Cuyahoga County Archives

2905 Franklin Blvd., N.W.
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Tel.: 216-443-7250

The Cuyahoga County Archives, a department of the Board of County Commissioners, was organized in the summer of 1975. The offices and storage areas, research and study areas, and a reference library are located in the Roben Russell Rhodes House, a Victorian Italianate mansion built in 1874.

The Cuyahoga County Archives is primarily a repository for the historical records of Cuyahoga County and for current records needing temporary maintenance. The Archives encourages the use and scholarly research of all County records and makes staff assistance available, when needed for that purpose. A reference library is available for use by researchers and a reading area is provided for the convenience of persons using records in the County Archives. The Library is open to the public, without charge, Monday through Friday, from 10:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The department will arrange, on request, special days or hours to be open to accommodate the public’s needs. The Archives holds many record series of interest including Board of County Commissioners Journals, Common Pleas Journals, naturalization records, maps and atlases, abstracts of votes, Probate Court estate case files, and records of birth and death.

The County Archives also provides for records management services for all Cuyahoga County offices and agencies. Other responsibilities of the department include the collection and maintenance of architectural records (in cooperation with the Western Reserve Historical Society): the planning, development, and supervision of historic preservation projects in County buildings and properties; special projects of several kinds which interpret and adapt research in historic preservation for the use of neighborhood and community redevelopment groups, and the administration of some internal operations of the County.

The Archives prepares historical exhibitions of all kinds for County and other facilities and prepares pamphlets for general distribution which deal with aspects of Cuyahoga County’s history. It maintains a photographic archives and restores or reproduces aged and deteriorating nineteenth century maps and records of historic importance.

The Cuyahoga County Archives annually produces a journal of studies of local and regional subjects, the Journal of the Cuyahoga County Archives. The Archives also produces other publications from time to time; the current list includes Sacred Landmarks, a study of the existing ecclesiastical architecture in Greater Cleveland; “. . . The People are the City . . .,” a study of three Cleveland neighborhoods (Broadway, Hough, and Tremont), and Photographs from the Collections, a sample of the photographic materials available for study at the Cuyahoga County Archives. These publications are available for sale.