Tag Archives: 19th century

Small Photo Collections: Horgan Industrial photos, Birmingham, 1889

The John Horgan, Jr. photo album contains 23 images of industrial sites around Birmingham. Taken in 1889, these images are a good example of early photography, but they can also provide a helpful context for other collections in Acumen. For … Continue reading

Featured Collection: Roland Harper Railroad Timetables

You never know what you’ll encounter in a large manuscript collection! Even the seemingly predictable might surprise you. The Hoole Special Collections Library holds a wealth of manuscript material from eminent botanist Roland Harper. Among his papers, you would expect … Continue reading

The Lost(?) Art of the Telegram

Our search tool, Acumen, is good for turning up items related to a given person or topic, but it can also be used to uncover particular types of items. While diaries and letters are popular tools for research, there are … Continue reading

The Civil War’s Lyrical Battlefield

We all know the Civil War had a seismic impact on our country. Did you know that its effects trickled down to the music publishing industry? UA Libraries Special Collections has a lot of 19th and early 20th century sheet … Continue reading

Early history of the University of Alabama?

We’ve just loaded a box of the Manly Family papers into the transcription interface, in the hopes that YOU would like to transcribe correspondence and diaries relating to the early history of the University of Alabama. Basil Manly, Sr. (1798-1868) … Continue reading

The Woodward Iron Company

This post features photographs from the Woodward Family Collection and displays plant operations and different industrial scenes from the 19th century. The Woodward Iron Company was founded by two brothers, Joseph and William Woodward on December 31, 1881. William served … Continue reading

The University of Alabama, 1831

181 years ago on April 18th, the University of Alabama formally opened its doors. Fifty-two students were accepted that first term, but by the end of the session the student body had swelled to nearly one hundred. The faculty was … Continue reading

Doodles

Earlier this week we featured one of our newly online collections, the John Horry Dent Papers. In this collection you can find something kind of fun we sometimes come across in Special Collections… doodles! I have included images of some … Continue reading

Newly Online: John Horry Dent Papers

The John Horry Dent Papers contain three ledgers (a plantation book, a farm journal, and letter copybook) and a folder of miscellaneous letters written by John Horry Dent of Eufaula, Brabour County, Alabama, and Cave Springs, Floyd County, Georgia, dating … Continue reading

1867 Alabama Constitutional Convention

This week we are looking at an item in our digital collection that highlights African-American history, in honor of Black History Month. This item is a speech by Elisha Wolsey Peck, chairman of the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1867. The … Continue reading