Madison County Archives Jackson, Tennessee

1981 Hollywood Drive, Suite 300, Jackson, Tennessee 38305
Direct Line - (731) 300-3987 / Phone - (731) 660-6221 ext. 3810
Email - archives@madisoncountytn.gov
Hours - Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Madison County, TN website - www.madisoncountytn.gov

The Madison County Archives was first established in 1999 in downtown Jackson and then relocated to the old Union University campus east of downtown before moving to its present location in 2009.

We are located in the north end of the Madison County Complex building across Hollywood Drive from Poplar Heights Baptist Church and just south of the West Tennessee Area Council Boy Scouts of America.

Rules of Use

Records are maintained on special shelving and racks and in lockable cabinets. Researchers sign in our register book in our reception area and make their requests known to the staff, who retrieve and oversee the use of the requested documents. Patrons may be asked to wear provided white cotton gloves or latex gloves when handling the most fragile documents. Photocopies can be made by staff at a charge, or scanned documents may be saved to a flash drive or emailed free of charge. Patrons may also take photographs of documents or use hand scanners (if records are not too fragile) free of charge. Our staff also welcomes research inquiries by email, mail, or phone.

Some records are confidential and are still under the control of the issuing county official or department until such time as they may be open for public scrutiny. Permission from authorizing officials must be obtained before access to these records will be granted.

Our Records

Our records in our physical facility are original loose paper and bound volume records. They are on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives and some are digitized on the Family Search website. We do not have the majority of our records digitized to be accessed from this website; some indices to records are available on our County Records page on this website. Our staff welcomes research inquiries by phone, email, mail, or in person; we will scan and send records to patrons or make photocopies on an "as requested" basis.

Our Work

The Madison County Archives is a department of the government of Madison County, Tennessee and is under the direct control of County Mayor A.J. Massey. We develop and manage the county archives program, organize and preserve county historical records, and assist citizens and researchers in the use of the many fragile and important documents and bound volumes. We work closely with elected officials and department heads to preserve the permanent records of their respective offices and advise the county mayor and the Madison County Public Records Commission on our performance. Following the guidelines of the University of Tennessee County Technical Advisory Service, the permanent and historically significant records created by Madison County government offices and departments are transferred to the Madison County Archives based on a retention schedule. Click below to see the Public Records Policy for the Madison County Archives, Madison County, Tennessee.

PUBLIC RECORDS POLICY Madison County.pdf
Size : 133.21 Kb
Type : pdf

Public Records Commission

The Madison County Public Records Commission is the trustee of the public record of Madison County government. Civic memory is found in public records, the documents that are tools of government and evidence of the actions of government. The confidence of citizen voters and taxpayers in their governments rests on the integrity of the public record. Tennessee state law recognizes this by requiring that certain records be kept for a time until their usefulness is gone and they may be destroyed; and by requiring that other records are "permanent" and should be kept available for public inspection for so long as it is humanly possible to preserve them. The Public Records Commission sees to the integrity of public records and civic memory, decides what is important enough to preserve permanently and what may be destroyed, and assures that a good public record is available for public inspection. Our Public Records Commission works hand in hand with county departments and our Archives to achieve those objectives.*

The Madison County Public Records Commission meets at least twice a year, elects its own officers, keeps records of decisions and transactions, reports at least once a year to the County Mayor and County Commission on commission activities and the state of records and archives management in Madison County, authorizes or disapproves requests from county offices to destroy original records using records retention schedules prepared by the County Technical Advisory Service for guidance, and reviews the operations of our Archives to assure the County Commission that it meets archives management standards.*

Members of the 2023-2024 Public Records Commission - Don Allen, Jay Bush, Andy Hall, Lorri Skelton, and Jack Wood were re-appointed by the County Mayor and the County Legislative Body during the June 20, 2023 County Commission meeting and Fred Birmingham, Angie Byers, and Ricky Long are ex officio members by nature of the office they hold:

Lorri Skelton - Archivist, Madison County Archives - chairperson
Jack Wood - Librarian, Jackson-Madison County Library Tennessee Room - vice chairman
Don Allen - Circuit Judge, Divison II
Fred Birmingham - County Clerk
Jay Bush - County Attorney
Angie Byers - County Register
Andy Hall - County Commissioner
Ricky Long - County Historian

Sarah McClain, Commission Administrative Coordinator to the Madison County Board of Commissioners, is the recording secretary. Mike Winslow, County Risk Management, is the Public Records Request Coordinator.