Category Archives: Photographs

Old School Trick Photography

This post was written several weeks ago by Alissa Helms. She has since moved on from Digital Services, but we wanted to share one of her finds from the Perkins family photos. While she was digitizing the tail end of … 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

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

African-American Soldier Portraits

Right now, in the Pearce Foyer of Gorgas Library (2nd floor, Quad side), you’ll find a pretty cool exhibit: Highlighting the collections of Rev. Wylheme Ragland of Decatur, Alabama,  A North Alabama Clergyman’s Passion for History: Preserving Black History through Words and … Continue reading

Hidden Gem: Pictorial History of Fort Marion

Lately, we’ve been combing through Google Analytics data for our collections, and one thing it’s done is alert us to some popular items we didn’t know about, in part because they were not in particularly well-used collections. The Durst Family Papers is … Continue reading

Cartes de visite: More than just photographs

Recently, we digitized a large collection of cartes de visite, a mid 19th century photography phenomenon that featured albumen prints mounted on heavy paper or cardstock. Here are some examples — click on each image to see it up close, complete with the photography studio … Continue reading

Campus Rewind: The President’s Mansion

For this installment of Campus Rewind, check out these photos of the President’s Mansion, recently added to HistoryPin. Besides the building, you’ll see a former President, a then-current First Lady, students protesting, and students horsing around, antebellum costume (in the 1960s!), and some truly … Continue reading