• The Wisconsin Historical Society Archives Division home page lists their hours of operation, reference services including summary of their extensive holdings on Wisconsin and U.S. history, information on how to search for and get to the holdings, access policies, and many new services which are just coming on line.

Many records of local interest held by the Wisconsin Historical Society have been distributed around the state to Local Area Research Centers which are usually affiliated with University of Wisconsin libraries. Visit the Historical Society's Archives Division Web Site to access information about the ARC Network.

You may request searches of the Wisconsin Pre-1907 Vital Records through the Online Genealogical Research Service. If you plan to visit the Society, you will find the vital records and indexes in the Microforms Room of the Library.


 
• Wisconsin State Vital Records Office allows in-person searching by appointment only.  To schedule an appointment, contact the genealogy receptionist at (608) 267-7820 between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 4:15 P.M. (CST), Monday through Friday.  A limited number of appointments are available and they fill up quickly.
   
  • Genealogy research at the State of Wisconsin Vital Records Office, including a list of counties indicating earliest date vital records are available.
  • To order copies of birth, death, or marriage records, check the Wisconsin Department Of Health and Family Services page for application forms and current prices:
    
    • Birth records
    • Death records
    • Marriage records
    • Divorce records
     
  • The Wisconsin Vital Records Office makes copies of microfiche indexes available for purchase.  The indexes contain information on the name of the subject(s), the date of the event, the county of the event, and the location of the record in our files. Microfiche is the only format in which indexes are available for purchase.
  • Birth, death, and marriage certificates for events that occurred prior to 1907 are available for viewing at the Wisconsin State Historical Society Archives. Information on the Wisconsin State Historical Archives can be found on the Internet at http://www.shsw.wisc.edu/genealogy/vitalrecords/

 
• Wisconsin State and County Vital Record Source List

 
• Index to Wisconsin Delayed and Affidavit Birth Registrations. Delayed and affidavit birth registrations are those filed after the mandated 365 day period for a regular registration. The vast majority of registrations covered in this index were filed between 1940 and 1942 by persons seeking to establish Social Security eligibility. The registrations are for births occurring before 1 October 1907, the date on which the Wisconsin state law governing vital records took effect.
   
• Wisconsin Land Records -- Interactive Search of pre-1908 homestead and cash entry patents from the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) Automated Records Project.

 
• Family Tree Maker's Wisconsin County Courthouse Addresses

Ethnic Research Centers

• The Milwaukee Urban Archives is the premier research center for studying the Milwaukee metropolitan area history of African-Americans, banking, business, families, farming, genealogy, German-Americans, housing, Jewish-Americans, labor, Polish-Americans, politics, railroads, sports, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, urban redevelopment, and women.
• The Vesterheim Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library collection focuses on Norwegian genealogical research. The facility holds one of the world’s largest collections of materials relating to Norwegian immigration and Norwegian family history including Norwegian parish records, family histories, Norwegian census records,American Lutheran church records and much more. The Center is located in Madison, Wis. -- Vesterheim Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library, 415 W. Main, Madison, WI, 53703. Telephone (608) 255-2224.