Using the Summary Guide to Municipal Records

• Select Search the Summary Guide to Municipal Records to link to an alphabetical listing
• Choose the letter corresponding to the beginning letter of the municipality to link to an alphabetical list of the entities for that letter

Example: Chose C for Columbia

• Select the name of the municipality to link to the listing of record series for that entity
• In most instances, records are further divided into subgroups, which correspond to offices, courts, or administrative units of the municipality
• Within each subgroup, records are listed numerically by series or call number
• Certain terms and abbreviations occur in the series entries
• Each series entry is composed of the:
• series/call number
• name of the records creator (city or town and, where applicable, the office, court, or administrative unit)
• title of the record series
• inclusive date span of the series (i.e., the earliest date and the latest date represented in the series)
• bulk dates, where applicable (time period into which most of the records fall)
• quantity of the series (amount of cubic feet, volumes, microfilm reels, or other unit)
• statement of restriction on use or terms governing access of the series
• Access to some types of media requires prior notice
• For container listings, see SCArchCat, the online catalog to our holdings which also gives additional information for many series and allows searching by keyword, subjects, and titles at each level (series, record group, container/folder, or item) or all levels combined
• Researchers interested in obtaining more information about record series should contact the State Archives and identify the series/call number and series title when making an inquiry

SCDAH Website  ||  Summary Guide  ||  SCArchCat  ||  Online Records Index  ||  SC Electronic Records Archive  || Research Questions

For information on our search room services, please contact our research desk at 803-896-6104 or submit a research request.
Please include your complete postal address in your electronic correspondence to us.