New Hampshire is one of the original thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule during the American Revolution. New Hampshire was inhabited for thousands of years by various Abenaki tribes. Europeans arrived in the early 17th century. The province of New Hampshire was established in 1629, named after the English county of Hampshire. Through the mid-19th century, New Hampshire was the center of abolitionism. Nearly 32,000 African Americans enlisted in the union army during the Civil War. After emancipation, New Hampshire saw rapid industrial and population growth, becoming a center of textile manufacturing, shoemaking, and papermaking.

This guide offers a selection of resources and strategies for New Hampshire local history and genealogy research. These include the print and digital collections of the Library of Congress, as well as external repositories and web sites key to finding forebears in the Granite state.