Author Archives: kgmatheny

Hugh Davis farm journals, 1848-1880

Hugh Davis (1811-1862) was an Alabama lawyer turned plantation owner. Being a learned man, his record books from the Beaver Bend farm are thorough and articulate, describing both day-to-day activities and overall running of farming operations, including the relationship between … Continue reading

Unintentional Spooks

If you’ve ever spent much time looking at photos of “ghosts” on the Internet, you know our eyes are very good at seeing what we expect to see — a face in the window, a shadowy figure in the bushes … Continue reading

Jefferson Davis’s Namesake

In 1878, more than a decade after his faction’s defeat in the Civil War, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote a letter to the child of a friend, Confederate General and eventual University of Alabama President Henry De Lamar Clayton. … Continue reading

Newly Online: Birmingham Barons Baseball Records

Part of the extensive Woodward Family Papers is a collection of documents pertaining to the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team, owned by A. H. “Rick” Woodward. The team’s park, Rickwood Field, was named after him. Many of these records, … Continue reading

Newly Online: James A. Goble Civil War diary

Sometimes our records of historical events come to us from ordinary and relatively unknown sources. All we know about James A. Goble is that he was a soldier in the First Alabama Infantry, and that while he was born in … Continue reading

Homecoming 2013

Homecoming 2013 is here! The theme for this year is “Leaving a Crimson Legacy,” so let’s look back at some homecoming parades that left a legacy of elaborate decorations, beauty queens, and timely putdowns for our SEC rivals. The images … Continue reading

Hidden Gem: 1892 Baptist hymnal

I recently stumbled upon an interesting item in the Manly Family papers manuscript collection: a hymn book from 120 years ago, with selections chosen by Basil Manly, Jr., a Baptist minister and educator. The book was published in the year … Continue reading

Battle of Chickamauga

“…I see a hog and black sheep dead. poor things they ought to keep away from where man meets in fearful combat. it is strange that the most intelligent beings on earth endowed with reason and sense cannot settle disputes … Continue reading

A Slice of Life: The Helen Cline Papers

Who is Helen Cline? In the grand scheme of things, she’s not an important person from our nation’s past, but in a way she is: she is an example of the millions of “ordinary” people who make the world go … Continue reading

Modern Pocket Hoyle game rulebook

Ever heard the phrase “according to Hoyle”? It means that something complies with a strict set of rules, and it’s a reference to the gaming rulebooks of Edmond Hoyle and all the later versions building on his format. The Modern … Continue reading