This article was originally published in
The Irish At Home and Abroad journal of Irish genealogy and heritage (volume 2 #1, 1994/1995).
No longer published. All material © original author.
Scots-Irish in Colonial America - Repositories
By Kyle J. Betit
Repositories of Manuscripts & Genealogies
The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library (204 5th St. SE, Moultrie GA 31768; PO Box 1110, Moultrie GA 31776; Tel: (912) 985-6540; FAX: (912) 985-0936) has an extensive collection of genealogies. This library is also the official repository for many Scottish clan organizations. The material of these organizations also include information on the Scots-Irish. The library will conduct a brief search of its holdings if provided with pertinent details regarding an ancestor.
Significant collections of published family histories and of manuscript collections can also be found in state or local repositories. For example, the McClung Historical Collection at the East Tennessee Historical Center includes manuscript collections with compiled family histories and pedigrees, many of them for early East Tennessee Scots-Irish families. Many of these Scots-Irish had roots in Virginia and the Carolinas. Thus, the collection is worth checking even if the direct ancestor didn't end up in Tennessee. There is a surname card index to these files at the library as well.
Each state has a number of repositories where family histories or manuscript collections may be found. Refer to Ancestry's Redbook or to the state research guides mentioned below for more details. Some state repositories with significant manuscript collections relevant to Scots-Irish families include:
- Georgia: Georgia Department of Archives and History, 330 Capitol Ave. SE, Atlanta, GA 30334; Tel: (404) 656-2350; FAX: (404) 651-9270.
- Kentucky:
1) University of Kentucky, Division of Special Collections & Archives, Lexington, KY 40506; Tel: (606) 257-8611. (Refer to latest edition of Guide to Selected Manuscripts Housed in the Division of Special Collections and Archives).
2) Kentucky Historical Society, Old Capitol Annex, Broadway St., PO Box H, Frankfort, KY 40602; Tel: (502) 564-3016.
- New England: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 99-101 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116-3084; Tel: (617) 536-5740; FAX: (617) 536-7307.
- North Carolina: Genealogical Services Branch, Division of North Carolina State Library, 109 East Jone Street, Raleigh, NC 27611; (919) 733-3343.
- Pennsylvania:
1) Historical Society of Pennsylvania Library, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107; Tel: (215) 732-6200; FAX: (215) 732-2680. (Refer to Guide to Manuscript Collections of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2nd ed., Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1949).
2) State Library of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Ave. & Walnut Street, PO Box 1601, Harrisburg, PA 17105-1601. (Refer to A Guide to the Genealogy/Local History Section of the State Library of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA: State Library of Pennsylvania, 1989).
- South Carolina: South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208; Tel: (803) 777-3131.
- Tennessee:
1) McClung Historical Collection, East Tennessee Historical Center, 314 West Clinch Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902-2203; correspondence to 500 West Church Ave., Knoxville, TN 37902-2505; Tel: (615) 544-5744;
2) Tennessee State Library & Archives, 403 Seventh Ave. N., Nashville, TN 37219; Tel: (615) 741-2451.
- Virginia: Virginia State Library and Archives, 11th Street at Capitol Square, Richmond, VA 23219-3491; Tel: (804) 786-2332; FAX: (804) 786-5855.
- West Virginia: West Virginia Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Library, Colson Hall, Morgantown, WV 26506; Tel: (304) 293-3536. (Refer to latest edition of Guide to Manuscripts and Archives in the West Virginia Collection).
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