Genealogy in Indre-et-Loire (37): Online Resources and Archives

Genealogy Cheat Sheet - Trace your ancestors with many resources: archives, records, old maps, histories, association sites...

©️Wikimedia - Claude Villetaneuse

updated: September 2, 2025

Indre-et-Loire, a French department located in the Centre-Val de Loire region, was born from the French Revolution in 1790. Its territory mostly corresponds to the ancient historical province of Touraine, land of the Turones, a Gaulish tribe that populated the region even before the Roman conquest. The city of Tours, capital of the department and former Gallo-Roman city called Caesarodunum, was long a major religious, administrative, and cultural center of the Kingdom of France.

Over the centuries, Indre-et-Loire has been marked by a rich medieval past with its many castles and abbeys, feudal rivalries, as well as historical events like the Battle of Poitiers which slowed Muslim expansion in Europe in the 8th century.

The department is today bordered by the departments of Loir-et-Cher, the Indre, the Vienne, the Maine-et-Loire and the Sarthe.

📜 Archives of Indre-et-Loire

Departmental archives of Indre-et-Loire: all digitized resources

Visit the Departmental Archives of Indre-et-Loire:

📍 6 rue des Ursulines, 37100 Tours

Contact the Departmental Archives of Indre-et-Loire:

📞 02 47 60 88 88

📧 Send an email

Browse the departmental archives of Indre-et-Loire to search for your ancestors - you are looking for:

Online records

On FranceGenWeb: » Records - Marriages - Migrants' marriages - Marriages of migrants from Indre-et-Loire - Notaries - Protestants
BMS and NMD records for the town of Sache

Unusual records

Robbery attacks, starvation deaths, a miracle and many more on the J. Marchal's website.
The importance of good record-keeping in La Chapelle-aux-Naux in 1771 and the burial of a leg in a cemetery in Cheillé in 1779 on the Geneactinsolite website.

🌍 Migrations in Indre-et-Loire

19th Century - Political Immigration and First Labor Immigration : From the beginning of the 19th century, Indre-et-Loire welcomed political refugees, notably Spanish Carlists in the 1830s, as well as Italian refugees following the insurrection of Modena. At the same time, immigration gradually became linked to work, with a modest but steady influx of workers and seasonal laborers from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland. These populations worked in agriculture, construction, and early railway projects.

Interwar Period and World War II - Growing Diversity: Between the two wars, Indre-et-Loire became a hub for refugees from European conflicts (White Russians, Poles, Armenians, Spaniards fleeing Francoism). These migrants mainly integrated into local agricultural and industrial sectors, where the demand for foreign labor was high. Bilateral agreements, particularly with Italy and Poland, regulated this immigration.

Second Half of the 20th Century - Post-Colonial Labor Migrations: After 1945, the region saw increased diversification of migrations with the arrival of Algerians, Moroccans, Portuguese, and Turks, attracted by the growing need for labor in reconstruction and agricultural, industrial, and tertiary activities. Indre-et-Loire notably had a significant Portuguese community from the 1960s onwards, as well as Maghrebi populations that settled permanently.

Learn more:

🏠 Indre-et-Loire in images

Videos

Grape harvesting and winemaking industries – 1924
The French vineyard - 1930
Memories and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci – 1957
Avoine: first French nuclear power plant – 1961
Algeria – Touraine twinning disc - 1961
Hunting at the castle – 1965
End of hunting party – 1965
In Chinon, EDF 3 is put into operation – 1966
Tours: student sounds - 1968
From Chinon to the abbey of Fontevraud – 1970
Once upon a time, the duck – 1976
French people from elsewhere – 1976
Amateur radios – 1977
The train application school – 1977
A look back - 1977
The organ – 1978
The extraordinary machines of Clos-Lucé – 1981
Le Grand Pressigny and the recipe for pike in estragon butter – 1984
Traveling Tourangeaux – 2012
Mailay: investigation of a forgotten massacre – 2018

Images and old postcards

On Gallica: Indre-et-Loire in images
On Clochers de France: the belfries of Indre-et-Loire in images
On Mémorial GenWeb: postcards of the war memorials
On CPArama: galleries of old postcards of Chédigny and Tours
On Communes.com: 595 old postcards of Tours

Ancient maps of the department

From Cassini villages to today's communes: the department of Indre-et-Loire
On Old Maps Online: the old maps of the department
On Gallica: the old maps of Indre-et-Loire

📖 The history of Indre-et-Loire

On Gallica: the books, the press and the manuscripts to learn everything about the department of Indre-et-Loire

🖥️ Genealogy sites in Indre-et-Loire

Genealogy circles and associations in Indre-et-Loire or nearby

Touraine Genealogy Center

Genealogy blogs about Indre-et-Loire

Accounts to follow on social media

Facebook: Genealogy 37

Happy researching!

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