The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is December 2024)
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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 them in other documents about your target ancestor. Besides, finding out your grandmother’s grades would be interesting!

The record collection links, listed below, feature school records from the state, and list collections of records that are available for free online.

If you wish to get educated with some basic information regarding what is available and how to navigate your research for school records, you can read these summaries:

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 types of information can you derive from these school records?

Name (often includes a middle name which is useful).
Age
Physical Characteristics – 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)

Below is a list of links to free online school record collections for each state:

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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