Since 1854, the Tennessee State Library and Archives has been collecting and preserving Tennessee history. With a vast collection of books, official records and private manuscripts, the Library and Archives is the premier research library for Tennessee genealogy. Many indexes and finding aids are available online to help researchers learn about the many and varied collections housed at the Library and Archives.

In partnership with Ancestry.com, the Tennessee State Library and Archives is providing access to several important collections of Tennessee records. The collection Death Certificates 1908-1965 is now available. Early birth and death records from three metropolitan cities of Tennessee -- Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga -- are also available.

Additional records available include:

Delayed Birth Records, 1869-1909. When the Social Security Administration was created in 1935, the agency asked for birth certificates as proof the applicant qualified for entry into the program. Most Tennesseans who wished to apply were born prior to the 1908 state law that first required the issuing of birth certificates. Beginning in 1935, Tennessee began to issue Delayed Birth Certificates thru an application process that required supporting documents.

Enumeration of Male Voters, 1891. The 1890 census was destroyed in a records warehouse fire in 1921. There are no Tennessee census records for 1890. There is a list of male voters in each county in 1891. Some of these voter lists include ages, but no other personal or family information is provided.

In more recent years, an invaluable collection of Tennessee land grants have been added to Ancestry, along with North Carolina and Tennessee Revolutionary War land warrants. A collection of early Tennessee tax lists covering the years 1783-1895 has been added. We have also added an index to Tennessee Supreme Court cases for 1809-1950 and Tennessee Wills and Probate Records for 1779-2008.

These records are available through the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) to residents of Tennessee, as well as to subscribers at Ancestry.com.

Genealogists are welcome visitors at the Library and Archives. Please visit our website to help plan your visit.

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