This guide contains a sample of The Newberry's resources on this topic. To locate additional resources, please check our catalog or consult a reference librarian.

This research guide is also available as a PDF file.

African American

Freedmen’s Bureau Online has listings of marriages and orphans’ indentures in the Civil War era.

Mississippi State Board of Health. Mississippi Index (Soundex) to Marriages Prior to 1926. Call # Microfilm 773 (specify Soundex code of surname on call slip).

Nesbary, Nettie et al. Index to the Signatures of Deposits for the Freedman’s Savings and Loan Bank, 1865-1869, for the State of Mississippi. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1997. Call # Local History Ref. F349.C69 I53 1997 (2nd fl. open shelf). Includes place of birth and residence.

Simpson, Jack and Matt Rutherford. A Bibliography of African American Family History at the Newberry Library. Chicago: Newberry Library, 2005. Ask at 2nd floor reference desk for this item. This is an expansive update of David Thackery’s 1993 bibliography of the same title.

Webster, Anne L. African Americans: A Mississippi Source Book. Carrollton, MS: Pioneer Publishing Co., 2001. Call # folio F340.W43 2001. Guide to resources at the state archives: newspapers, manuscripts, more.

Atlases and Maps

Cross, Ralph D., ed. Atlas of Mississippi. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1974. Call # MAP 4C83.

Long, John H., ed. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: Mississippi. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1993. Call # Local History Ref. G1201.F7 A8 1993 Miss. (2nd fl. open shelf).

Biography

Biographical and Historical Memories of Mississippi. Chicago: Goodspeed Pub. Co., 1891. all F874.095. Indexed by Gillis, Norman E. Call # F874.095 Index.

Clairborne, John Francis. Mississippi, as a Province, Territory, and State, with Biographical Notices by Eminent Citizens. Vol. 1, 1880. Reprint by Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Call # F874.171. Indexed.

Rowland, Dunbar. History of Mississippi: the Heart of the South. 4 vols. Jackson, MS: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1925. Call # F874.758. Vols. 3-4: biographical sketches.

- - - - - -. Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons... Atlanta, GA: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907. 3 vols. Call # F874.76.

Cemeteries

Gillis, Irene S. Grave Registrations of Union Soldiers: Buried in the Missisippi National Cemeteries of Corinth, Natchez, and Vicksburg. I.S. Gillis, 1983. Call # folio E494.G55.

Mississippi Genealogical Society. Cemetery and Bible Records. Jackson, MS: 1954-1990. Call # E695845.587. 22 vols. Covers various counties. No master index.

Wiltshire, Betty. Mississippi Confederate Grave Registrations. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1991. Call # E516.3.W56 1991. 2 vols.: A-L and M-Z. An index to registration cards obtainable from the state archives.

Census

Federal census for 1820-1880 (microfilm), 1820-1930 (web sites). Book indexes for 1820-1870; CD index for 1860, 1870. Soundex index on microfilm, CD index for 1880. Indexes to all years also on web sites at public access computers.

1890 Genealogical Census Reconstruction: Mississippi edition. Call # Local History Ref. F340.E33 2002 (2nd fl. open shelf) gives information about those who may have been listed in the lost census. See also census guide at 2nd floor reference desk or online.

Slave schedules for 1850, 1860 on microfilm. Indexes only to mortality schedules 1850-1880. 1890 veterans schedule on microfilm; indexed by Dilts, Bryan Lee, Mississippi 1890 Census Index of Civil War Veterans or Their Widows, North Salt Lake, UT: Heritage Quest, 2001. Call # E494.D582 2001.

Directories

Natchez, 1844, 1928. Vicksburg, 1844, 1860-1, 1921. For other cities, see binder at 2nd fl. reference desk or online.

Guides and General Works

Brieger, James F. Hometown Mississippi. Historical & Genealogical Association of Mississippi, 1980. Call # Local History Ref. F339.B74 1980 (2nd fl. open shelf). Gazetteer.

Henderson, Thomas W. Guide to Official Records in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Jackson: MS Department of Archives and History, 1975. Call # fF874.39.

Lipscomb, Anne S. and Kathleen S. Hutchison. Tracing Your Mississippi Ancestors. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1994. Call # Local History Ref. F340.L56 1994 (2nd fl. open shelf).

McLemore, Richard A. A History of Mississippi. Hattiesburg, MS: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1973. 2 vols. Call #F874.54.

Mississippi Library Commission. Mississippiana. Jackson, MS: 1971. 2 vols. Call # fF874.582. Vol. 2 is union list of news-papers in the state and their publication histories.

