About the archive
The County History Archive sells American county and town histories, city and business directories and family genealogies as complete PDFs to download.
Published in America before 1931
Every book listed was published in the United States before 1931, which puts it in the public domain there. Each PDF is the whole book, page for page, with a searchable text layer. Where a work runs to more than one volume, each volume is sold on its own.
Paid for once, kept in your account
Payment is by card on Stripe's payment page, and tax, where it applies, is worked out there from your billing address. You need an account to buy, because that is where the book is kept. Once the payment has gone through the book appears in your account and you can download it as often as you need. Each download link lasts fifteen minutes; press Download again for a fresh one.
Run from Bridgend in Wales
The archive is run by PL Photography Limited trading as Piemags, company 10803986, which also runs The Wartime Archive.
Priced by the number of pages in the PDF
Prices are in US dollars.
| Length of the PDF | On the site | For example | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 120 pages | 1217 books | Lineage and family records of Alfred Wyman Hoar and his wife Josephine Jackson 66 pages | $7.99 |
| 121 to 250 pages | 1179 books | William Dawes and his ride with Paul Revere 178 pages | $9.99 |
| 251 to 500 pages | 1668 books | Old Schuylkill tales, Volume 1 364 pages | $14.99 |
| 501 to 1,000 pages | 2034 books | A history of Morris County, New Jersey, Volume 2 699 pages | $19.99 |
| Over 1,000 pages | 675 books | History of Venango County, Pennsylvania 1,194 pages | $24.99 |
Questions about a book
Email us and we will answer.