Tag Archives: historic figures

Goodbye, Corolla, Goodbye: 1980s-1990s

In the last of our series of posts saying farewell to the UA campus yearbook, the Corolla, we look at two books you can’t find online. (Various pages were photographed just for this post.) Both of them — and all the … Continue reading

April 15, 1865 – A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Englishman Charles Dickens wrote that in 1859, just two years before England’s former colonies began a long and bloody civil war. I wonder if that quote came to … Continue reading

The Day the Campus Burned

Five days later, and it might not have happened at all. Five days later, Robert E. Lee was surrendering at Appomattox Courthouse, and the Civil War was irreversibly moving toward its end. Five days later, Brigadier General John T. Croxton … Continue reading

Papers of H. D. Clayton Sr., General, statesman, and UA President

Over the last few months, we’ve been digitizing the papers of Henry De Lamar Clayton, Sr. As our student worker Ellyn and I see the final box of materials in sight, it seems like a good time to give an … Continue reading

Thought for the Day: 19th century poetry and the daily newspaper

Newspaper clippings are a common type of content in larger collections of personal or family papers. Though a lot of them help record news about the family or about important current events, many are simply interesting pieces of writing someone … Continue reading

John F. Kennedy assassination, 50 years on

A local reflection on the assassination of our 35th President, from our campus newspaper, The Crimson White, December 5, 1963. Click on the image to see the spread up close, or take a look at the transcription below: It Is … Continue reading

Jefferson Davis’s Namesake

In 1878, more than a decade after his faction’s defeat in the Civil War, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote a letter to the child of a friend, Confederate General and eventual University of Alabama President Henry De Lamar Clayton. … Continue reading

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

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

Flashback to Emphasis ’68: John Kenneth Galbraith

We continue our look at Emphasis ’68 with a speech from John Kenneth Galbraith, who is introduced as an “antenna and synthesizer” of economics and social theory. Galbraith was a prominent economist and author, and he served in important posts … Continue reading

Lasting Impressions

What do pamphlets from the late 18th c. French Revolution and fliers in support of a radical professor in the 1960s and 70s have in common? They were printed and handed out by people supporting radical causes, and they are … Continue reading