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County Records on Microfilm

 
Introduction

There is great genealogical and historical value in records of local governments. Information found in Texas county records can include deed and property transactions, probate and wills, naturalizations, vital statistics, voter registrations, school records, tax payments, court records, and more.

Every county differs in how older records were maintained. The TSLAC Regional Historical Resource Depository Program (RHRD), in collaboration with the Genealogical Society of Utah (now FamilySearch), microfilmed many of these records between the 1970s and the early 1990s to facilitate preservation and access through local depositories.

These Texas county records on microfilm are available to genealogy researchers through twenty-three depositories in Texas, including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) Genealogy Collection in Austin and the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty.

Photograph of a drawer with county records on microfilm

Not all Texas counties, and not all of the records held in each county were filmed. See our online guide to county records for details about the types of records that were filmed and what kind of information can be found in them.

Check for the county you are researching below to see the types of records filmed. If you locate records of interest, see the Microfilm Access and Online Access sections below.

County Records at TSLAC

TSLAC is the microfilm depository for the following Texas counties. Select a county below to see which records have been filmed:

Atascosa Bandera
Bastrop Bexar
Blanco Caldwell
Comal Frio
Galveston Gillespie
Grayson Guadalupe
Harris Hays
Karnes Kendall
Kerr Kinney
Llano McMullen
Medina Uvalde
Wilson  
County Records at Other Depositories

Film for the following counties are housed at depositories throughout Texas. Select a county below to see which records have been filmed:

Anderson Andrews
Angelina Aransas
Archer Austin
Bee Bell
Bosque Bowie
Brazoria Brazos
Brewster Brooks
Brown Burleson
Burnet Calhoun
Callahan Cameron
Camp Cass
Chambers Cherokee
Clay Coke
Collin Colorado
Cooke Coryell
Crane Crosby
Culberson Dallas
Dawson Delta
Denton DeWitt
Dimmit Duval
Ector Ellis
Erath Falls
Fannin Fayette
Fisher Floyd
Fort Bend Franklin
Freestone Gaines
Garza Goliad
Gonzales Greer
Gregg Grimes
Hamilton Hardin
Harrison Haskell
Henderson Hidalgo
Hill Hood
Hopkins Houston
Hudspeth Hunt
Jackson Jasper
Jeff Davis Jefferson
Jim Hogg Johnson
Kaufman Kenedy
Knox Lamar
Lampasas La Salle
Lavaca Lee
Leon Liberty
Limestone Live Oak
Lubbock Lynn
Madison Marion
Martin Matagorda
Maverick McLennan
Midland Milam
Montague Montgomery
Morris Nacogdoches
Navarro Newton
Nueces Orange
Panola Parker
Pecos Polk
Reagan Red River
Refugio Robertson
Rockwall Rusk
Sabine San Augustine
San Jacinto San Patricio
Shackelford Shelby
Smith Somervell
Starr Stephens
Stonewall Taylor
Throckmorton Titus
Travis Trinity
Tyler Val Verde
Van Zandt Victoria
Walker Waller
Ward Washington
Webb Wharton
Wichita Wilbarger
Willacy Williamson
Wise Wood
Young Zapata
Zavala  
Microfilm Access

County records on microfilm may be available view in person at the depository that houses the reels or to borrow through interlibrary loan (ILL). 

In person use. For microfilm held at TSLAC, call 512-463-5455 or email ref@tsl.texas.gov with the county name and reel number to confirm availability in advance of your visit. We can hold five (5) reels one week. Staff are unable to search the microfilm on your behalf or provide you with copies.

Other repositories may allow on-site access to the county records on microfilm they hold. Contact each repository directly to confirm in-person access options.

Interlibrary loan. Contact your local library about placing an ILL request to borrow microfilm from the repository that holds the reels. Include the county name(s) and reel number(s) with your request. Find Texas libraries near you using our Find a Library tool.

Individuals may request to borrow microfilm as a patron of TSLAC. Please review our ILL policies for registration and placing requests.

Loan Policies for Libraries. Each depository sets its own policy regarding the loan of county records on microfilm; not all depositories lend these reels.

Libraries may borrow reels held by TSLAC. Please call 512-463-5455 or email ill@tsl.texas.gov to place an ILL request.

  • No more than five (5) reels of microfilm may be on loan to the same researcher at the same time.
  • Microfilm can be loaned for fourteen (14) days, but loans may be extended for an additional fourteen days if no other request for the microfilm has been received.
  • The microfilm is for in-library use only and cannot be removed by the researcher from the premises of the requesting institution.
Online Access

Many county records from the RHRD program have been digitized and are available on the FamilySearch website.

  • Texas county genealogy research guides with links to digitized indexes and records are available through the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Use the clickable Texas county map  to find a Wiki for the county you are researching.
  • Search for collections on the FamilySearch catalog  by county name using the “Place” field or by reel number using the “Film/Fiche Number” field.

Some of the digital records are available to access online with a free FamilySearch account. Other records must be accessed through a Family History Center or FamilySearch Affiliate Library 

An image of the FamilySearch logo, containing a stylized tree with boxes for leaves and text in green of FamilySearch

TSLAC’s Austin and Liberty locations are FamilySearch affiliate libraries and provide on-site access to digitized images of many of these reels.

Certified Copies

TSLAC and requesting institutions are not permitted to provide certified copies of documents on microfilm. If a certified copy is needed, the researcher should obtain it from the county clerk or district clerk who is the custodian of the original record. The current custodian of the records of the county superintendents of schools is the county clerk.

Condition of Microfilmed Records

Though the filming process attempts to capture the best possible image of each page of each document, the result may not be microfilm that is easy to read due to the original condition of the record. Known issues include:

  • Nineteenth century iron-based inks can chip away, leaving a faint reddish-brown "ghost" script that is extremely difficult to read.
  • Aged handwriting on blue paper, popular with nineteenth century paper manufacturers, can be nearly illegible, even to the naked eye.
  • Sharp legibility may be sacrificed during filming to avoid damaging original records.

Researchers should attempt to see the original document in those instances in which the quality of the microfilm is poor. Contact the county clerk or district clerk who is the custodian of the original record.

Additional Sources of Local Records

Not all county records have been microfilmed. Additional records may be available through these county and local resources.

Our “Locating County Records” webinar from October 22, 2021 includes helpful tips for finding county records on microfilm, online, and through local agencies. The recording and slides from this webinar are posted on our Research Webinar Series webpage.

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Page last modified: June 14, 2023