Jersey Historical & Genealogical Societies

Because family history research relies greatly upon records found at the county level, many local societies represent counties. Organizations also form around shared interests. Ethnic or religious origins account for many groups, such as the Polish Genealogical Society of America and P.O.I.N.T. (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together). Societies also form around common locales of origin for members’ ancestors; hence, the Palatines to America and Germans from Russia societies. To locate these and other societies, consult Juliana Szucs Smith’s The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. It lists addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Internet addresses of thousands of organizations throughout the United States.

For almost every state there is a state genealogical society, a state genealogical council, or both. In addition to their own work, state-level groups sometimes help coordinate the efforts of local societies within the state. Their publications, newsletters and quarterlies, supplement those produced by the local societies.

• New Jersey State Library, State Library Building, 185 West State Street, CN-520, Trenton, NJ 08625-0520
  The New Jersey State Library has essentially the published complement to the New Jersey State Archives, including genealogies, histories, periodicals, guide books, maps, atlases, and indexes. Its collection, however, is stronger for the southern and central parts of the state than for northern New Jersey. There are also newspaper clipping files, phone books, directories, and folders of material and correspondence arranged by family name, as well as microfilms of the federal and state censuses. The state library is one of the two depositories for the state's DAR collection.
• The New Jersey Historical Society, 52 Park Pl., Newark, NJ 07102; 973-596-8500 ext 248 or 249
  There is a $1, non-member fee to use the library, which has an excellent collection of published material, microfilms of New Jersey federal and state censuses (1855-85), tax rateables (and published index), and so forth. The New Jersey Historical Society is one of the two depositories for the state's DAR compilations and houses much manuscript material, including maps, cemetery and church records, family Bibles, and genealogies, as well as thousands of other original documents and papers. The society's quarterly, New Jersey History, was issued as Proceedings of The New Jersey Historical Society until 1967.
  The Genealogy Club of the Library of the New Jersey Historical Society was disbanded in 1997 prior to our move to our current address.
• Descendants of Founders of New Jersey, 10 Buckingham Ave, Trenton, NJ 08618
  Evelyn Ogden, Registrar ; [EMAIL] (732) 920-3279
• Genealogical Society of New Jersey, PO Box 1476, Trenton NJ 08607-1476
  The Genealogical Society of New Jersey has published The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey since 1925. The society houses its collection of genealogical materials, including cemetery transcriptions, family Bibles (over 4,800), military records, notes of genealogists, and so forth, in the A. S. Alexander Library at Rutgers University.
• New Jersey Ancestry Society, P.O. Box 249, Stamford 06904
• Society of Mayflower Descendants in NJ, Northern Region, PO Box 172, Chatham, NJ 07928
  Phyllis Hansen, 908-233-7410