About the New Jersey Early Land Records Project
The New Jersey Early Land Records Project will facilitate and expedite an ongoing project at the New Jersey State Archives to make all of early land instruments in their collections—more than 80,000 land instruments across 60 collections—searchable via a single database.
In 1998 and 2005, the records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors, respectively, came to the New Jersey State Archives (NJSA).
Since then, various initiatives by NJSA staff have made portions of these materials—as well as early land records of the former Provincial Secretary (predecessor to the Secretary of State)—more accessible to researchers.
To date, more than 20,000 land documents have been indexed in the State Archives’ Early Land Records online database. However, NJSA holds more than 80,000 colonial and proprietary land records and much more work needs to be done.
