Author Archives: kgmatheny

Food, Glorious Food!

By guest blogger Alex Olkovsky, a graduate student in American Studies While many collections in our archives contain business and legal documents, there are also numerous focused on people’s daily and domestic lives. Unsurprisingly, these collections are where we can … Continue reading

3D Digitization Project, round two

It’s been some time since we updated you on Jeremiah’s 3D digitization project. It’s been through one round of prototype and testing, and now it’s in a second phase. We thought we’d talk about where we are and show off … Continue reading

A Day in the Life: June 1

Here’s a slice of life from June 1st over the last 170 some-odd years, representing a cross-section of materials from the digital archive — from the serious to the silly, the magical to the mundane.

Roland Harper’s Southern churches, 1901-1958

Roland Harper (1878-1966) was a lot of things, notably a geologist and botanist. According to a biographical sketch published two years after his death (see end of post for reference), “Roland Harper was intent. He botanized, observed, photographed, walked, editorialized, criticized, lived, … Continue reading

Campus Rewind: Foster Auditorium and Coleman Coliseum

It seems like it’s impossible to write a blog post about any building on campus without talking about what came before or after. In this case, a look at Foster Auditorium led down an unexpected path — to Coleman Coliseum. But how? … Continue reading

Alabama’s Jewish History

Did you know May is Jewish American Heritage Month? You may not: it’s a new commemoration, proclaimed by President Bush in 2006. Alabama, like much of the South, is not known for having a large Jewish population, yet Jewish Americans have … Continue reading

Eyewitness to Croxton’s Raid on Tuscaloosa, April 1865

Last year, we shared an in-depth post on the burning of the UA campus in the last days of the Civil War. This year, we take a look at the words of an eyewitness to the events. Basil Manly, Sr., … Continue reading

New and Notable in Acumen, Fall ’14 – Spring ’15

A lot has come through the digitization pipeline in the last six months or so. Here are some highlights. Diaries Martha Jane Coleman Banks commonplace book Contains diary entries, miscellaneous writings (some appear to be school related), newspaper clippings, recipes, and … Continue reading

Guardians of Mobile Bay

During the Civil War, Mobile Bay was protected by not one but two fortifications: to the west — Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island to the east — Fort Morgan, down the beach from Gulf Shores From these strategic points, Confederate soldiers could … Continue reading

Campus Pinups?

Rammer Jammer, UA’s campus magazine from the 1920s to the 1950s, often featured cover art that was surprisingly risqué for the time. Or was it? I think we tend to see 1920s-1940s through the lens of the 1950s, with its heavily censored films (see … Continue reading