The CCGS Archives holds some original records from the Cleveland County Courthouse, dating from 1890.
While CCGS operated a Genealogical Library (1990-2019), it held various original records in its Archives. Some of the records originally held in the Archives (listed below) are still retained at the CCGS office. If you locate a record below that you would like to see, please contact us at (405) 701-2100 or [email protected], and we will do our best to locate your record, or direct you to the organization which was the final location of the record when the library was closed.
History of the Archives.
Having local records immediately accessible to volunteer staff—if not to researchers—soon became a goal for the Cleveland County Genealogical Society. Thus began an effort for the Society to secure custody of some of Cleveland County’s public records.
A court order was required before Cleveland County Genealogical Society could receive custody of its first set of public records, the Widows’ Pension files. These had been stored in a State of Oklahoma facility outside Cleveland County.
These records, together with a number of other public records which came directly from the courthouse over a period of several years, were first stored in a member’s barn until the Society acquired space to hold them in the Genealogy Library. The records were accessible for indexing and research requests while stored in the barn. When the Genealogy Library moved to 205 Main Street in 1999, tax records were the first records to be moved into the library. By July, 2005, the last boxes of records were moved from the member’s barn to the CCGS Library. However, it was August 2014 before all courthouse files had been removed from storage boxes and filed in file cabinets.
These county courthouse records comprised the collections of the Cleveland County Genealogical Society Archives. Some of the records were returned to the original recorder, while some records remain at CCGS.
Visitors were not allowed in the Archives rooms. Archival records could be accessed by referring to indexes in the Reference section of the Library. Library volunteers would bring the file for you to read. We can make copies of any pages for a small charge.
Cleveland County Genealogical Society Archival Collections
Courthouse records are classed with the courthouse office in which they originated.
The Cleveland County Court Clerk’s Collection (donated to the Norman Public Library Central):
- Probate records, 1890-1972
- Divorce records, 1890-1972
- Civil Court records, 1890-1909
- Widows’ Pension files, 1915-1940
- Naturalization records, 1890-1930
The Cleveland County Treasurer’s Collection (returned to the Cleveland County Treasurer, who also has filmed copies of the records):
- Tax books, 1891-1970s
The Cleveland County Superintendent of Schools Collection (retained at CCGS):
- School District records, 1890-1981
- Teacher records, 1904-1979
- Pupil records, 1901-1981