75 Examples of Written Records

John Spacey, updated on October 13, 2023

A written record is any written communication that is preserved such that it becomes an artifact of the past. These can be recorded in formats such as stone, papyrus scrolls, paper or digital media. Current written records are useful for purposes such as audits and investigations. Older records are important to history, science and social science in order to reconstruct past events and conditions. The following are common types of written record.

Autobiographies	Birth certificates
Census data	Chronicles
Classified ads	Contracts
Court records	Death certificates
Deeds	Diaries
Digital documents	Digital messages
Diplomas	Emails
Essays	Field notes
Government budgets	Government documents
Gravestones	Hieroglyphics
Inscriptions	International agreements
Interview transcripts	Journals
Laws and statutes	Letters
Magazines	Manuscripts
Maps	Marriage records
Meeting minutes	Memoirs
Newspapers	Novels
Obituaries	Oral history transcripts
Periodicals	Postcards
Proclamations	Property deeds
Public meeting minutes	Public policy documents
Public records	Receipts
Research papers	Research proposals
Resumes	Scorecards
Screenplays	Tax returns
Telegrams	Theses and dissertations
Treaties	Voter registration records
Wills

Historical Written Records

The following are illustrative examples of historical written records that are important to social science, culture, society and law.

The Magna Carta	The Declaration of Independence
The United States Constitution	The Emancipation Proclamation
The Treaty of Versailles	The Rosetta Stone Inscription
The Dead Sea Scrolls	The Domesday Book
The Gutenberg Bible	The Diary of Anne Frank
The Gettysburg Address	The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
The Edict of Milan	The First Folio of Shakespeare
The Nuremberg Laws	The Hiroshima Diary of Michihiko Hachiya
The Records of the Grand Historian	The Habeas Corpus Act
The 95 Theses by Martin Luther	The Geneva Conventions

The Magna Carta is a 1215 English document that limited the power of the monarchy and laid the foundation for constitutional law.

The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 was the peace treaty that ended WWI but imposed harsh terms on Germany that arguably contributed to the outbreak of WWII.

The Rosetta Stone Inscription of 196 BCE is an ancient Egyptian stone tablet inscribed with the same text in three scripts. This played a key role in deciphering hieroglyphs.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of Jewish religious texts dating as early as the 3rd century BC.

The Domesday Book was a 1086 survey of land ownership and resources in England irdered by William the Conqueror to help with taxation.

The Gutenberg Bible of 1455 was the first major book printed with movable type that allowed for greater production of books.

The Edict of Milan was a 313 AD decree issued by Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius, granting religious tolerance to Christians.

The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were Nazi Germany's racial laws that discriminated against Jews. These laid the groundwork for the Holocaust.

The Records of the Grand Historian are a monumental chronicle of Chinese history completed in 91 BC.

The Habeas Corpus Act was a 1679 English law that prevents arbitrary detention without legal cause.

The 95 Theses by Martin Luther of 1517 were a series of propositions that initiated the Protestant Reformation.

The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties that established rules for warfare.

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