Author Archives: kgmatheny

Witness to the Fort Mims Massacre, 1813

Normally, I would call this item a hidden gem, but the subject matter is pretty grisly. Two hundred years ago, during the Creek War, the “Red Stick” faction of the local Muskogee Creeks attacked and captured Fort Mims, less than … Continue reading

Campus Rewind: Ferguson Student Center

Earlier this week, we looked at the old student union, in the building we now know as Reese Phifer Hall. In 1972, the area to the north of Woods Hall might’ve looked a bit like it does now, with construction … Continue reading

What do users need?

Lately I find myself pursuing clarity on how we should efficiently and effectively provide primary source materials online. Without a better feedback loop, how can we possibly address this issue? The panel I chaired (Exploring the User Experience with Digital … Continue reading

Campus Rewind: Alabama Union Building

Before there was the Ferguson Center, there was the Alabama Union building. Now known as Reese Phifer Hall, housing the College of Communication and Information Sciences, the building served as the student union for forty years, from its construction in … Continue reading

Sorority Rush 2013

Sorority rush is upon us here at UA. Today we revisit images of rushes past. (Alpha Gamma Delta Rush Tea, 1943) (1957) (1958) (Alpha Delta Pi rush, ca. 1965) (ca. 1965 — Do you know which sorority this is? Let … Continue reading

Hidden Pictures are Dynamite!

I found this unusual bit of advertising while scanning a box from our Perkins collection. The advertisement is promoting the purchase of dynamite for the use of subsoiling. I’m not sure if using a toy-like device with hidden folk-tale pictures … Continue reading

Emmett Dendy WWII Air Mission Diary

One of our newest collections was donated by Emmett Dendy, a ball turret gunner in World War II. In the spring of 1945, he recorded 22 air missions in an Air Force Souvenir Handybook. Below is a typical entry: This … Continue reading

Covered Bridges of Alabama and Georgia

While they’re not extinct yet, covered bridges are getting rarer and rarer. Here’s a look into our rural southern past, courtesy of our Digital Collections. Most of these images are from the Roland McMillan Harper photo collection, but you can … Continue reading

Hidden Gem: Travelogue of Juliet Bestor Coleman, 1833

While we have a lot of large, impressive digital collections in Acumen, sometimes the most interesting things come in small packages. In 1833, about thirty years before the Civil War, 24-year-old Juliet Bestor traveled from her home in Connecticut to … Continue reading

Wish You Were Here: A Century of Postcards

It’s summer, and you know what that means: prime vacation time. Our ways of traveling have changed in the last century or so, along with our means of communicating with our loved ones back home, but one thing has never … Continue reading