By: Amy Chen, CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow

Last year, on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Cool@Hoole profiled a signed first edition of Dr. King’s book, Strength to Love (1963). As Strength to Love is from the Williams Collection in the Gorgas Library, this year we thought we’d profile a few of the material types related to the civil rights leader that can be found in Hoole in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall. This way, we can celebrate the achievements and memory of Dr. King while also highlighting the diversity of materials we have on King and the importance of visiting both branches of the Division of Special Collections when you conduct your research.

This photograph, which can be found online on Acumen as well as in the physical collections of Hoole, depicts a march held in Woods Quad in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hoole holds a wide variety of children’s and juvenile literature. June Behrens’s Martin Luther King, Jr: The Story of a Dream (Wade Hall PS3552.E415 M3 1979) and Kathie Billingslea Smith’s Martin Luther King, Jr. (Alabama E185.97.K5 S575 1987) begin to show how King’s life and work was described in writing for children in the decades following his assassination.

Hoole also contains a sizable amount of musical scores. One notable item related to King is from “Realizing the Dream,” the Tenth Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Concert held on January 17, 1999. A pamphlet from the concert is included alongside a copy of “The Black Warrior,” a score by Gunther Schuller (Alabama M2000.S387 B5 1989x).