Historical Resources

  • Lafayette County Historical and Genealogy Society

    Lafayette County Historical and Genealogy Society has a great collection of historical and genealogical material related to Lafayette County, Mississippi. A few clicks will tell you if that hard-to-find item is in their holdings.

  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History

    Whether you are interested in researching Mississippi history, visiting historic places, preserving history, attending or sponsoring history-themed events, , MDAH can connect you with the experiences and information you seek.

  • Enslaved Persons Index

    This index uses the probate records from Lafayette County from the 1830s until emancipation to aid in discovering potential surnames. The information provides first names and some relationship details, ages, etc.

  • Lafayette County Historical Markers

    Pictures, locations and stories of the various historical markers in our county. Check them out online before you drive or walk to see the markers.

  • Chickasaw History

    From migration to what is now Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee in prehistoric times to the purchase of the new homeland in south-central Oklahoma in the mid 1800's, the Chickasaw culture and heritage have always had roots in nature and the elements.

  • Family Search: Mississippi Records Online

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides FamilySearch free of charge for many of their online resources . However, it is hard to save your work without a paying a fee or visiting one of their churches.

  • Slave Narratives

    Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Work Projects Administration (WPA).

  • Find a Grave

    Find a Grave is the best place on the internet to look for burial and other final disposition information for your family, friends and famous people. Here you’ll find details about cemeteries and individual memorials for many people buried in those cemeteries.

  • James Meredith at University of Mississippi

    This university website developed for the 50th anniversary of James Meredith’s historic entry into school here. Includes photos, videos, history and additional links.

  • William Faulkner: Digital Yoknapatowpha

    A Collaboration between an International Team of Faulkner Scholars and Technologists at the University of Virginia that explore each of his 68 works of fiction. Maps, timelines and pictures and analysis.

  • Mississippi Railroads

    History, route maps and photos primarily covering Mississippi railroads between the 1850's up to the 1960's. Our state has a rich but quickly-disappearing railroad history.

  • Chronicling America-Historic American Newspapers

    Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

  • Journal of Mississippi History

    Since 1939 The Journal of Mississippi History has been publishing lively and engaging articles by distinguished scholars on the history of the state ranging from Native Americans to the civil rights movement. Copies of each issue are available for review in the Genealogy Room of our public library.

  • Publications: Mississippi Historical Society

    Index and links to publications of the Society from 1898 to 1937 available online from various libraries, trusts and archives.

  • War of the Rebellion: Official Records

    Affectionately known as the "OR", the 128 volumes of the Official Records provide the most comprehensive, authoritative, and voluminous reference on Civil War operations. “Without question, the most complete and impartial documentation on the American Civil War.”

  • Ku Klux Klan

    This is a 13-volume collection of reports and testimonies from a Congressional committee that investigated the Ku Klux Klan and other insurrectionary movements in the former Confederacy in 1872.

  •  Bureau Of Land Management- General Land Office Records

    Bureau Of Land Management- General Land Office Records provides live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than 5 million federal land title records issued between 1788 and the present. They also have images of survey plats, field notes and land status records.

  • Rowan Oak

    Rowan Oak was William Faulkner’s private world, in reality and imagination, and served as inspiration for much of his work for more than 40 years. The modified Greek Revival home sits on 29 heavily wooded acres just south of the historic Oxford Square.

  • Oxford, Mississippi

    The city of Oxford is the home of the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner made his home here and found inspiration in the people and places of Oxford and Lafayette County which he fictionalized in his Jefferson and Yoknpatawpha County.

  • Mississippi Governors

    The Civil War & Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi Project (CWRGM) is digitizing, transcribing, and annotating these valuable records from Mississippi’s governors’ offices and making them freely available online. This project covers nine administrations, from 1859 ending in the early Jim Crow South in 1882.

  • Freedmen’s Department

    Images of records of the Freedmen's Department in Mississippi. These documents pre-date the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, but were assumed by the Bureau after its creation in 1865.

  • Historic Neilson’s Department Store

    Founded in 1839, Neilson’s Department Store claims itself to be the South’s oldest store. William Smith Neilson migrated to Oxford, Mississippi in 1838 and opened the first Neilson’s store, a log cabin on the north side of the Oxford square.

  • Library of Congress Pictures: Oxford

    Unique in their scope and richness, the Library of Congress picture collections number more than 16 million images. These include photographs, historical prints, posters, cartoons, documentary drawings, fine prints, and architectural and engineering designs.

  • Integration at UM and the US Marshals

    when James Meredith sought to legally become the first black person to attend the University of Mississippi 40 years ago, the duty of upholding the federal law allowing him to do so fell upon the shoulders of 127 deputy marshals from all over the country who risked their lives to make his dream a reality.

  • Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area

    The Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area (MHNHA) was designated by Congress in 2009. Bounded by I-55 to the west and Highway 14 to the south, MHNHA covers 19 full counties and portions of 11 others in the northeastern part of the Magnolia state.

  • U.S. Grant Presidential Library

    The Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library contains 15,000 linear feet of correspondence, research notes, published monographs, artifacts, photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia, by and about the United States’ 18th president, covering his early life, Civil War triumphs, presidency, and beyond.

  • Ancestry ($)

    The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records and related genetic genealogy websites. A membership is required to build a family tree or save research.

  • Another Resource?

    Just let us know and we’ll add it to our list!