About the South Carolina Collection
The South Carolina Collection contains unique and rare genealogy and local history materials from Anderson County and surrounding areas dating back to the Revolutionary War. Staff at the Reference Desk can help you explore Anderson County’s robust collections of family histories; local histories; censuses, probate, deed, court, tax, and cemetery records; military rosters; periodicals; genealogical guides; and other reference works.
Online Genealogy Research Tools
Ancestry Library Edition
HeritageQuest
Historic American Newspapers
Library of Congress digitized newspapers from 1777 - 1963 including historic SC newspapers.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: South Carolina
Search the Anderson Independent-Mail from 1973-present, The Greenville News from 1881-present, and USA Today from 2009-present.
Universal Class – Continuing Education Courses
Important information about our collection materials:
- The collection is primarily for research at the Anderson Main Library.
- No materials are available for Interlibrary Loan.
- Microfilm readers are available; printouts are 10 cents per page.
- Staff is happy to help patrons locate materials, make research suggestions, and aid in the use of the collection’s materials, but cannot do genealogical research for patrons.
Remote Obituary & Record Requests
You may submit genealogy record requests by mail, email, or using our online form. Staff will respond to requests that require checking specific document indexes (such as land, marriage, or cemetery records) for a name. Staff are not able to do in-depth research or make extensive numbers of copies.
When requesting obituaries, please search the Local Obituary Index or search the Department of Health and Environmental Control Death Index. We must have at least a month and year of death listed for the individual. Due to staffing limitations, we cannot copy more than five (5) obituaries per request.
The fee for each inquiry is $5.00. If you are requesting physical copies via mail, additional fees apply:
- Copy fees are $0.10 per page for black and white or $0.50 per page for color.
- Mail fees are $2.00 for the first 10 pages and $0.25 for each additional 5 pages (or fraction thereof).
- Make checks payable to Anderson County Library
Please make sure to include a phone number with all requests. Provide an email address if requesting digital copies of the records. Please do not send a second request if you have one already pending.
Mail requests or payments to:
South Carolina Collection Department
Anderson County Library
300 N. McDuffie St.
Anderson, SC 29621
Email requests to research@andersonlibrary.org.
Submit Online Research Request
South Carolina Collection FAQ
We have access to death certificates from 1915-1961 via AncestryLibrary.com. We do not have birth certificates. You will need to contact the Division of Vital Statistics, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201 or call 803-734-4380. You can find the order forms online.
Yes! We have marriage records for Anderson County on microfilm from 1911-1956. If you need a different date, contact the Division of Vital Statistics or the Anderson County Probate Judge’s office at 100 S. Main St., PO Box 8002, Anderson, SC 29622.
We do have land deeds from Pendleton District on microfilm from 1790-1826. Our microfilm deed records for Anderson County cover 1790-1900.
No, we have microfilm grantor/grantee indexes for 1790-1940. The Courthouse Annex will have deeds from 1900 to the present.
We are happy to look for a specific person in a specified set of documents such as a will, deed, or book. However, because of staffing limitations, we cannot conduct extensive research. The Anderson County Genealogy Society has a research room and may conduct some searches upon request. Email the genealogy society for more information.
The majority of our resources are specifically for Anderson County. We do have some resources for counties surrounding Anderson County. We will be happy to direct you to other libraries or agencies that may have the material you need.
We do have published family histories. However, we do not keep looseleaf family files or working genealogies. The Anderson County Genealogy Society’s Research Room does have family files. The Faith Clayton Genealogy Room at Southern Wesleyan University keeps working genealogies and copies of Bible records.