When the The Alabama Loose Records Project (LRP) began in 1998, the teams who cleaned and filed the documents to be filmed were encouraged to create an index from the cases they processed. The case papers were placed in folders and filed in boxes in alphabetical order by case name. Folder contents were then filmed in the order in which the folders were filed. In most counties an index was prepared listing the case names in the same order.

Most indexes were initially typed into a computer and then printed and the printed index filmed as well. The LRPW team discovered that many of the original computer files were missing or destroyed and a call went out for volunteers who would transcribe from printed copies. As of August 2007, 134 files from fourteen counties are in various stages of preparation.

The idea of collecting and publishing these indexes was proposed as an AGS project in April 2006. It was formerly adopted as a project by the AGS Publications Committee and a project team established in September. The task of inventorying all Alabama counties for existing indexes began soon thereafter.

An important purpose of this project is to correlate each indexed case to the reel identification number used in the catalogs of the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ Family History Library (FHL) and the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH). These catalog entries generally describe the material found on a specific reel, however the titles do not always reflect the variety of case-types that may be incidental to the title's description.

Cases were generally boxed and indexed as a case-type group. A group titled "estates" may include other case types such as guardianships, apprenticeships and a variety of property issues. In addition there are some marriage and divorce groups. The LRPW database includes a more detailed case-type identifier for each case in the index. Although the focus of the preservation was probate court records, some circuit court cases are also included.

This project is ongoing. Besides the many volunteers who did the hard work at the county court level, a number of additional volunteers have worked to locate, inventory, and re-transcribe, where necessary, the indexes that comprise the LRPW database.