Icon Purchasing Microfilm

Purchasing Microfilm

The Archives no longer offers microfilm duplication or inter-library loan services. However, the Archives will make microfilm reels available in digital form as pdfs on CD at a cost of $60 per reel of film. The $60 represents a matching fund partnership between the Archives and its customers to place records online, where the Maryland State Archives is contributing more than 50% of the necessary resources. This service is for individual citizens utilizing the film for private or fair educational purposes only. Vital record film, land record indices, and any other restricted microfilm reels, or reels containing any restricted materials, will not be reproduced. The reel of film will be scanned, converted to a pdf, and burned on CD and then mailed to the patron.  . Patrons should note that the quality of the scanned images will only be as good as the quality of the existing microfilm images.

We have temporarily discontinued our program to scan microfilm and post online because of technical difficulties with our programs.  Eventually we will resume our program to make all digital microfilm orders accessible online through our Guide to Government Records and our Guide to Special Collections, but we want to fulfill all outstanding and incoming requests as expeditiously as possible so that we can continue to provide this service while we address our programming needs.  Patrons will be notified via email once the requested reels have been mounted online.

Please note that you will encounter microfilm numbers that look like this:
CR 1234-1, CR 1234-2, CR 1234-3. The -1, -2 & -3 refer to a part of the film -- more than one book is found on reel -- CR 1234. Your order should reflect the core number (in this example, the core number is CR 1234) only.  Maryland State Archives microfilm numbers have either a CR, M, or WK prefix; any additional number such as a CM number refers to the number of the entire collection, not the reels of film.

Microfilm orders will be processed within 2-4 weeks of payment being received by the Archives. Orders may be placed via mail, email (ref@mdsa.net) or fax (410-974-3895).  Mail orders should be sent to the Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, Maryland, 21401. The following customer  information is necessary to process a credit card order:

          Name as it appears on credit card
          Institution/Company name (if any)
          Billing address (Street, City, State, [Country] Zip)
          Shipping address if different than billing address
          Home telephone number including area code
          Work telephone number including area code
          email address (if communicating via email)

     CREDIT CARD INFORMATION:  (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and related debit cards only)

          Card holder's name
          Card type
          Account number
          V-code number (located on back of card on signature line)
          Expiration date

You can find listings of microfilmed records and their reel numbers at our website under Reference & Research. For State and county records go to the Guide to Government Records. Read the introductory material at the bottom of the Guide page. From the Guide you can go directly to the microfilm series (type of record) you seek and get the microfilm numbers you need. Access to indexes of microfilm editions of newspapers and church records are available from Special Collections.

The use of any user name and password on our site is for personal and educational purposes only, and constitutes agreement to abide by any and all copyright restrictions. In most instances the user name of aaco and password of aaco# will work. Contact ref@mdsa.net if you have any questions or have difficulty accessing files.

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350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, MD 21401 | MD toll free (800) 235-4045 or (410) 260-6400
Fax: (410) 974-2525 | Email: ref@mdsa.net | Directions & Hours