The Alabama Department of History and Archives (ADAH) has many free Digital Collections including Alabama military records, historical newspapers, Alabama city directories, Alabama voter registration records, Alabama court case records, photo and poster collections and much more.
Alabama Residence Records
Directories
Montgomery City Directory, 1859-1860
Montgomery City Directory, 1866
Alabama City Directories Finding Aid–directories held onsite by the ADAH
Maps
Alabama Maps Collection -contains a sampling of maps from the extensive holdings at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The maps span 300 years, documenting not only Alabama’s geographic past, but also that of the region, nation, and continent. For information about maps that have not yet been digitized, see the ADAH maps database: http://www.archives.alabama.gov/mapbase/mapbase.cfm
BROWSE BY PLACE
Alabama (entire state)
Alabama (counties)
Southern States
Other states and districts
United States
North America
Other countries and continents
Bodies of water
BROWSE BY SUBJECT
Agriculture
Airports
Bodies of Water
Buildings
Business and Industry
Civil War
Coal Mining
Creek War
Forests
Geology
Indians of North America
Mexican War
Military Facilities
Napoleonic Wars
Natural Resources
Parks and Reserves
Politics and Government
Postal Service
Prisons
Railroads
Roads
Tennessee Valley Authority
Transportation
War of 1812
World War I
Voters
Alabama 1867 Voter Registration Records Database – Alabama Voter Registration records were created in accordance with the federal, post-Civil War Second Reconstruction Act of March 23, 1867. The act required the commanding Union officer in each military district to register all resident male citizens, 21 years and older, to vote after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the United States. The process was to be completed before September 1, 1867. The 1867 voter registration records are significant because this is one of the first government documents to record African American males living in Alabama.
Autauga County
Baine County (now Etowah)
Baldwin County
Barbour County
Bibb County
Blount County
Bullock County
Butler County
Calhoun County
Chambers County
Cherokee County
Choctaw County
Clay County
Cleburne County
Coffee County
Colbert County
Conecuh County
Coosa County
Covington County
Crenshaw County
Dale County
Dallas County
DeKalb County
Elmore County
Fayette County
Franklin County
Greene County
Hale County
Henry County
Jackson County
Jefferson County
Jones County (now Lamar)
Lauderdale County
Lawrence County
Lee County
Limestone County
Lowndes County
Macon County
Madison County
Marengo County
Marion County
Marshall County
Mobile County
Monroe County
Morgan County
Perry County
Pickens County
Pike County
Randolph County
Russell County
Shelby County
St. Clair County
Sumter County
Talladega County
Tallapoosa County
Tuscaloosa County
Walker County
Washington County
Wilcox County
Winston County
Autauga County
Calhoun County
Chambers County
Cherokee County
Choctaw County
Clay County
Cleburne County
Coffee County
Colbert County
Conecuh County
Dale County
Dallas County
Escambia County
Fayette County
Franklin County
Geneva County
Greene County
Hale County
Henry County
Jackson County
Lauderdale County
Lawrence County
Lee County
Marion County
Mobile County
Morgan County
Pickens County
Randolph County
Russell County
St. Clair County
Sumter County
Tuscaloosa County
Alabama Daily Life Records
African American & Slavery
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Most of the collections in this listing apply to African Americans
Biography
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography – a comprehensive history of the state and gather biographical information on many Alabamians who helped shape and mold the state.
Church & Synagogue
Alabama Church and Synagogue Records Collection Database – This is an index to the Alabama Church and Synagogue Records Collection. This collection contains the records of major denominations within Alabama, including Baptist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist and Presbyterian. The records pertain to churches throughout Alabama and a few synagogues and document their activity through minutes, registers, financial records, correspondence, reports, programs, and scrapbooks.
Courts
Alabama Supreme Court Case Files – When completed, this collection will contain all the original case files of the Alabama Supreme Court from 1820 through 1877. These records include interrogatories, exhibits, motions, and other details not included in the published rulings, though excerpts from the printed reports will be provided when possible. This project will be a multi-year endeavor, requiring the the digitization and indexing of almost 500 volumes, but it will dramatically increase the accessibility of historically rich content related to the state’s early development, slavery, wartime, emancipation, and Reconstruction.
U.S. Court of Claims No. 12742: The Choctaw Nation vs. the United States (Volume I)
U.S. Court of Claims No. 12742: The Choctaw Nation vs. the United States (Volume II)
Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Loose Records Index” which includes an index by surnames, alphabetically, of people involved in Tuscaloosa court proceedings. This includes many records of divorces in Tuscaloosa County.
