Local History & Genealogy

Available at This Location

We have cabinets of paper files and newspaper clippings on local subjects including:

  • Biographies
  • Businesses
  • Local Art
  • Cemeteries
  • Mardi Gras
  • Unpublished Family Histories

Browse our Vertical File Index and bring the file title and cabinet number for the information you wish to have retrieved to the help desk.

Indexes to county vital records in Alabama and many other states

Indexes include:

  • Births and Deaths
  • Burials
  • Marriages
  • Wills
  • Deeds
  • Tax Rolls
  • Local Censuses
Mardi Gras invitation from 1880

Collections available in MPL Digital Archives:

  • Clotilda Files
  • 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Mobile
  • City Atlas of Mobile, Alabama
  • Mardi Gras Invitations
  • Mobile Death Records
  • Souvenir History of the Mobile Fire and Police Departments, 1819-1902
  • Mobile Postcard Album
  • Sheet Music Collection

Row of microfilm and microfiche readers

We have Microfilm/Microfiche readers with printers and a scanner that can save a file to a flash drive or be emailed.

Collection Includes:

  • Death certificates for 1876-1908
  • Death/burial records from 1830s
  • French and Spanish archival records
  • Private papers (Semmes family, etc.)
  • Municipal records
  • Probate court judicial index 1819-1964
  • Panton Leslie/Forbes papers
  • Church records
  • Censuses
  • Dawes Commission rolls

Downtown Mobile Historical Homes Survey for homes east of Broad St.

Books on shelf

Fiction by local authors and cookbooks by local organizations.

Spring Hill College yearbooks

Yearbooks from area high schools and colleges including:

  • Murphy High School
  • Davidson High School
  • Spring Hill College
  • University of Alabama
  • Auburn University
  • Many others
historical map of downtown Mobile, AL

Historical maps, art collections, audiovisual and oral histories.

Mobile City directories

Get started preserving your precious memories - contact Local History & Genealogy to make an appointment.

Available format conversions:

  • VHS or VHS-C to DVD
  • DVD to MP4
  • Cassette tapes to CD and MP3
  • Scan your photographs and negatives

Storage devices not supplied.

Mobile City directories

Mobile City Directories going back to 1837

Directories from other areas including:

  • Prichard
  • Polk County
  • Fairhope & Daphne
Microfilm

We have Microfilm/Microfiche readers with printers and a scanner that can save a file to a flash drive or be emailed.

Collection Includes:

  • Mobile Register and other Mobile papers from 1819
  • Mobile Beacon from 1959
  • Times Picayune from 1837 to 1865
  • Books on Local History
  • Church Records
  • Government Agency Records
  • Immigration record indexes
  • Lineage Books
  • Memoirs
  • Military Unit Histories
  • Private Papers of Prominent Individuals & Organizations
  • Rosters & Pension Indexes
  • Tribal Rolls

Online Genealogy Resources

Premium Genealogy Databases

Databases brought to you by Mobile Public Library, Alabama Public Library Service and the Alabama Virtual Library:

Ancestry Library Edition has approximately 4,000 databases including key collections such as U.S. Federal Census, more than 1,000 historical maps; American Genealogical Biographical Index; Immigrants to New England, 1620-1630; Social Security Death Index (updated monthly); WWI Draft Cards; Federal Slave Narratives; and a strong Civil War collection.

Our Advantage Archives page with a searchable Inner City News archive from 1978 to 2002.

Explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 – today. Heritage Hub helps you easily identify relatives, uncover new information and potentially unknown family members. Includes deep coverage from all 50 states, hard-to-find content from the mid 1900’s, and original obituary images.

Search the Mobile Press Register Historical and Current Collection provided by Newsbank. Explore current and archived issues of the Mobile Register with full-color newspaper pages and individual articles. Microfilm back files going farther back are at Local History.


How to access back issues of the Mobile Press Register using Newsbank:
Access Alabama Newspaper Archives covering Alabama history from 1830-2017. Local newspapers include: Mobile Daily Commercial Register and Patriot, Mobile Register and Journal, Mobile Tribune, Sunday News Item, The Mobile Item, The Mobile News Item, and The Mobile Times.


Non-Library Websites and Databases

Other resources not provided by Mobile Public Library: