Scattered volumes have been published by various patriotic, historical, and genealogical societies. Many individual cemetery transcriptions have been published in periodicals. There is no effective substitute for an on-site search of county courthouse records. County level records have not yet been centralized. No single county's records have been significantly abstracted or transcribed, making a courthouse visit essential.
County records vary widely from county to county in both quality and quantity.
Ten Alabama counties have had significant destruction of records by fire. These burned counties and counties that have had less destructive fires are indicated on the chart. However, not all records were lost. Three counties have two county seats. The Historical Records Survey conducted a preliminary inventory of fifteen county archives.