Folklife
BROWSE IMAGES
Baskets
Ceremonial objects
Clothing
Dancers
Fish traps
Fishing nets
Foodways
Furniture
Gandy dancers
Gourd houses
Herbalists
Instrumentalists
Midwives
Musical instruments
Pottery
Quilts
Religious buildings
Shape note singing
Vocalists
Woodworking
BROWSE MUSIC
Bluegrass
Blues
Cajun
Celtic
Folk
Gospel
Laotian
Mariachi
Old-time
Railway worker chants
Sacred Harp
Storytelling
World
Libraries, Museums, & Archives
Alabama Museum Collection – This collection features a selection of artifacts from the museum collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Most of the items are also on display in the galleries of the Museum of Alabama: http://www.museum.alabama.gov/.
Collections from libraries across Alabama
Cherokee County Historical Museum
Centreville Historic Preservation Commission
Cullman County Historical Museum
Historic Mobile Preservation Society
Jacksonville State University Library
Marietta Johnson Museum Collection, Fairhope Public Library
Northeast Alabama Community College
Trenholm State Community College
Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library
Tuscaloosa Genealogical Society
University of South Alabama, McCall Library
City of Vina, photos of people at White Oak Hub Company, Vita, Franklin County, Alabama
Publications
To commemorate Alabama’s bicentennial (2017-2019), the genealogical and historical community partnered with the Alabama Bicentennial Commission and the Alabama Department of Archives and History to create a portal to publications documenting the story of the state’s people and its past. Much of this collection consists of the newsletters and journals produced by historical and genealogical organizations, but other relevant resources are also included.
Alabama Heritage (indexes only)
Alabama Genealogical Society
Autauga Genealogical Society
Birmingham Historical Society
Butler County Historical and Genealogical Society
Limestone County Historical Society
Lowndes County Historical and Genealogical Society
Morgan County Genealogical Society
Northeast Alabama Genealogical Society
Pintlala Historical Association
Shelby County Historical Society
St. Clair Historical Society
Talladega County Historical Association
Tennessee Valley Genealogical Society
Tuscaloosa Genealogical Society, Night Group
West Jefferson County Historical Society
Winston County Genealogical Society
Alabama Historical Quarterly – Collection contains the 119 issues of the Alabama Historical Quarterly published by the Alabama Department of Archives and History in 1930 and between 1940 and 1982.
Alabama Official and Statistical Register
Southern Poverty Law Center Report, which “contains the newsletter of the Southern Poverty Law Center published from 1973 to the present.”
Government & Legal
1819 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Delegates to the 1819 convention
Journal of the 1819 convention
1861 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Records of the 1861 convention
Journal of the 1861 convention
Ordinances of the 1861 convention
Ordinance of Secession
History and Debates of the Convention by William R. Smith
1865 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Records of the 1865 convention
Ordinances of the 1865 convention
1868 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Draft
Records of the 1867 convention
Journal of the 1867 convention
1875 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Journal of the 1875 convention
1901 CONSTITUTION
Constitution
Journal of the 1901 convention
Proceedings of the 1901 convention
Alabama Legislative Acts and Journals This collection consists of printed volumes of acts passed by the Alabama Legislature from 1818 to 1999. (For later acts, visit the website of the Alabama Secretary of State.)
Alabama House and Senate Journals – This collection consists of journals documenting the proceedings of the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives from 1818 to 1901. (For recent journals, visit the ADAH Electronic Records Collections.)
Alabama Governors’ Executive Orders Collection – This collection includes executive orders issued by Alabama governors from 1943 to the present. Enter keywords in the box above to search the contents of the orders, or browse by governor from the list below.
Alabama Civil War and Reconstruction Governors – When completed, this collection will consist of the official papers of the eleven men who served as governors of Alabama from the eve of secession and Civil War to the postwar “Redemption” administrations of George S. Houston and Rufus W. Cobb.
Alabama state agency websites collection “Since 2005 ADAH has worked to preserve state agencies’ websites. The websites on Archive-It are arranged in the following collections: Alabama Constitutional Officers; Alabama Legislature and Appellate Courts; Alabama Regional, Multi-State or Multi-County Agencies or Commissions; Alabama Political Blogs; Alabama State Agencies; and Alabama State Agency Facebook Pages, Twitter Feeds, and YouTube Videos.”
