Home - BLM GLO Records

The Official Federal Land Records Site

Welcome to the Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site. We provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present. We also have images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States.

Latest News and Updates

Saturday, March 24th, 2012	The Bureau of Land Management - Eastern States will be participating as a vendor at the Fairfax Genealogical Society's Annual Conference.
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012	Commemoration Of 200 Years Of The General Land Office
	Where: BLM-Eastern States Office
	RSVP: www.blm.gov/es/st/en/prog/glo/events.html

Land Patents

Federal Land Patents offer researchers a source of information on the initial transfer of land titles from the Federal government to individuals. In addition to verifying title transfer, this information will allow the researcher to associate an individual (Patentee, Assignee, Warrantee, Widow, or Heir) with a specific location (Legal Land Description) and time (Issue Date). We have a variety of Land Patents on our site, including Cash Entry, Homestead and Military Warrant patents.

Homestead Patent

Survey Plats and Field Notes

Survey plats are part of the official record of a cadastral survey. Surveying is the art and science of measuring the land to locate the limits of an owner's interest thereon. A cadastral survey is a survey which creates, marks, defines, retraces or re-establishes the boundaries and subdivisions of Federal Lands of the United States. The survey plat is the graphic drawing of the boundaries involved with a particular survey project, and contains the official acreage to be used in the legal description.

Survey Plat

Field notes are the narrative record of the cadastral survey. They are written in tabular format and contain the detailed descriptions of entire survey process including the instrumentation and procedures utilized, calling all physical evidence evaluated in the survey process, and listing all of the individuals who participated in the work.

Land Status Records

Historical Index

Land Status Records are used by BLM Western State Offices to document the ongoing state of a township's Federal and private land regarding title, lease, rights, and usage. These documents include Master Title Plats, which are a composite of all Federal surveys for a township. Other Land Status Records include Use Plats, Historical Indices, and Supplemental Plats.

Field Notes