Category Archives: Manuscript Collections

A Royal Decree!

Our amazing volunteer manuscript processor James shared this cool little item he came across while processing the Mabel Smythe-Haith papers. Everyone loves a big fancy decree, deed, or diploma — something with seals and stamps and stuff. Pretty cool. What’s … Continue reading

Alabama’s Beautiful Gulf Coast Beaches, June 1912

Dauphin Island, 1912 From Roland Harper Photographs Collection (Collection number 633, Folder number 3.337) http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/u0001_2008032_0005179 Alabamians have long enjoyed their beaches, but for the people of Southwest Alabama and the coastal areas of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the Gulf is … Continue reading

Roland Harper and his Photographs – A Slice of Alabama Life

Roland Harper with camera Roland Harper in full field gear with hound Today in Gorgas Library room 205, Elizabeth Findley Shores will talk about her book, On Harper’s Trail: Roland McMillan Harper, Pioneering Botanist of the Southern Coastal Plain (UGA … Continue reading

Peanuts? Cracker Jack? Happy Opening Day!

Advertisement, Crimson White, April 1929 From the Mel Allen Collection, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library Here’s to the first day of Major League Baseball season! And here’s to all who continue to love the game.

Celebrate Poetry in all its forms…

The Game of Giza by George Edwin Starbuck From the George Edwin Starbuck Papers,The W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama. April is National Poetry Month. We’ll celebrate with the witty, wry, and dangerously funny George Starbuck, whose … Continue reading

Robert Loveman: Poem, Song, and a little Jewish History Too!

On Valentine’s Day, who better to talk about than a guy whose name screams all things romantic. A poet with a name like Loveman? You couldn’t make this stuff up. Robert Loveman (April 11, 1864 – July 9, 1923) was … Continue reading

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!

Well, maybe not tomorrow — but if you haven’t had a chance to visit our exhibit, Hear Hair Here: Hair Do’s and Hair Don’t from the Hoole Library’s Sound Recording Collections, please be sure to do soon. New and exciting … Continue reading

The Swinging Sounds of Babe Ruth!

Ninety-four yeas ago, on July 11, 1914, the soon-to-be legend Babe Ruth made his debut in Major League Baseball — he played for the Boston Red Sox, but in the 1919 season he was sold to the New York Yankees. … Continue reading

Great News! and Great Letterhead from Loving Son W.C. to his Doting Mother, Amelia

Letter from W.C. to his mother Amelia, June 5, 1908 The item featured above is part of the UA Libraries’ contribution to AlabamaMosaic — an online repository of digital materials on Alabama’s history, culture, places, and people that was developed … Continue reading

Jefferson Davis’ 200th/Biographer Hudson Strode

Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy was born 200 years ago today in Kentucky — on June 3, 1808. A definitive Jefferson Davis biography was written by Hudson Strode and published by Harcourt Brace in 1955. … Continue reading