26 Things That You Can Find in School Records

Do you research school records? I’m not talking about yearbooks. Those can be found on the Yearbooks Page. I’m talking about actual school records, such as enrollment, attendance, and grade reports for example. These are interesting source documents because they might record the student’s age, birth date and location, and possibly their parents’ names. All great ways to find this information if you haven’t found it in other documents about your target ancestor. Besides, finding out your grandmother’s grades would be interesting!

So, what types of records related to schools are maintained and often available?

• School Census
• School Catalogs
• Teacher’s Registers
• Attendance Records
• Report Cards
• Class Logs
• Teacher Rosters
• School Board Meetings/Reports
• Academic Team and Class Photos
• Local Newspaper Articles:
•  – Graduation Lists
•  – School Activities
•  – School Sports
• Student Newspapers
• Alumni Directories and Publications
• Yearbooks
• Yearbook Indexes

And, what type of information can you derive from these school records?

• Name (often includes middle name which is useful).
• Age
• Physical Characteristics, such as color/race, disability.
• Birth Date
• Current Residence Address
• Name of Father
• Name of Mother
• Occupations of parents
• Grades
• Classes Taken
• Activities (from Photos)
• Date left school (can help with family residence relocation)

Check out the School Record Collection links at The Ancestor Hunt, which are presented by state by clicking on School Records

Download the Quicksheet PDF

To obtain the one-page Quicksheet pdf for easy reference of what information to look for, you can download it by clicking on the Download button below:

For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets. 

Genealogy QuickSheets – Frequently Asked Questions