Sources
Archival sources we use to research Polish ancestry — what they are, where to find them, and what they tell you about your family.
Historical newspaper search
Obituaries, marriage announcements, court notices, business advertisements — Polish, German, and Austrian newspapers from the 19th and early 20th centuries are searchable in regional digital libraries.
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Vital records (births, marriages, deaths)
The foundation of any genealogical research — parish and civil registers documenting births, marriages, and deaths, often the only surviving evidence of a person’s existence.
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Military records
Conscription lists, regimental rolls, casualty registers, and personal service files from the Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Polish armies — a rich source of biographical detail.
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Cemeteries
Tombstone inscriptions, cemetery books, and burial registers preserve names, dates, and family relationships that often did not make it into parish records.
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Cadastral records
Maps, parcel registers, and ownership protocols compiled in the 19th century for taxation purposes — they let us locate the exact house where your ancestors lived.
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Court records
Inheritance proceedings, land disputes, criminal cases, and guardianship files — court archives often preserve detailed family information not found anywhere else.
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Nobility records
Were your ancestors noble? Polish nobility registers, land books, and deeds — sealed and signed — survive in the archives.
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Kraków's notary records from 1810
Kraków's notary records begin in 1810 and appear to be complete — a rich source for tracing ancestors who lived in the city during the early 19th century.
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Voter lists
An important but often overlooked archival source for many towns and villages in Galicia, held at the National Archive in Krakow.
Read more →Census records (for selected locations)
Population counts and household lists from the Austrian, Prussian, and later Polish administrations — surviving unevenly, but a goldmine when they do.
Read more →Address books and phonebooks
Annual directories of city dwellers, tradesmen, and (later) telephone subscribers — they pin a person to a specific address in a specific year.
Read more →Education sources (primary schools, gimnazja, universities)
Primary-school class registers, gimnazjum (classical secondary-school) catalogues, matura records, and university enrollment books — invaluable for tracing the educational and social path of an ancestor.
Read more →Concentration camps and POW camps
Records of those imprisoned in Nazi and Soviet camps — names, dates, transports, and fates — held by the International Tracing Service (Arolsen), Auschwitz Museum, and other institutions.
Read more →Village court records (księgi sądowe wiejskie)
A unique Polish source — the proceedings of village courts (16th–18th century) recording land sales, inheritance disputes, marriage contracts and conflicts among peasants. Often the only pre-19th-century source for non-noble ancestors.
Read more →Land records
Mortgage and land registers (księgi hipoteczne, gruntowe) maintained by district courts — they record owners, transactions, debts, and inheritance of real estate from the early 19th century onward.
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Archives we work in
National Archive in Krakow (Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie)
The largest archive in southern Poland and the holding institution for almost every source we research in the former Western Galicia — parish books, notarial deeds, cadastral maps, voter lists, military files, court books, and magistrate records. Archive number 29.
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AGAD — Central Archive of Historical Records, Warsaw
The flagship Polish archive for everything pre-1795 — Royal Chancellery registers (Metryka Koronna), castle and land court books, Crown Treasury records, and the foundational sources of Polish nobility research. Archive number 1.
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State Archive in Kielce (Archiwum Państwowe w Kielcach)
The principal archive for the former Kielce Governorate and Sandomierz lands — Russian-partition parish books, notarial deeds, magistrate records, and post-1918 administration files. Archive number 21.
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State Archive in Katowice — Cieszyn Branch (Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach oddział w Cieszynie)
The branch that holds the records of historic Cieszyn Silesia — the former Habsburg Duchy of Teschen. Parish books of every confession, records of the Cieszyn Chamber estate, land and court files, and the largest Protestant parish in Habsburg Poland.
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Sources specific to the Prussian partition
Standesamt — Prussian civil registry
From 1874, all births, marriages, and deaths in the Prussian partition were recorded by state civil registries (Standesämter) regardless of religion — invaluable for finding both Christian and Jewish ancestors.
Read more →Poznań residents card index (Kartoteka miasta Poznania)
A famous card index of Poznań residents (19th c. to mid-20th c.) — one card per person, recording dates, addresses, religion, and family relationships. Held at the State Archive in Poznań.
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Sources for Polish citizenship confirmation
1930 Sejm election voter lists
The November 1930 parliamentary elections produced near-comprehensive voter lists for the entire Second Polish Republic — one of the strongest single proofs of Polish citizenship for confirmation cases today.
Read more →ID card applications (wnioski o dowód osobisty)
Polish ID card applications (from the 1950s onward) contain a photograph, place and date of birth, parents’ names, and prior addresses — one of the best proofs of Polish citizenship for confirmation purposes.
Read more →Residency registers (księgi meldunkowe)
Town and village registration books listing every resident — temporary and permanent — by household. Useful both for general research and as proof of residence in citizenship cases.
Read more →Permanent population books (księgi ludności stałej)
Russian-partition population books listing the permanent residents of a town or village, with multi-generation family entries. Often a critical link in citizenship cases involving the former Russian partition.
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