Massachusetts, Essex County
Where Salem's records are kept. Salem has its own city government, clerk's office, police department and permit and planning office; county and state offices keep its other public records.
Start here
The cards below include Salem's own offices, along with State of Massachusetts offices; the Essex County offices are on our Essex County page. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
City records
The Salem City Clerk at City Hall, 93 Washington Street, handles vital records, elections, voting information and polling places, and posts official election results.
Open official site Salem City Clerk and ElectionsCity records
Salem keeps an online public records repository and takes public records requests by email to its Records Access Officer or through an online form.
Open official site Salem Public Records and Records Access OfficerPolice & jail
The Salem Police Department at 95 Margin Street posts department news and links to an anonymous tip line, domestic violence resources, sex offender information and CodeRed alerts.
Open official site Salem Police DepartmentPolice & jail
The Salem Police Records unit at 95 Margin Street keeps the department's incident reports and other public records and takes public records requests by email.
Open official site Salem Police RecordsCity records
Salem Inspectional Services on the second floor at 98 Washington Street takes building permit applications and payments online and answers building and zoning questions.
Open official site Salem Inspectional ServicesPolice & jail
The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board classifies sex offenders by risk and posts Level 3 offenders, plus Level 2 offenders classified after July 12, 2013, who live, work or study in the state.
Open official site Sex Offender Registry BoardPolice & jail
FBI wanted posters, from the Ten Most Wanted list to fugitives, terrorism suspects, kidnapped and missing persons, bank robbers and seeking information cases; tips go to tips.fbi.gov.
Open official site FBI Most WantedPolice & jail
The Massachusetts Department of Correction points to VINELink, an outside service online or by phone, to find someone in its prisons by full name or commitment number.
Open official site Find Someone Housed in a Massachusetts PrisonVital records
USAGov explains how to get certified copies of birth and death certificates, copies of marriage and divorce records, and replacements for lost or stolen government ID cards.
Open official site USAGov Guide to Copies of Vital Records and IDsCounty court
The federal judiciary's national index of district, bankruptcy and appellate court cases. Searching needs a free PACER account; pages cost $0.10, capped at $3 per document, with quarterly charges of $30 or less waived.
Open official site PACER Case LocatorFederal
USAGov sends you to your state's unclaimed property office, which holds most unclaimed money, and to federal searches for back wages, pensions, IRS refunds, savings bonds and deposits from failed banks.
Open official site USAGov Guide to Unclaimed MoneyVital records
The Social Security Administration explains survivor benefits, monthly payments to eligible relatives of workers who paid Social Security taxes before death, including who qualifies, possible amounts and when to report a death.
Open official site Social Security Survivor BenefitsPolice & jail
U.S. Department of Justice search of public sex offender registries from every state, territory and many tribes by name or ZIP code; address radius searches cover only states that send coordinates.
Open official site Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public WebsiteFederal
USAGov explains checking your registration through Can I Vote, which opens your state's election website, and advises doing it before the state deadline, which can be up to 30 days before an election.
Open official site USAGov Guide to Confirming Voter RegistrationCounty court
Federal judiciary guide to finding a case in PACER: search the court where it was filed for current data, or the nationwide PACER Case Locator, updated daily. A PACER account is required.
Open official site PACER Find a CaseState records
The Massachusetts Archives, under the Secretary of the Commonwealth in Boston, holds state vital records from 1841 to 1935, census copies, Port of Boston passenger lists and naturalization abstracts.
Open official site Massachusetts ArchivesCounty court
The court has locations in Boston, Worcester and Springfield and posts its calendar, notices of sale, video and phone hearing details, local rules and forms, with PACER for case files.
Open official site United States Bankruptcy Court, District of MassachusettsEverything else, organized
18 more Salem sources not listed above.
Local record guide
Local profile
Salem, a place of 44,480 people, is the seat of Essex County. Deeds are recorded at the registry of deeds that serves Essex County, Salem's city clerk keeps copies of birth and death certificates, and court cases go through the Massachusetts Trial Court. Salem's own offices are in the cards above, and our Essex County page lists each county office.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 0 named mine sites inside the city or town limits, 0 of them worked out or abandoned; the old survey maps add 2 holes drawn inside the city or town limits, 0 of them shafts or tunnels.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. No abandoned mine inventory is published; the survey's host does not answer this box, both urls are in the search index.
Massachusetts abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Voter registration in Massachusetts is run by the Massachusetts Elections Division and local election officials. Its site lists the registration deadline, online voter registration, polling places and the local election office for Salem.
Certified birth and death certificates for events in Massachusetts come from the state vital records office, Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, and the town or city clerk can also issue copies. The state office's site lists who may order a copy, the fee and how to order.
Businesses that operate in Salem register with the Massachusetts Corporations Division, which runs the state business entity search. A local business license, where Salem requires one, comes from the town or Essex County.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.