Genealogy Resources

These sources are helpful in researching North Carolina genealogy:

• Leary, Helen F. M. North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History. 2nd ed., 1996.
  Perkins Reference CS49 .N67 1996.  Also held by Special Collections.

• North Carolina. Division of State Library. Genealogical Services Branch. Tar Heel Tracks: Genealogical Research in North Carolina.  4th ed. revised, 1994.
  Perkins Public Documents: NC Documents Microfiche F20 302:T17 1994 

• North Carolina Genealogical Society. The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal [serial]. Volume 4 of each year includes annual index.
  Perkins Periodicals N864G

• Schweitzer, George K.  North Carolina Genealogical Research. Knoxville, TN: G.K. Schweitzer, 1984.
  Perkins Reference F253 .S39 1984

Primary Resources

The Duke University Libraries contain a wealth of primary materials for the researcher in NC history.  The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library’s holdings on the American South and NC are particularly strong. 

Suggestions for identifying other resources:

• In the libraries' collections there are published diaries, letters, and papers. To identify these resources in the catalog, look for these subject headings:
  • Correspondence
  • Interviews
  • Sources
  • Personal Narratives
  • Letters
  • Diaries
  • Oral history

Any of these terms can be used in the keyword search mode as well.

• Several indexes and databases can be useful in identifying primary documents. 
  • The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) is a general newspaper covering local, national, and international news. 
    • Available on-line to Duke-affiliated users from 1991 to present.
    • Available on microfilm from 1890 to date (Perkins Microfilm S151). 
  • Periodicals Index Online and 19th century masterfile can be used to identify periodical and newspaper articles from the 19th century.  See the Periodical/Newspaper Indexes and Databases section of this guide for more details.
• There has been an explosion of databases offering primary documents in full text.  See the Database List of Primary Sources for a complete listing of all of the databases for primary materials.

One database to note is Documenting the American South (DAS), which is an electronic collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century.  The Academic Affairs Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sponsors DAS, and the texts come primarily from its Southern holdings.  It gives access to digitized primary materials organized into the following projects:
    The First Century of the First State University
    Oral Histories of the American South
    True and Candid Compositions: Antebellum Writings
    First-Person Narratives of the American South
    Library of Southern Literature
    North American Slave Narratives
    The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865
    The Church in the Southern Black Community
    The North Carolina Experience
    North Carolinians and the Great War

• Joyner Library at East Carolina University has created The Eastern North Carolina Digital Library.
• See also the Web resource guide Primary Sources for Historical Research.