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Research Home Page

The St. Mary's County Historical Society has thousands of books, documents,and artifacts waiting for you to discover! Much of our material can be found here online. Select an area of interest below, click on the title in the box, and you'll be taken to lists of material to research online. You can also visit our Research Library and Archives in person to dig deeper.

Please note that many of our resources will be labeled as a "Member resource". These are resources that have been researched, collected, and/or written by society members representing thousands of hours of volunteer labor. We ask that you join the society to view these pages which then helps us as we enable the society to continue presenting St. Mary's County history. Alternatively, you are welcome to view these resources in person in our library and archives.

Library & Archives at Tudor Hall

Visit our Research Library and Archives to physically view books, documents and artifacts. Get help from our research and archives volunteers. Click here to learn more about the holdings in our Research Library and Archives, our hours, and how you can make an appointment

Research Request

If you are unable to visit us in person, we have research volunteers who can help you. Click here to learn about the process and the cost.

Genealogy Vital Records

Here you will find birth and baptismal records, family history files, marriage records, death records, obituaries, cemetery records, probate records (including administration bonds, balance books, inventories, guardianships, and orphans courts proceedings), and wills.

African-American Records

Here you will find records specifically pertaining to African-American's in St. Mary's County. Records include guides to African American research, articles about slavery in Maryland, lists of slaves and slave statistics.

Genealogy - Family Records

Family files of 1,135 families in St. Mary's County. These files contain family histories contributed by family members, newspaper clippings, articles and family genealogies.

Land & Tax Records

Land records including pre-revolutionary war patents, rent rolls, debt books, tax records, and surveyor's journals

Historic Places

Here you'll find links taking you to websites with info about historic areas and towns, churches, road, trails, mills, airports, railroads, and cemeteries. Also be sure to check out the Useful Links page below.

Historic Maps

Dozens of historic maps from Captain John Smith's map of 1612 to mid-20th-century highway and election district maps. You're sure to find something interesting here!

Military Records

Articles and records about wars fought by St. Mary's County residents - including the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War.

Magazines & Newspapers

Links to historical magazines and newspapers including the St. Mary's Beacon, the St. Mary's Gazette, the Enterprise and others. Also A Journey Through Time - articles written by Linda Reno in the St. Mary's County Times.

Census Records

On this page you will find information about the St. Mary's County census from 1790 to 1950, as well as census maps for each year.

Useful Links

Dozens of useful links to help you in your research! From general county history to historic sites, and other archives and organizations.

Document Library

Our website document library containing a folder representation of the files in the research section. You must be a member to access the member's only section.