| Answer | How do I contact City Archives?
The Philadelphia City Archives (215) 685-9401/2 are at 548 Spring Garden Street, Department of Records, Philadelphia, PA 19123.
Reporting Procedures:Note: Personal checks are not accepted. Acceptable forms of payment are cash, money order, business, or bank check. Please do not mail in cash when requesting copies by postal mail.Please mail deed requests and payment to:548 Spring Garden Street, Department of Records, Philadelphia, PA 19123If you would like to contact our main office please email recordsinfo@phila.gov or call (215) 686-2261.You Should Know:
Types of Records Available
- Registrations of birth and death records begin on July 1, 1860, and continue to June 30, 1915
- Late registrations filed under an 1867 supplement to the vital statistics act which includes births dating back to 1829
- An earlier form of death record known as a cemetery return which dates from 1806 to June 30, 1860
- The City Archives holds marriage records from July 1, 1860, to December 31, 1885, for which we issue certificates and copies of marriages from the Orphans Court Division that date from 1886 to 1915
- Naturalizations of the City and County Courts for the periods 1794-1904 and 1914-1930
- Police roster and roll books for the period 1854-1925
- Deeds of Philadelphia County, 1683-1952
- Mortgages of Philadelphia County, 1736-1963
- City Directories, 1785-1930, 1935-1936
- Department of Personnel, roster cards
- Records of Blockley Almshouse
- Records of County prisons
Further Information:
The office was established in 1952 in accordance with Section 5-1101d of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter of 1951. Its mission is to preserve all City records not in current use which possess historical, administrative, legal, research, cultural or other important value. Currently, it forms an integral part of the Records Management Division of the Department of Records. 456 N. 5th Street, Monday - Friday 9 am - 4:30 pm., fax (215) 685-9409, records.info@phila.gov, http://www.phila.gov/records/archives/archives.html. For more info on the Archives, go to https://www.phila.gov/2018-11-14-philadelphias-new-city-archives-is-open-heres-how-you-can-use-it/.The most frequent users of the City Archives are patrons who are interested in their family history or who are professional genealogists doing research for others. The City Archives holds the earliest and longest continuous run of birth and death records of any political subdivision in the Commonwealth. |
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