Major Land Record Collection Descriptions
FIELD NOTES
Arranged by: Township
Location:
Microfilm - RR Cabinet 1/Drawer 7
Transcripts - L 1747-1750
Originals - L 945, 949
Indexes: Township coordinates are correlated to volume number for the set of transcribed field notes on the map.
Index to recorded field notes (RR Map Cabinet, Shelf 1).
The Index to Field Notes and Plats, arranged by county,correlates the coordinates to the set of transcriptions as well, albeit somewhat cryptically (RR Finding Aids Shelf).
PLATS
Arranged by: Township
Location:
Microfilm - RR Cabinet 1/Drawer 7
Photostats - L 1753
Index: The Index to Field Notes and Plats, arranged by county, correlates township coordinates to volume and plat number.
NB: The plats and field notes pertaining to each county were correlated and microfilmed. The positives for 24 of the counties are in RR Cabinet 1, Drawer 7. Duplicate negatives for all counties are in the Upstairs Vault; reel numbers are listed in the Index to U.S. Surveyor-General's Records of Copies of Field Notes and Plats (RR Finding Aids Shelf).
TRACT BOOKS
Arranged by: Township
Location:
Microfilms- RR Cabinet 1/Drawers 9, 10
Originals- L 1020-1030
Indexes: The Tract Book Inventories correlate the township coordinates to the district office responsible for the tract and to the volume number of the tract book, as well as to the reel number of the microfilm. Name indexes to the tract books are discussed below.
REGISTERS' AND RECEIVERS' RECORDS
NB: These comprise a wide variety of sources, primarily in manuscript, although some have been microfilmed. The principal materials are the registers and ledgers, arranged by date and receipt number.(Full descriptions of all records are in the Inventory of Federal Land Records - RR Finding Aids Shelf)
Location:
Correspondence and misc. loose records - A Registers and ledgers - L 901-908; L 937-952; L 1741-1742
Microfilm -
Brookville RR 1/10
Cincinnati RR 1/10
Fort Wayne RR 1/10
Jeffersonville RR 1/4,10
Vincennes RR 1/6
Winamac RR 1/10
Index: The WPA Name Index (described below) covers the records of the Crawfordsville Office, and much of those of the Jeffersonville Office. It is much less comprehensive and reliable for the other offices.
STATE LAND RECORDS
NB: The land records of the state take much the same form as those of the federal land offices; the primary difference is the arrangement by the purpose the particular lands were designed to support or by their nature. The various categories were designated: College Fund; Indianapolis Donation; Michigan Road; Permanent Endowment; Saline Lands; Seminary Lands; Swamp Lands; University Lands; and Wabash and Erie Canal Lands.
Access to these records, then, is a function of knowing the category and the surveyor's coordinates or the date of transfer.
Location:
The originals are scattered throughout the L section, but are grouped primarily in Ranges 12 - 14. Microfilms of the records for the Saline, Seminary, Swamp, University and Wabash and Erie Canal Lands are in RR 1/9-10.
Indexes:
Indexes for state land records are notably lacking or inadequate; the following are all that are available.
Indianapolis Donation -
Atlas of Donations, Sales and Reserves, City of Indianapolis (L 862)
Michigan Road - Atlas of Selections, Michigan Road Lands and Index (L 862)
Saline Lands - Abstract Title of Saline Lands(arranged by county) and Map Showing the Several Grants of Saline Lands (L 986)
Seminary Lands - Abstract Title of Seminary Lands (arranged by county) L 991 Swamp Lands - Index to Patents (RR 1/10) and Atlas of Selections and Index of Swamp Lands (L 862)
University Lands - Abstract of University Lands (arranged by county and section) L 991 Wabash and Erie Canal Lands - Abstract Title (arranged by county) L 1729-30, L 1733-34
MICROFILMS
General Land Office. Letters received from the Surveyor-General of the Northwest, 1797-1844
Arranged by: Date
Location:
RR 1/10
Index: None
General Land Office.
Letters sent to the Surveyor-General of the Northwest, 1796-1860
Arranged by: Date
Location: L 1/18
Index: None
General Land Office. Miscellaneous letters sent, 1796-1860
Arranged by: Date
Location: L 1/6-8
Index: None
NB: A miscellany of reels containing land records are stored in RR 1/6, 7 and 10.
NAME INDEXES
NB: All indexes, save the WPA Name Index, are located on the RR Finding Aids Shelf.
Brown, Immogene. Jackson Co.: index to purchasers of land (The Genealogy Division has the four other volumes in the set: indexes to Madison, Delaware, Brown and Martin counties.)
Cowen, Janet. Brookville - Indianapolis land entries, 1820- 1831 (Compiled from registers of receipts and tract books.)
idem. Crawfordsville, Indiana land entries, 1820-1830 (Compiled from registers of receipts and tract books.)
idem. Jeffersonville land entries, 1808-1818 (Compiled from registers of receipts and land entries.)
Darlington, Jane. Marion County Indiana Records Miscellanea (includes a name index to an 1898 transcription of a variety of Marion Co. land records, 1821-1851. A copy is in the Genealogy Division.)
Waters, Margaret. Indiana land entries: Cincinnati district, 1801-1848 (Compiled from tract books.)
idem. Indiana land entries: Vincennes District, 1807-1877 (Compiled from tract books.)
Works Progress Administration. WPA Name Index (Citations to all the pre-1855 records of the Crawfordsville Office, most of the pre-1855 records of the Jeffersonville Office and very few of the records of the other offices.)
NB: The Genealogy Division holds microfilms of a variety of county records that have to do with land and land transfers. These are discussed in Carolynne Miller, Indiana sources for genealogical research in the Indian State Library.