Old Amador County Court House - 1864
An Art Deco skin today envelopes the building (Archives Photo Collection)
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Currently the Archives provides customer assistance on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., based on volunteer availability. Walk-ins are welcome during those times and will be provided assistance if a volunteer is available. Assistance will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. Appointments are highly recommended to ensure assistance. To schedule an appointment, please leave a voice message at 223-6389 or send an email to archivesdept@amadorgov.org Someone will contact you as soon as possible.
The Amador County Archives is a local history and genealogical research center and the repository of many of the records of Amador County. The original archives collection came from those records stored in the basement of the museum in the late 1940's, when the museum started, until the early 1980's. Those boxed records were removed, inspected, accessioned or descriptively signed in to the collection, indexed and placed in proper folders and boxes to preserve them. The papers were mostly Amador County records circa 1854 to 1890. Also in the original collection were the Armstead C. Brown family papers. Mr. Brown was an early Amador pioneer who built and owned the house which is now the museum. Other items included in the collection were a mass of photos, maps, ledgers, and papers related to the Kennedy, Argonaut, Keystone, Amador Consolidated and other mines.
The Archives houses almost all the original issues of Amador County newspapers with some issues or specimens being very rare, and not existing anywhere else. It also contains a wide assortment of maps, including all original townsite and County maps, mining maps, and a complete set of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. Its growing photo collection, includes collections from the Monteverde Store in Sutter Creek, the Volcano Town Hall, the Clark-Gibbons and Nixon family photos, as well as hundreds of others covering all aspects of Amador County history, including mining.
You'll also find early day county probate records, bonds, and inquests. On long-term loan are the George Allen family papers, and other family collections.
Genealogists can find numerous early maps, atlases, encyclopedias, great registers of voters, and other sources to help with their research. Computer and card file indexes assists the visitor in finding the sought material. Other resources at the Archives include all of the late Elsie Dixon's papers, which generated her monumental study of the families in the Shenandoah Valley and those of another longtime valley researcher, Clyde Berriman. In recent years the Archives has acquired an outstanding collection of postmarks and covers of most town post offices in the County since 1854 or before.