County Records on Microfilm

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, and more.

Texas county records filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) have been made available for researchers to borrow through interlibrary loan through twenty-three depositories in Texas, including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) Genealogy Collection in Austin. The microfilm may also be available to use in person at the repository for a given region.

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.

TSLAC is the microfilm depository for the following Texas counties. Libraries may borrow the film through interlibrary loan (ILL). Select a county below to see which records have been filmed:

Film for the following counties are housed at depositories throughout Texas and are also available for libraries to borrow through interlibrary loan (ILL). Select a county below to see which records have been filmed:

County records on microfilm are available to borrow through interlibrary loan (ILL). Please contact your local library for assistance with borrowing the film. Your request should include the specific reel numbers for the microfilm you wish to use, as well as the name of the county and name of the repository that houses the film reels. Individuals requesting to borrow film as a patron of TSLAC may wish to review our ILL policies for registration and request instructions.

Loan Policies for Libraries

• 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.

In addition to ILL, some repositories may allow on-site access to the county records on microfilm they house. Contact a repository for more information about visiting their facility to access the reels.

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.

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.

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

• Regional Historical Records Depository (RHRD): Each county has a designated RHRD and may have additional records. For example, the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center is the RHRD for Southeast Texas and has many paper records for those counties. See a list of Local Records Available at the Sam Houston Center.
• County offices : including the county clerk, district clerk , and county archives.
• Local history repositories, such as public libraries and historical societies that serve the county. Search for Texas libraries using our Find a Library page.
• Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org : Some records may have been digitized and available to search on third-party databases.

County Tax Rolls
City Directories
Newspaper Research
Texas Vital Statistics Indexes