Heritage Room

Welcome to the Huntsville Heritage Room! We are a multi-media resource center for research in genealogy and regional history.

We have one of the finest genealogy collections in the region. We focus on states east of the Mississippi River and include computer-based resources, as well as print and microform collections. However, we also have materials on other regions of the U.S. and helpful resources for locating relatives from overseas.

Just getting started? Our staff is ready to share tips on finding your ancestors, even if you’ve never tried before.

Are you a seasoned researcher? Let us show you our resources, in a number of formats.

Our reading room is a pleasant workspace, with most of our stacks readily accessible to the public. However, all of our materials are Reference resources and cannot be checked out or removed from the Heritage Room.

Have questions? Please call us at (256) 532-5969 or email us at hhrdept [at] hmcpl [dot] org — we’re always happy to help!

Computer-Based Resources

Our computer-based resources include (but are not limited to):

Online databases. We have computers dedicated to online genealogical research. Search:

• Ancestry Library Edition, which provides new databases each week.
• Heritage Quest Online, which contains census images, over 25,000 family histories, and the Periodical Source Index(PERSI),Revolutionary War Pension Files,and Freedman’s Bank Records
• New England Ancestors, from the New England Historic Genealogical Society
• Footnote.com, special collections through World War II

Print and Microform Collections

Our print and microform collections include (but are not limited to):

• Family history materials. Books, family files and periodicals
• Huntsville and Madison County History. Available in books, microfilm, local newspaper clippings, descriptive brochures, and biographical data.
• State and county records. Including histories, abstracts of marriages, cemetery records, wills, deeds, court minutes, and church and vital records. Print and microform.
• Newspapers. Local editions on microform, and other editions from colonial period to current.
• Periodicals. Over 500 journals and newsletters, with indexing for most. The collection includes complete runs of numerous genealogical journals.
• Genealogy collections. In microform, including the McCubbins (North Carolina) and Turner (Delaware) Collections; the WPA Index of South Carolina Cemeteries; Massachusetts town vital records to 1850; the South Carolina COM Index; and the papers of Leonardo Andrea (South Carolina).
• Historical collections. Including:
  • The Draper Papers
  • The Printed Archives of Pennsylvania
  • South Carolina Low-Country Church Records
  • American State Papers
  • Mississippi Territory Records
  • The Legislative Acts of Alabama
• Military records. Available for colonial, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War and Indian Wars.
• Passenger lists. Available for arrivals to the United States from numerous countries.
• Federal records. Including:
  • The American State Papers
  • The New American State Papers: Indian Affairs
  • The Territorial Papers of the United States
  • Journals of the Continental Congress (and Indexes)
  • Guide to the Federal Records of the Archives of the United States