Contact Special Collections

Send us an email!

Special Collections staff are available Monday-Saturday during regular library hours to assist with local history & genealogy research. For any other information, please contact us by sending an email using the link above or call 812–232–1119

Tips for Researchers

Birth & death records are located in each county's local health office. These records were not required in Indiana until 1882. Vigo County marriage records date back to the beginning of the county, but do not contain much genealogical information until 1882.

Basic Sources for Local Genealogical Research

Download a series of pamphlets compiled by VCPL Special Collections. Please note these files are in PDF format.

• Vigo County
• Vigo County USWebGen
• Clay, Owen, & Putnam Counties
• Greene & Sullivan Counties
• Parke & Vermillion Counties
• Clark, Crawford, & Edgar Counties, IL

Vigo County History

For more Vigo County history, please visit the following:

• Timeline of Vigo County History
• Township Histories
• County Cemeteries

Historic Map Works

To access Historic Map Works inside the library, please click this link.

Historic Map Works Library Edition is one of the most extensive digital map collections available, with over 1.5 million high-resolution, full color historic maps.

The core of the collection consists of land ownership (cadastral) maps illustrating the geographic and developmental history of the United States. This unique content allows users to track the "residential genealogy" of families and locations. There are a total of 27,934 atlases composed of 1,538,811 maps and illustrations online. For the state of Indiana, coverage is comprised of 25,383 maps in 500 atlases. In addition, Vigo County has 335 maps with date ranges from 1874 to 1976.

Search the Genealogy Databases

access.NewspaperArchive.com

To access access.NewspaperArchive.com inside the library, please click here.

NewspaperArchive.com is a great newspaper resource for students, researchers, local historians and genealogists. The database includes newspaper articles spanning hundreds of years to current and from all over the world. Terre Haute newspapers are reflected in the Terre Haute Star from April 1, 1949-January 31, 1973, the Terre Haute Tribune from July 1, 1970-June 30, 1971 and the Terre Haute Tribune-Star from July 5, 1970-June 27, 1971. New content is consistently added to the database, and patrons may save and print newspaper articles as they appeared in their original printing.

Ancestry Library Edition

Available only from computers within the VCPL & its Branches. Genealogy research source providing access to 1.5 billion names, 4,000 databases including census, vital, church, court, and immigration records. Updated frequently. Ancestry Library Edition is only available from VCPL Computers.

Civil War in Words & Deeds

The Civil War was the defining experience in the development of the United States. No event has directly affected a greater proportion of the nation's population: about 10% of Americans fought in the war and more than 700,000 sacrificed their lives. Thousands of regimental histories and personal narratives about the war have been published, but most were never widely distributed. Now, Civil War in Words & Deeds makes available rare, original chronicles of army life in the most devastating conflict in U.S. history for historians and genealogists to find and use.

County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Illinois

State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Illinois are fifteen cities and regions in 361 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Indiana

State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Indiana are 13 cities and regions covered in 262 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Michigan

State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Michigan are three cities and regions covered in 325 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Ohio

State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Ohio are 21 cities and regions covered in 305 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Pennsylvania

State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in County & Regional Histories & Atlases: Pennsylvania are 15 cities and regions covered in 283 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

HeritageQuest

Find ancestors and relatives in the complete set of US Federal Census Records 1790-1930, information on people and places described in over 25,000 family and local histories and information about people and places from the PERSI index of 1.6 + million genealogy and local history articles.

Back to top

Special Collection Highlights

These collections are housed in the library and may be visited by patrons during regular library hours.

Vigo County Courthouse Records

We have microfilm Vigo County courthouse records filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They include: deed records, 1818-1886, with various indexes; delayed records of birth, 1941-1978; index to settled estates and guardianships, 1819-1927; guardians and administration records, 1897-1918; marriage records, 1818-Feb 1951, with various indexes; naturalization records and index, 1856-1906; probate order books, 1818-1918 and complete probate order books, 1829-1864; record of indentures, 1818-1886; and will records, 1818-1918.

Terre Haute City & Vigo County Histories

We have most of the Terre Haute city directories from 1858 to the present. Also includes all the indexed Vigo County histories, early Vigo County marriage records, and some Vigo County cemetery records. We also have histories of most of Indiana's 92 counties and some out-of-state county histories. Most of these histories are not indexed.

W.P.A. Indexes

We have indexes compiled by the Works Progress Administration for the birth, marriage, and death records of 67 of Indiana’s 92 counties available on microfilm and CD-ROM. The birth and death indexes cover the years 1882 through 1920. Most, but not all, of the marriage indexes cover the years 1850 through 1920. Except for Vigo County marriages, the actual records are not available at the library.

Census Materials

We have the federal censuses for Indiana from 1820—1880 and 1900—1930 on microfilm. We also have the microfilm for the 1850 census of the states of Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. In addition we have other census years for nearby Illinois counties. Various indexes are available in printed form, microfilm and CD-ROM. The library also subscribes to the Ancestry and Heritage Quest databases which enable researchers to check any census for any county in any state. Ancestry is only available within the library.

Terre Haute Newspaper Records

We have an excellent collection of Terre Haute newspapers on microfilm dating back to 1823, although there are many missing issues. A card file contains a partial index of the early newspapers. Microfilm reader-printers can be used to photocopy news articles.