Thank you for your interest in the records housed at the Delaware Public Archives. Please read the following information before placing your request, as it will provide information to help you form your inquiries for better results. If you already have exact references and merely need to request a price quote, please mail or email. Exact references must include the appropriate citation needed to access a record; including the type of record, county, the name of the individual, date of record, volume, page number, etc. We ask that you limit your requests to five specific references at one time.
 

Record Requests

Associated fees:

  • Reader Printer Copies – $.50
  • Reader Printer Scanner – $10 per 4GB flash drive, or you can bring in your own flash drive
  • Manuscript/Book Copies – $.50
  • Computer printouts – $.10
  • Vital Statistics – $25.00 certified copy
  • “Hundreds” Maps – $1.00 per sheet
  • Architectural Drawings/Oversized maps – $3.50 a sheet

Mail orders:

  • 1-10 pages – $10.00
  • 11-20 pages – $15.00
  • 21-30 pages – $20.00
  • 31-40 pages – $25.00
  • 41-50 pages – $30.00
  • 51-60 pages – $35.00

Please note that you may receive your copies digitally if you wish; Any orders over 50 pages will be delivered digitally, via a download link emailed to you.

Vital Records

The research room staff will undertake searches of indexed births, deaths, and marriages abstracted from many of our holdings. Before 1913, the vital records of Delaware are not complete.

Our files of early births, marriage, and death records have been compiled from family Bibles, newspapers, church records, tombstones, and similar sources; however, our holdings do contain vital records materials that are not indexed and cannot be searched by the staff. Please visit our facility to research all available materials.

On July 1, 1913, the state of Delaware established a law requiring the registration of births, deaths, and marriages. The Delaware Public Archives houses birth certificates created since 1913 that are 72 years or older, death certificates older than 40 years, and marriage certificates older than 50 years. This means that we only have birth certificates up through and including 1951, death certificates up through and including 1983 and marriage certificates up through and including 1973.

For certified copies of vital records, please email us at archives@delaware.gov or call 302.744.5000 and ask to speak with the archivist taking phone calls.  For genealogical requests please email archives@delaware.gov.

To obtain vital records issued after the dates above please contact the Office of Vital Statistics. Contact information for the Office of Vital Statistics is available on their website at https://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/ss/vitalstats.html.

For marriage records, approximate dates must be provided if a specific date is not known. Vital Records: $25.00 certified copy.
 

Photographic Records Request

Fill out the Photograph Order Form on the Duplication Fees page, print it out and then mail it along with your payment to Delaware Public Archives, Hall of Records, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. North, Dover, Delaware 19901. This order form is in pdf format and requires Acrobat Reader software.

Associated fees are listed on the Duplication Fees page. 

Microfilmed Records Request

Fill out the Microfilm/Scanning Order Form on the Duplication fees page, then email, fax, or mail a copy to the Delaware Public Archives. This order form is in pdf format and requires Acrobat Reader software.

Associated fees are listed on the Duplication Fees page.

Please Note:

We are unable to perform extensive or genealogical research for patrons.  We will search our indexed records for up to five items per request. When you place your request the research room staff will perform a search for the record requested, provided all the pertinent information is included. If a record is found, the staff will send you a reply back.  If you would like to email us a request please do so at archives@delaware.gov.

Forms: Most DPA forms are in .pdf format and require Acrobat Reader for full compatibility. If you do not have this software on your computer, you can download it free from Adobe Systems. If you need help with Adobe Reader, please see their support here.