Category Archives: Southern History

Newly Online: James A. Goble Civil War diary

Posted on October 9, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Civil War, Diaries and Journals, Newly Online, Southern History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes our records of historical events come to us from ordinary and relatively unknown sources. All we know about James A. Goble is that he was a soldier in the First Alabama Infantry, and that while he was born in … Continue reading →

Witness to the Fort Mims Massacre, 1813

Posted on August 30, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Letters, Southern History, War | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Covered Bridges of Alabama and Georgia

Posted on July 25, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Photographs, Southern History | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted on July 18, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Cool Collections, Everyday Life, Southern History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Marking the 50th Anniversary of Desegregation at The University of Alabama

Posted on June 10, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: African-American History, Periodicals, Southern History, UA History | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Fifty years ago tomorrow, James Hood and Vivian Malone made history as the first African-Americans to successfully enroll at the University of Alabama. Though initially blocked from entry by Governor George Wallace — during his infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse … Continue reading →

The Siege of Vicksburg

Posted on May 21, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Civil War, Southern History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

150 years ago today, Vicksburg, Mississippi. was in between two major assaults that began a more than month-long siege of the city. What began as a conflict between Gen. Grant’s Army of Tennessee and the Confederate forces of Lt. Gen. … Continue reading →

Family Pets, part one: Cats

Posted on May 16, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Everyday Life, Photographs, Southern History | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

While our collections document some important local, national, and international history, they also chronicle the lives of individual families, giving us insight into the everyday lives of Americans over the last couple of centuries. It’s no surprise that a big … Continue reading →

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

Posted on April 8, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Cool Collections, Industrial, Outreach, Southern History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Flashback to Emphasis ’68: Strom Thurmond

Posted on March 22, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Audio, Southern History, UA History, Vietnam War | Tagged , | Leave a comment

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 →

James Hood

Posted on February 28, 2013 by kgmatheny | Posted in: African-American History, Photographs, Southern History, UA History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On any given weekday, you will see a variety of students from different ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic classes wandering the quad, dorms, and halls. As an institution, we have come to reflect and embrace these differences, but the University of … Continue reading →