USA Archives was established in 1978, and grew out of the work of two history professors. In 1975, Drs. Michael Thomason and Melton McLaurin were working on an illustrated history of the city. In conjunction with that project, they located a large photographic collection -- circa 100,000 negatives -- being held at the city's public library. Through a series of negotiations, the two convinced the city to donate the collection to the university and the university to establish a photographic archive.

From those beginnings, USA Archives has grown to have -- at approximately 1,000,000 negatives -- one of the largest collections of photographs in this region, and has added to that a substantial assortment of manuscript and other collections. Our collection policy emphasizes the preservation of photographs, manuscripts, and records that document, from the nineteenth century forward, Mobile, south Alabama, and the University of South Alabama. We also preserve incunabula and other rare volumes that have been donated to the university. The Archives also has a large collection of reference materials such as city directories, newspapers, books, and journals which support the collections and are available to researchers.

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