Some curated collections by county:
Colbert
Franklin
Jackson
Lauderdale
Lawrence
Limestone
Madison
Marshall
Montgomery
Morgan
Shelby
Talladega
Tuscaloosa
History
Alabama History Education Materials – The Alabama History Education Materials Collection features instructional activities and lesson plans that were created from the collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The materials in this collection cover topics in Alabama History from the First Alabamians to the modern Civil Rights Movement and more. These materials are downloadable, printable, and free to use.
1901 Constitution
Civil Rights
Civil War
Creek War
Famous Alabamians
First Alabamians
Geography
Great Depression
Holocaust
New Deal
New South
Progressive Era
Reconstruction Settlement and Statehood
Slavery
Space Race
Transportation and Industry
World War I
World War II
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography
Alabama Official and Statistical Register
Alabama Archives Publications – This collection consists primarily of the newsletters of the Friends of the Alabama Archives, as well as other publications produced by staff at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama
Brief Historical Sketches of Military Organizations Raised in Alabama During the Civil War
Manuscript Collections
Alabama Textual Materials Collection including “Territorial and early statehood records – To commemorate the state’s bicentennial, ADAH has digitized newspapers and records from Alabama’s territorial period (1817-1819) and the early days of statehood.”
African Americans
Anti-Communist Movements
Civil Rights
Civil War
Cotton trade
Creek War
Education
Freedmen
Great Depression
Governors
Holocaust
Indians of North America
Korean War
Ku Klux Klan
Mental Health
Politics and Government
Prisoners
Prohibition
Railroads
Reconstruction
Segregation
Sharecroppers
Slavery
Transportation
Vietnam War
Voting
Women’s Suffrage
World War I
World War II
Newspapers
Alabama Civil War and Reconstruction Newspapers – In honor of the Civil War and Reconstruction sesquicentennials the Alabama Department of Archives and History undertook a project to make all of its newspapers from that era available online. These issues have been digitized from microfilm. The quality varies greatly, depending on the condition of the original paper and the film; therefore, some portions of the text may be illegible or difficult to read. Can browse by county at the link above.
Photographs
Alabama Audio-Visual Collection-This collection consists of sound and motion picture recordings from the collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Use the links below to browse currently available topics.
1918 Influenza Pandemic
1965 Civil Rights Demonstrations
(Including the Selma to Montgomery March)
1963 Inaugural Address of George Wallace
Political Campaigns of George Wallace
Holocaust Survivors and U.S. Liberators
Alabama Society of Colonial Dames Oral Histories
United States Bicentennial
Alabama Photographs and Pictures Collection
Agriculture
African Americans
Bodies of Water
Buildings
Business and Industry
Civil War
Civil Rights
Courts and Prisons
Education
Historic sites
Houses
Indians of North America
Korean War
Monuments and memorials
Politics and government
Religion
Soldiers
Transportation
Vietnam War
World War I
World War II
Carl Elliott Regional Library – Library photograph collections
Jim Peppler Southern Courier Photograph Collection – ames H. “Jim” Peppler, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a staff photographer of the weekly paper, The Southern Courier, from July 1965 to mid-1968.
CIVIL RIGHTS AND POLITICS
Civil rights leaders
Democratic National Committee
Demonstrations
Funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.
James Meredith “March Against Fear”
Ku Klux Klan
Organizations
Political campaigns
Senate Subcommittee on Poverty
Voting and voter registration
EVERYDAY LIFE
Muhammed Ali at Alabama State College
Beauty shops
Children
Cotton farming
Domestic life
Education
Employment
Fairs and festivals
Music
Organizations
Social life
Sports
Alabama Media Group Collection “In December 2016 Alabama Media Group donated its collection of historical photographic negatives to ADAH. The collection contains more than 3 million images taken by newspaper photographers working for the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, and Mobile’s Press-Register.”
