Welcome to Montgomery County Archives

The Archives preserves for consultation and study the documentary heritage of the history of Montgomery County.

We are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm, except for designated state & Federal holidays. On-site parking is available. Appointments are not necessary; it is however a good idea to call first if you will need special help with your research. During the Christmas holidays and/or unpredictable weather, the hours may change slightly.

Montgomery County Archives Overview

The Montgomery County Department of Preservation of Records, more widely known as Archives, was created by the County Board of Commissioners in January 1995. The department serves as the official repository for county records and operates under Tennessee State law and the direction of the Montgomery County Public Records Commission. In order to meet the goals of our mission statement, we have two sections within the department. The Archives houses the historic, permanent records of Montgomery County government and manuscript special collections. The Records Center stores the non-current records of various county government agencies.

Nearly all the pre-1950 records of the county have been transferred to the Archives. With some exceptions, we have both the original and a microfilm copy of these records. Some of our holdings are:

• the marriages, bound (from 1838) and loose (from 1866)
• probate or will record books (from 1796)
• deed books (from 1788)
• loose papers of the county, circuit, and chancery courts
• county court minutes
• chancery court minutes
• delayed birth certificate orders

In addition, we have several other groups of records for which processing is not complete. Among these are 1930s-1950s tax books, various maps, loose papers of the quarterly court, circuit court papers, loose wills, and more chancery court papers. We also have the microfilm of the various census schedules for 1820 through 1930 for Montgomery County. These include the population, mortality, manufacturing, slave, and agricultural schedules. A complete listing of our microfilmed records is on our public access computer and on our website.

We have a small but growing manuscript and special collections. Recent donations and acquisitions include a group of Lewis family letters, the Clara Hamlett Robertson collection, and the newspaper archives of the Leaf-Chronicle.

The Records Center provides storage to various county agencies who are required to keep and maintain specific records for different retention periods but do not need them for day to day use. The retention dates for these records varies from 5 years to 99 years. The department serves as custodian for these records which remain the property of the creating office.

The Archives began operation in the basement of the County Clerk’s Office at 214 Franklin Street. The massive damage caused by the tornado in January 1999 required the relocation of many of the county offices, including the Archives although we did not sustain any document damage or loss. After several temporary moves and locations over the next six years, in June 2005 the department reopened to the remodeled facility on Pageant Lane in the Veterans’ Plaza.

Although we were literally blown out of our first home by the tornado, it was a blessing in disguise. The tornado was the catalyst for meeting growth and space needs, not only for the Archives but other county departments as well. Every time we moved, we grew. In 1995, the Archives occupied the basement storage area of the County Clerk’s office; the entire office was less than 900 square feet. The county’s best kept secret, we were busy processing county court records and marriages which quite literally had filled the entire area, floor to ceiling. Due to space constraints, we were only open to the public by appointment. In June 2005, the department reopened in a wonderful new facility, with over 11,000 square feet. The newly renovated building features a large, well lighted reference room where patrons can work using microfilm and original records, and a small basic research library. There are microfilm reader-printers as well as a public access computer which has our currently available databases and access to Ancestry and Footnote as well as other internet sites for research.

The main parts of the department are areas the public usually doesn’t see. The Archives and Records Center are two very large and separate, secured and climate controlled storage rooms for the records. There is a large processing/work area for volunteers and staff in addition to a conservation area, secured microfilm area, and an accessions/ projects area. In 2009 we went on-line with the Archives website which is a continual work in progress. Available for purchase is a full size reproduction of the 1877 map of Montgomery County. Also available is our first publication, Montgomery County Marriage Book 1, 1838-1845. Book 2, 1845-1853 is nearing completion. Several database indices are available on our in-house system and, after proofing, will be moved to the website. Some of these are the 1891 Voters’ List (substitute for the destroyed 1890 census), the Archives microfilm index, plaintiff and defendant index to Chancery Court case papers, Series I, every name index to the delayed birth certificate orders, and a plaintiff and defendant index to Circuit Court case papers. There is also a large and growing collection of Montgomery County obituaries and death notices which are indexed by the name of the deceased, but searchable by place of death and/or burial. Marriage Book 1 and the pre-1838 marriages also have an every name index which is available.

Purposes of research are as varied as our patrons and include not only family history but researching land titles, land use, historic homes, buildings, and cemeteries, population statistics, and Tennessee law. Records, especially government records, were created for a particular purpose in a particular office, but in the Archives they take on a new life and become important research tools for our patrons. The practical application of the knowledge of the court system, county offices, and their records is the reason researchers come to the Archives. One of our goals is to promote the use of archival materials for research and documentary purposes and to assist in supplying information relating to materials in the Archives collections.

The past lives at the Archives and research is time travel. County records of all forms, manuscripts and special collections, census records, and other records are the vehicles to take us to another time and place.

You are visitor

since 12/04/2009.