Author Archives: kgmatheny

WWII Letters of Capt. Sumner Danforth Davis

Among our many interesting “small” collections is a book of letters from a soldier in World War II. U.S. Army Captain Sumner Danforth Davis, a doctor with the Medical Detachment of the 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th (Liberty) Division, served in … Continue reading

Life Studies of the Great Army

One of our great small digital collections is Life Studies of the Great Army, a book of etchings depicting scenes from the Civil War. Published in 1876, it features the work of Edwin Forbes, a relatively well known landscape artist. … Continue reading

The sinking of the Titanic

(Diary of J. H. Woodward, April 16, 1912) Over a hundred years ago this week, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic. On April 15, 1912, news began to reach the general public, and, just as we do now … Continue reading

A Civil War Perspective: Benjamin Gaston

Benjamin J. Gaston served as a first lieutenant with the Independent 2nd Battalion Alabama Volunteers and as a private in the 10th Alabama Cavalry.  He wrote several letters to his parents, and sometimes his brothers and sisters, between 1859 and … Continue reading

“Go Local! Using Digital Archives as Alternative Textbooks in First Year Writing”

Sara Whitver (First Year Experience Librarian), Kate Matheny (Digitization Outreach Coordinator), and Jennie Vaughn (Graduate Student Administrator, First Year Writing Program) will be presenting on this great topic at the Association of College & Research Libraries 2013 annual meeting in … Continue reading

Campus Rewind: Rose Administration Building and Tutwiler Hall

The story of Rose Administration Building, named after a former university president, intersects with that of another prominent building on campus: Tutwiler Hall. Before the construction of the familiar highrise at the edge of campus, the old Julia Tutwiler Hall stood … Continue reading

Flashback to Emphasis ’68: Strom Thurmond

Continuing this week’s look back at Emphasis ’68, we deal with an archival reality — sometimes, things don’t survive long enough to be archived, but they often leave interesting traces behind. (Image from the 1969 Corolla yearbook) Senator Strom Thurmond … Continue reading

Flashback to Emphasis ’68: John Kenneth Galbraith

We continue our look at Emphasis ’68 with a speech from John Kenneth Galbraith, who is introduced as an “antenna and synthesizer” of economics and social theory. Galbraith was a prominent economist and author, and he served in important posts … Continue reading

Flashback to Emphasis ’68: Roy Wilkins

Forty five years ago this week, The University of Alabama began its second annual symposium on contemporary issues. Known as Emphasis, it ran from 1967-1971, with varying degrees of success. This week, we revisit some of its more memorable speeches and … Continue reading

Free Digital Preservation Webinars!

After a series of very successful ASERL webinars on introductory digital preservation in the spring of 2012, a survey of librarians and archivists indicated that the most important topics for successive webinars centered on metadata selection, extraction, creation and storage … Continue reading