Local History Indexes
​Lowndes County Mississippi Circuit Court Index, 1829-1919
Lowndes County Mississippi Chancery Court Probate Records Index, 1830-1964
Lowndes County Mississippi Chancery Court General Docket Records Index, 1856-1962
Billups-Garth Archives Vertical File Indexes
A Pictorial History of the People of Lowndes County Mississippi Index, 1830-1980
Index and Finding Aid for the Carl E. Brown Photograph Collection, 1940s-1980s (MS 457)
Lowndes County, Mississippi Circuit Court Index, 1829-1919
The Circuit Court of Lowndes County hears cases involving civil actions, misdemeanors, felonies, and civil actions and criminal appeals from the County Court. In other words, Circuit Court lawsuits involve a claim for money. It may be money owed on either a debt or bill or it could be monetary damages resulting from an injury or destruction of property.
The Lowndes County, Mississippi Circuit Court Index, 1829-1919 took six years to complete (2012-2018) and was worked on by Brenda Durrett, Sharon Keys, Whitney Russell Baswell, and Mona Vance-Ali.
The Index refers to the original case files of the Lowndes County Circuit Court located in the Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department (LHD) at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. In order to access the original cases, please contact the LHD and provide the Case Number for which you are interested in accessing.
To find out more about the history of the Lowndes County Circuit Court, how to use the Index, and Index terminology and abbreviations, follow this link.
To view the Lowndes County, Mississippi Circuit Court Index, 1829-1919, follow this link.
Lowndes County, Mississippi Chancery Court Probate Records Index, 1830-1964
The Probate Division that falls under the Chancery Court of Lowndes County hears cases involving estate matters, apprenticeships, guardianships, lunacy, appointments, and non-compos mentis.
The Lowndes County, Mississippi Chancery Court Probate Records Index, 1830-1964 was completed by Mona Vance in 2006.
The Index refers to the original case files of the Lowndes County Chancery Court located in the Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department (LHD) at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. In order to access the original cases, please contact the Local History Department and provide the Case Number for which you are interested in accessing.
Lowndes County, Mississippi Chancery Court General Docket Records Index, 1856-1962
The General Docket Division that falls under the Chancery Court of Lowndes County hears cases involving divorces, deeds, land title disputes, promissory notes, and ex parte.
The Lowndes County, Mississippi Chancery Court General Docket Records Index, 1856-1962 was completed by Mona Vance in 2006. It is organized alphabetically by the plaintiff’s last name.
The Index refers to the original case files of the Lowndes County Chancery Court located in the Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. In order to access the original cases, please contact the Local History Department and provide the Case Number for which you are interested in accessing.
Billups-Garth Archives Vertical File Indexes
The Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department (LHD) maintains “vertical files,” or a collection of articles, such as newspaper clippings, to answer brief questions or to provide points of information quickly on the history and people of Lowndes County, Mississippi. The term “vertical” also refers to the actual storage orientation of the file folders—upright and stored in a filing cabinet.
The Billups-Garth Archives Vertical Files are divided into two distinct sections: Family Files and Subject Files.
Family Files are organized alphabetically by the family or individuals last name.
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Subject Files are organized alphabetically by subject matter. Topics include subjects such as businesses, military, weather, events, houses, towns, education, and more.
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In order to access the materials within the Vertical Files, please contact the Local History Department and provide the exact name or subject listed on the Vertical File Index.
A Pictorial History of the People of Lowndes County Mississippi, 1830-1980
A Pictorial History of the People of Lowndes County Mississippi, 1830-1980 was compiled and published by the Lowndes County Department of Archives and History in 1981. The book is volume I, but no other volume was ever published.
The Index to A Pictorial History was created in 2008 by Local History Assistant Bettye Brown.
The Index is organized first by a person’s last name alphabetically. Then, it is followed by subjects organized alphabetically.
To view the Index to A Pictorial History of the People of Lowndes County Mississippi, 1830-1980, follow this link.
Index and Finding Aid to the Carl E. Brown Photograph Collection, 1940s-1980s (MS 457)
The Carl E. Brown Photograph Collection consists of materials relating to Carl Eugene Brown’s professional career as a business owner and photographer as well as his personal life covering 1946-1986. In total, there are 50,500 negatives, 27,624 prints, and 168 slides in the collection. Overall, that comes to 78,124 items containing 86,304 images.
Included here are both the Index and Finding Aid to the collection. The Index is organized alphabetically and only includes the photographic images taken by Brown. The Finding Aid is an inventory of the entire collection.
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Carl Brown, born in Anguilla, Sharkey County, Mississippi in 1918, moved to Columbus in 1929. It was during his service in World War II that he developed his interest and skills in photography. After the war, he opened a studio and for four decades he was one of the preeminent photographers in the Lowndes County area.
Brown captured images of the local and surrounding communities including portraits, proms, parades, clubs, businesses, events, car accidents, churches, fairs, agriculture, houses, recitals, animals, and copy work. He was hired to capture images of families, rites of passage, products for sale, the opening of new businesses, community celebrations, school memories, childhood milestones, holidays, and much more. His work showcases the lives and history of a Mississippi city from the mid to late twentieth century.
To learn more about Carl E. Brown’s life and work visit carlbrownphotos40s50s.wordpress.com/biography/.
To view over 1,500 images from the collection covering the 1940s-1950s visit the Mississippi Digital Library.