The State Archives holds microfilmed marriage, probate, tax, land, court, and other records from each of Arkansas’s seventy-five counties. These materials are available for use and copying in our research room. County record holdings, including record types and available dates, vary by county. Some county records have been destroyed by fire, tornado, or flooding. If searching for modern county records, those are still on file with the county courthouses.
The pdfs below contain inventories of county records microfilm available at the Arkansas State Archives. For additional search functions, Excel spreadsheets are provided for users with Microsoft Excel. These Excel versions can be found by clicking on each title (and not the pdf icon), in the “Excel version” box at the right side of the item's information page.
If you are uncertain whether or not we have the records you are looking for, contact us at state.archives@arkansas.gov.Please note that the FHL# column heading identifies items that were microfilmed by the Family History Library of Salt Lake City, Utah. Items with FHL numbers are not eligible for full microfilm roll reproduction by the Arkansas State Archives, but are available for normal patron use, including making reasonable quantities of digital and print copies.
County records microfilm contains record types including church, court, land, marriage, naturalization, road improvement, school, tax, treasury, voter, and more.
Types of court records:
Circuit courts have countywide jurisdiction over criminal cases, naturalization, and major civil cases.
Chancery courts have countywide jurisdiction over equity, divorce, probates, and adoptions.
Probate courts, although they fall under the jurisdiction of the chancery courts, probate court records are filmed separately and include wills, administration, and guardian records.
County courts have countywide jurisdiction over juvenile matters, taxes, claims, and county expenditures.