Record Atlas
6 eras · 1638–2026 · 82 places

Pennsylvania — New Sweden and Penn's province

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, Lancaster. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1638–1655 New Sweden — the lower Delaware (south-east Pennsylvania only) no registers survive

New Sweden lay along the lower Delaware River, beginning with the expedition that anchored on 29 March 1638 and ending when Dutch forces took Fort Christina on 15 September 1655. The American Philosophical Society holds a collection of New Sweden papers for 1640-1655, transcribed in 1820 from originals in Stockholm.
1655–1664 New Netherland no registers survive

The Dutch annexed New Sweden to New Netherland in 1655, and the New York State Archives holds the surviving New Netherland records for the earliest settlements in what became New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
1664–1681 English — the Duke of York's colony no registers survive

England took the Delaware Valley from the Dutch in 1664; Pennsylvania did not exist as a colony until the grant to William Penn in 1681.
1681–1776 Province of Pennsylvania — Penn's proprietary FamilySearch

King Charles II granted the land to William Penn in 1681, and the Charter of Privileges of 1701 set up a provincial council and assembly. The province had long boundary conflicts with New York and Maryland. The baptism, marriage and burial registers of the Swedish congregation Gloria Dei in Philadelphia are digitised free by the Philadelphia Congregations Early Records Project.
1776–1906 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Pennsylvania ratified the US Constitution on 12 December 1787. In the south-west, Virginia organised the ground as the District of West Augusta and created Yohogania, Monongalia and Ohio counties in 1776; the boundary with Pennsylvania was settled in 1780 (sources also give 1779 and 1785), and Pennsylvania formed Washington and Fayette counties from Westmoreland in 1781 and 1783. Yohogania County's court records for 1776-1780 are at the Washington County courthouse.
1906–2026 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

The state health department began issuing birth and death certificates on 1 January 1906, and the State Archives holds the early certificates. Before that, county Clerks of the Orphans' Court registered births and deaths in 1893-1906 with poor compliance (and in 1852-54); those registers are requested from the county courthouse.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1638–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

82 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map