Research Guides: HIST 712: US Civil War Era Research (Spring 2025): Indexes to Primary Sources

Using Indexes

Use indexes to identify collections of primary sources, or types of primary sources. Indexes will not include the material itself, but will point you toward archives, collections, and published volumes. There are indexes to:

Registers
Wills
Court Records
Marriage Records
Death Records
Estate Inventories
Genealogy Indexes
Guidebooks
Deeds
Shipping records

Examples

Decedents' estates (Virginia)
This work lists Decedents' estate lists and records
Examples: Wills (virginia) in the collection
Includes wills and lists of wills know to exist
Wills and Estate Records Index (Library of Virginia)
Index of wills by VA county.
Use these indexes to identify wills and country records. Many of these materials can be ILL'd or accessing through FamilySearch
Example: Index to Virginia estates, 1800-1865
This lists the Estate lists known to exist. Once an item of interest is identified, order it through ILL or find it online

Reference Books

Additional Examples of Indexes (VA as an example)

Some slaves of Virginia, 1674-1894 : Lost Records Localities Digital Collection of the Library of Virginia
In this case, once materials of interested are identified through the indexes, order them via Microfilm
In Most cases, they are digitized through FamiySearch, which is free but requires a free account
FamilySearch
Maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You can search its Ancestral File; International Genealogical Index; Source Guide; etc.