Skip to agency navigation
Skip to main content

Official website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means it's official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 
    Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

    Research Guides

    Explore guides to records at the Pennsylvania State Archives, arranged by collection or topic.

    You can research many topics at the State Archives, but the information may be scattered throughout different groups of records. Use our collection and topic guides to find records and learn how they’re arranged.

    Collections

    At the State Archives, original records are organized into Record Group (RG) or Manuscript Group (MG) collections. Record Groups are used for government records and are arranged by agency name. Manuscript Groups are used for non-government records and arranged by subject or creator.

    The State Archives also maintains a collection of digitized county microfilm records, which are only available onsite.

    Topics

    The following guides can help you find records related to specific subjects.