Evidence from a person's life may be found in archives and libraries located in the United States and around the world.
**Research Tip: Look for Finding Aids in any archival collections as those will be a tremendous help in locating specific items of evidence**
The National Archives of the United States is the primary repository for U.S. History, with a focus on national and federal level information. That said there are many individual archival collections located in the National Archives, as well as collections for U.S. government agencies. If your person was connected to the Federal Government, there is a chance the National Archives has sources related to your person.
State and local archives also may contain primary source evidence related to your person, their family and any groups, organizations and historical events that there were associated with during their lifetime.
Public records related to births, marriages, death, legal action (wills, property, criminal, etc.), and social and business connections are typically held at the state level.
**Research Tip: Most full archival collections, if they exist for your person, will be in physical format and unlikely to be digitized.**
Here are some state archives and state libraries to consider searching:
Indiana Archives and Records Administration
Minnesota State Archives at the Minnesota Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society Library and Archives
Legal records at the state level are typically retained by courts. Most material available online is older (19th century on back). Newer material exists but is not always readily available. In these cases, a researcher would need to contact the court which decided the case for access to more current record.
Explore this link to locate some of the ways to locate legal records and court case information at the state level.
NCSC: National Center for State Courts: State Court Websites