The Archives Collection houses rare, fragile, and unique material related to Huntsville and Madison County.
If you are interested in letters, diaries, news, scrapbooks, business records, military records, or anything else you can imagine, try conducting a keyword search in our online database.
We are continuing to fine-tune and add to this database. So if you're not finding something, still contact us and we'll double-check!
Family Papers - including the Clay Collection and other local families. Things you'll find: correspondence, diaries, personal libraries, etc.
Photograph Collection - over 25,000 photographic prints and originals, with content ranging from depictions of street scenes and cotton mills throughout Huntsville’s history to portraits of prominent citizens. You can view a portion of these in the online archives inventory.
Business Records - including local shops and services and cotton mills.
Local History and Lineage Society Records - including Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, DAR, UDC, TN Valley Genealogical Society, TN Valley Civil War Roundtable, etc.
Organizational Records - including Huntsville Public Library, Civic Club, etc.
Church Records - particularly early local churches
Artwork - including pieces by Howard Weeden and portraits by William Frye
Scrapbooks - from local organizations and individuals
If you are interested in historic photographs, we've got 'em! Head over to the Photograph Collections page to explore some of them.
If you are interested in doing archival research or discovering local records, please email specialcollections@hmcpl.org or call 256-532-5969.
If you are interested in volunteering in the archives, please visit our Volunteer Opportunities page.
