An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."
I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.
So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.
For the state of Mississippi, what collections are available for you to browse and/or search online? Here is a list of sites to start with. Please feel free to add in the comments other online resources that you might be aware of in the state.
Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.
Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.
Updated May, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)
For historic photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.
So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.
For the state of Mississippi, what collections are available for you to browse and/or search online? Here is a list of sites to start with. Please feel free to add in the comments other online resources that you might be aware of in the state.
Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.
Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.
Updated May, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)
- 1927 Flood Photograph Collection
- Alcorn County Photographs
- Amite County Historical and Genealogical Society Photos
- Carroll County Photo Collections
- Civil Rights Movement Photo Gallery
- Cooper Postcard Collection
- Corinth Photos
- Hancock County Historical Society Photo Gallery
- Historic Jackson Photos
- Historic Resources Inventory Database
- Itawamba County Archival Photographs
- Itawamba County Historical Society Archival Photo Collection
- Itawamba County Photos
- Jackson County Photographs
- Jasper County Photograph Collections
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
- Lincoln Lawrence Franklin Regional Library Photos
- Lincoln Lawrence Franklin Regional Library Photo Archives
- Missaukee County Historical Society Photo Albums
- Mississippi Ancient Faces
- Mississippi Civil War Sesquicentennial
- Mississippi Dead Fred
- Mississippi Department of Archives and History Digital Archives
- Mississippi Digital Library - Collections
- Mississippi Gulf Coast Museum of Historical Photography
- Mississippi Old Photos
- Mississippi Penny Postcards
- Mississippi State University Digital Collections
- National Archives - Digital Photograph Collections
- Oktibbeha County Photos
- Pontotoc County Miscellaneous Photos
- Preservation in Mississippi
- School Photographs 1920s-1980s
- Smithsonian Images
- Sovereignty Commission Online
- Tishomingo County Historical and Genealogical Society Photos
- Tishomingo County Photographs
- Tougaloo College Archives and Special Collections
- Trans-Mississippi Photo Archive
- ​University of Mississippi Digital Collections
- University of Southern Mississippi Digital Collections
- Visual Collections: Southern Media Archive
For historic photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
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