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Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

Fairhope Public Library

Fairhope, Alabama

Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Fairhope.

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4Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1894 to 1989Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

55,013Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

Discover the people, places, and stories of Fairhope, Alabama.

Explore the collection shared by Fairhope Public Library, using a person, place, or date connected with Fairhope as a starting point. Its four titles include material from 1894 to 1989.

You can open the archive using the link below.
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  • Selected titles

    Examples from Fairhope Public Library’s collection include “Eastern Shore Courier” and “The Onlooker”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • Ways to explore

    A memory connected with Fairhope can lead to a name, a date, or a story worth following through the collection.

Follow one question at a time, keeping any available date or source detail beside the point you want to explore. The interests that bring people to local history are personal. Family connections, classroom learning, and community stories are all valid starting points. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.

Explore the collection

Titles in this collection

Browse four titles and 55,013 digitized pages, with material from 1894 to 1989. This collection is shared through Fairhope Public Library's partnership with Advantage Archives. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

Start with a detail you already know, then browse the titles below for another perspective on the people and places connected with this collection.

Eastern Shore Courier

22,011 pages from 1979 to 1989

Fairhope Courier

32,848 pages from 1894 to 1974

The Baldwin Times

74 pages from 1983 to 1984

The Onlooker

80 pages from 1983 to 1984

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About the Archive

About The Fairhope Public Library's History Archives

The Fairhope Public Library is proud to provide free access to this digital archive of our local newspapers. This database of digitized newspapers is brought to you through an LSTA grant awarded to the Fairhope Public Library and a partnership with Advantage Archives . The newspapers are searchable by keyword, date, or issue. Tutorials are also available under the Resources tab from the menu bar at the top of the page. The archive currently includes:

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About the Library

About The Fairhope Public Library

The Fairhope Public Library, located in Fairhope, Alabama, has a rich history deeply connected to the community's unique origins. The library has been a part of Fairhope's varied and unique community history since shortly after the founding of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. The Fairhope Public Library aims to help preserve the family history and the City of Fairhope by providing access to historical documents and photos.

The library serves as a guide to worldwide information, a center for learning activities, and a source for leisure materials. Materials available at the library include books, audiobooks, magazines, and digital resources. The library also offers a variety of programs and services to meet the community's needs and interests.

The mission of the Fairhope Public Library is to provide equal access to information for the Fairhope community by sustaining and energizing the intellectual, cultural, educational, and recreational life of the community. The Library serves all ages, encourages the love of reading and the pursuit of knowledge, and champions democracy by fostering the free exchange of ideas.

The newspaper originally began as a publication of the Fairhope Industrial Association, the precursor of the Fairhope Single Tax Colony. The company moved to Fairhope in 1894 and published the Fairhope Courier with colony founder Ernest B. Gaston as its editor. The Fairhope Courier was initially published monthly, then weekly from 1905 to 1974. In April 1974, the paper was purchased, and the name was changed to the Eastern Shore Courier.

Fairhope has a varied and unique community history. The Fairhope Public Library has been part of this unique history since shortly after the founding of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. The library's goal is to help carry on the tradition of community support by preserving family history and the City of Fairhope.

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More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Use each finding to choose the next question

A question about work, school, family, or a neighborhood in Fairhope may point toward different kinds of historical evidence. Start with the collection details shared by the Fairhope Public Library and let what a source actually says shape the next question. Check what a source says directly, then identify what it leaves unclear. Let that gap guide another search rather than filling it by assumption.

When one detail leads nowhere, return to what you can verify and adjust one clue or period at a time. Record the coverage and search terms you checked; a gap in results can mark a limit in available sources, not prove that an event went unrecorded.

As you connect materials, note where each detail came from and what it can support. Record the title, date, and page or item reference where available. Keep names and relationships tentative until the evidence is strong enough to connect them, and mark which words come from the record and which are your interpretation.

Review collection titles

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Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Fairhope Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.

Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.

Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.

Learn about partnerships
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Read All About It

Stories, research tips, and archive news

Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.

Newest published articles

March 18, 2025

It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?

We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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