Land Records

Hahn, Marilyn Davis. Old St. Stephen’s Land Office Records and American State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. 1, 1768-1888. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1983. Call #F325.B37 1983.

Lowrie, Walter, ed. Early Settlers of Mississippi as Taken from Land Claims in the Mississippi Territory. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1986. Call # F340.F27 1986. To 1837.

Rowland, Eron Opha. “Mississippi’s colonial population and land grants.” Mississippi Historical Society Publications, Vol. 1, pp. 405-428. Call # F874.581. V.1.

Military

Parkes, Nancy. Mississippi Daughters [of American Revolution] and Their Ancestors. Starkville, MS: Starkville Publishing Co., 1965. Call # E695845.66.

Rowland, Dunbar. Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1908. Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Co., 1978. Call # F341.M58 1978. Bulk pertains to Civil War. Indexed.

Rowland, Mrs. Eron Opha. “Rolls of Mississippi Commands in the War of 1812,” pp. 157-233. Mississippi Historical Society Publications, Vol. 4. Jackson, MS: 1921. Call # F874.581 v. 4. Includes slaves who accompanied masters. No index.

Watkins, Raymond W. Deaths of Confederate Soldiers in Confederate Hospitals. Meridian, MS: Lauderdale County Dept. of Archives & History, 1989. Call # folio E548.W37 1989. Lists from eight hospitals in the state.

Wiltshire, Betty. Mississippi Confederate Pension Applications. Carrollton, MS: Pioneer Publishing Co., 1994. 3 vols. (A-G, H-O, P-Z). Call # F340.W5417 1994.

Native Americans

Bowen, Jeff. Choctaw of Mississippi Indian Census 1929-1932, with Birth and Death records, 1924-1932. Signal Mountain, TN: Mountain Press, 1997. Call # Ayer Folio E99.C8B63 1997.

-------. Mississippi Choctaws Indian Census with Births, Deaths and Marriages 1933-1939. Signal Mountain, TN: Mountain Press, 1997. Call # Folio E99.C8B68 1997.

Carson, James T. Searching for the Bright Path: the Mississippi Choctaws from Prehistory to Removal. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Call # Ayer E99.C8C33 1999.

Kidwell, Clara Sue. Choctaws and Missionaries in Mississippi, 1818-1918. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Call # Ayer E99.C8 K53 1995. Good bibliography on many aspects of Choctaw history.

Periodicals

Indexed in PERSI (Periodical Source Index). Ask at 2nd floor reference desk for help.

The Journal of Mississippi History. 1939 -. Call # F874.004.

Mississippi Genealogy and Local History. 1969-1970. Call #fF874.007 Vol. 1 (1969), Vol. 2 (1970).

Northeast Mississippi Historical Journal. 1967-1974. Call # F874.63.

Vicksburg Genealogical Society Quarterly. 1993 -. Call # F347.M6 M58. Also covers five Louisiana parishes.

Vital Records

Mississippi Historical Records Survey. Guide to Vital Statistics Records in Mississippi. Jackson, MS: Mississippi Historical Records Survey, 1942. Call # F874.41 Vol. 1 (Public Archives), Vol. 2 (Church Archives). State, county, town listings. Vol. 2 is a good portrait of churches existing in 1942.

Hendrix, Mary, compiler. Mississippi Court Records from the Files of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, 1799-1859. Jackson, MS: 1950. Call # E695845.584. Abstracts of wills, probates, divorces, guardianships, more.

King, J. Estelle Stewart. Mississippi Court Records 1799-1835. Reprint of 1936 ed., Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969. Call # fE695845.461. Abstracts of marriages, wills, tax lists, slave gifts, more.

- - - - - -. Survey of Records in Mississippi Court Houses. Jackson, MS: 1957. Call # E695845.588. Also lists county histories, newspapers, other primary sources extant in 1957.

Ragland, Mary Lois. Spreading the Word: Mississippi Newspaper Abstracts of Genealogical Interest, 1825-1935. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1992. Call # F340.R29 1991. Bulk from pre- and post-Civil War.

Welch, Mrs. Walter Scott, ed. Newspaper Notices of Mississippians, 1820-1860. Jackson, MS: Mississippi Genealogical Society, 1960. Call # E695845.458. Marriages, obituaries, guardianships, estate notices.

Wiltshire, Betty Couch. Marriages and Deaths from Mississippi Newspapers. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1987. Call # F340.W55 1987. Covers 1837-1863, northern Mississippi.

- - - - - -. Mississippi Index of Wills, 1800-1900. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1989. Call # F340.W56 1989 (2nd floor open shelf). Statewide index.