Agriculture
Arts and Entertainment
Business and Industry
Civil Rights and Activism
Courts and Prisons
Education
Military and Wars
Politics and Government
Religion
Science and Technology
Sports and Recreation
Transportation
Posters
American Red Cross
Charity
Children
Christmas
Columbia
Daylight Saving
Flags (United States)
Food
Immigrants
Insurance
Liberty Bonds and Savings Stamps
Nurses
Sailors
Ships
Soldiers
Sports
Uncle Sam
Women
World War I
World War II
Stories & Writers & Oral Histories
WPA Alabama Writer’s Project – The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the principal relief agency of the second New Deal, was an attempt to provide work rather than welfare during the Great Depression. Under the WPA, buildings, roads, airports and schools were constructed. Actors, painters, musicians and writers were employed through the Federal Theater Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Writers’ Project. This collection contains 145 folders (approximately 6,900 pages) of Federal Writers’ Project of Alabama material composed between 1936 and 1940. Primary topics covered in the collection are ex-slave tales, life histories, short stories, and folklore of Alabama life. The collection was digitized by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 2007.
Folklore
Former Slave Narratives
Life Histories
Short Stories
Songs
Alabama Military Records
Revolutionary War Records
The Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has a collection titled, “Thomas M. Owen’s Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama: Being a List of Names, Compiled from Authentic Sources, of Soldiers of the American Revolution, Who Resided in the State Of Alabama, Compiled by Thomas M. Owen.”This site also has links to other websites with Alabama Revolutionary War Soldiers.
Alabama World War I Service Records – he Alabama World War I Service Records are index cards with personal details about Alabamians who served in the armed forces during World War I. Information recorded may include name, race, age, date and place of birth, home address, date and location of induction, units served in, rank, engagements, wounds, dates and locations of service, date of discharge, and other remarks. The amount of information varies on each card. (A separate series gives information about members of the 167th Infantry Regiment, both Alabamians and men from other states. They can be browsed here.)
Civil War Records
Alabama Civil War and Reconstruction Newspapers
Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection
Infantry Regiments
Cavalry Regiments
Artillery Regiments
Brigades
Companies without Regimental Designation
Confederate Navy
Confederate States of America
United States of America
Secession
Other States
Mexican War
Supplemental Information
World War I Records
World War I Gold Star Database After World War I, the Alabama Department of Archives and History collected materials about service members from Alabama who died in the conflict, first identifying the them in the Official Bulletin (published by the U.S. Committee on Public Information) and then contacting their survivors for more information. Many responded, and their contributions were added to the department’s “Gold Star” files, named after the service flags families displayed in memory of the loved ones they had lost.
The Archives intended to use this research was to compile a book honoring the dead, but no such publication was completed. In the spirit of that initial goal, this collection provides access to the records in the Gold Star files, an attempt to remember not only the men who died, but also the families who loved them. The amount of information for each individual varies greatly, and may include materials such as biographical forms, letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Only names found in the files have been added to the collection, so some eligible servicemen may be omitted. There are also a few entries for individuals who survived the war but were recognized for distinguished service.
Military Records 1940-1966
Alabama Active Military Service Reports – This collection consists of almost 79,000 home address report forms, which were sent to local Selective Service boards by Alabamians who enlisted in the armed forces from about 1940 to 1966. These reports provide details such as name, home address, branch of service, rank, service number, date of entry into service, race, gender, and date of birth. The amount of information varies on each card, but most include the subjects’ signatures.
Curated list of collections related to the military:
History
Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama
Brief Historical Sketches of Military Organizations Raised in Alabama During the Civil War
Manuscript Collections
Alabama Textual Materials Collection including “Territorial and early statehood records – To commemorate the state’s bicentennial, ADAH has digitized newspapers and records from Alabama’s territorial period (1817-1819) and the early days of statehood.”
Civil War
Creek War
Korean War
Vietnam War
World War I
World War II
Maps
Alabama Maps Collection -contains a sampling of maps from the extensive holdings at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The maps span 300 years, documenting not only Alabama’s geographic past, but also that of the region, nation, and continent. For information about maps that have not yet been digitized, see the ADAH maps database: http://www.archives.alabama.gov/mapbase/mapbase.cfm
BROWSE BY SUBJECT
Civil War
Creek War
Mexican War
Military Facilities
Napoleonic Wars
Prisons
War of 1812
World War I
Photograph Collections
Military Photograph Collections
Civil War
Korean War
Monuments and memorials
Soldiers
Vietnam War
World War I
World War II
Alabama Media Group Collection “In December 2016 Alabama Media Group donated its collection of historical photographic negatives to ADAH. The collection contains more than 3 million images taken by newspaper photographers working for the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, and Mobile’s Press-Register.”
Posters
Sailors
Ships
Soldiers
Uncle Sam
World War I
World War II
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