Issue 129, Summer 2018
On the cover: Gov. Thomas Bibb.
[Alabama Department of Archives and History]
Features
Stars in His Crown
The Writing Life and Afterlife of Joe David Brown
By Bert Hitchcock
Though his name is little known today, many people probably recognize the work of author and Birmingham native Joe David Brown. Brown left Birmingham as a young man, serving in the military and working a number of different writing-related jobs, including as a newspaper reporter at several Alabama publications. After The Saturday Evening Post published some of his writing, he embarked on a career as a novelist, producing many books while periodically holding more permanent employment as a correspondent. Brown worked throughout the world before returning to the south, settling in Georgia near the end of his life. Though his popularity waxed and waned throughout the years, his work is immortalized in the pages of his many books and in cinematic reproductions of those works, including one that earned a young Tatum O’Neal an Academy Award.
A House for the Ages
By Donna Castellano
Though Thomas Bibb owned several homes in Alabama, perhaps the most renowned is his nineteenth-century Huntsville dwelling, one of the state’s earliest examples of Greek Revival architecture. Bibb built the house on the site of his former home, which he purchased after his time as the state’s governor. After his death, the property passed in and out of his descendants’ hands, finally returning to the family in the 1920s. The home, which has been included in the Historic American Building Survey, has been preserved largely as it was in Bibb’s time, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the life of one of Alabama’s most prominent nineteenth-century citizens.
Alabama Gold
By Peggy Jackson Walls
Before the Gold Rush swept America’s West Coast, prospectors flocked to the southeast in search of fortune. Gold was discovered in Alabama as early as the 1830s, and for a time several mines dominated Alabama’s gold industry. Often all the men from a family worked in the mines, and though accidents did occur, the miners typically found the life rewarding. However, Alabama’s mines closed after about one hundred years, leaving employees to pursue other careers. Still, the impact of the gold rush in Alabama remains clear throughout areas such as Tallapoosa County, where once dreams rode on the earth’s riches.
Alabama’s Female Academies
By Sharony Green
Though education has not always been equal for males and females, it may surprise readers to learn that as early as the nineteenth century, many of Alabama’s young women received a significant education at the state’s female academies. Even during the Civil War, women from economically advantaged families pursued their education and broadened their horizons. After the war southern academies began opening to serve African Americans, who had previously sought education in the north. Though the schools largely died out in the twentieth century, some, such as Judson College, continue functioning as educational institutions today.
Department Abstracts
Alabama Makers
The Art of Handcrafted Soap
By Christina Ausley
Thanks to the efforts of one entrepreneurial Alabama couple, many people in the state are discovering the benefits of all-natural skin care. And the Left Hand Soap Company has even converted some of the most stalwart naysayers, who initially visited the store with others. This installment of “Alabama Makers” chronicles the history and growth of this company, just one more Alabama original.
Alabama 200
Tuskegee University: History Abounds
By Jay Lamar
As part of Alabama’s bicentennial celebration, ALABAMA 200 is delighted to announce its first college partner, Tuskegee University. Tuskegee holds its own rich history, as evidenced in its recent Founders Day Convocation. Among the many items celebrated by Tuskegee are the “Singing Windows” of the university chapel, a reconstruction of the original 1890 windows, which were destroyed by fire in the mid-twentieth century.
The Alabama Territory
Quarter by Quarter
By Mike Bunn
As the Alabama Territory developed, men throughout the area rushed to develop cities and form communities. Though some settlements did not last, others, such as Florence and Huntsville, remain today. Most towns lacked substantial structures but featured necessities, including homes, businesses, stores, and newspaper offices. However, many communities lacked church buildings, as itinerant preachers roamed the landscape and congregations met in borrowed structures. Still, some of Alabama’s new towns were moving toward the vibrant areas that would shape the territory’s—and eventually the state’s—history.
Alabama Governors
John Anthony Winston (1853-1857)
By Samuel L. Webb
As Alabama’s fifteenth governor, John Anthony Winston ascended to the office after a complicated history as both a politician and a man with a reckless temper. His victory, though, was strong; as a Jacksonian Democrat, he won by a landslide. However, the combination of poor health and his southern loyalties even after the Civil War led to the end of his political career.
Alabama Treasures
The Toole Family Collection
By Tim L. Pennycuff
In addition to its many other archival treasures, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) now holds the collection of a significant Alabama medical family, the Barckley W. Toole family. Toole, who was born in 1835, served as a physician after fighting in the Civil War. He also likely sparked his family’s professional legacy, as four of his descendants followed him into the medical profession. Now UAB holds items from multiple generations of the Toole family, including letters, diaries, ledgers, photographs, medical instruments and apparatus, and textbooks
Behind the Image
A Picturesque Gatehouse Holds the Clue
By Frances Osborn Robb
Images hold all kinds of clues to the past, but for one couple, a postcard unlocked a wealth of family history. Alan and Mary Compton used a postcard from a family album (actually a specialized image called a Real Photo Post Card) to trace the origins of Alan’s family to its hometown in England—a place the Comptons had sought unsuccessfully for years.
From the Archives
World War I Helmets
By Graham R. Neeley
As the World War I Centennial commemorations continue around the world, an exhibit at the Alabama Department of Archives and History showcases some of the equipment worn by soldiers in that conflict. Protective helmets for military personnel were new in the WWI era, and the ADAH collection highlights several types of headgear that emerged in this time, showing the evolution and variety of protective devices.
Portraits & Landscapes
100 Years of Laughing Waters: Winnataska’s Centennial Celebration
By Rebecca Dewine Riddick
After its start as a prospective camp for Boy Scouts, a St. Clair County site became Camp Winnataska, where a century’s worth of Alabama’s young people have gathered to play, learn, and form lasting bonds. A former camper herself, Rebecca Riddick uses the centennial celebration to explore the camp’s rich history in shaping generations of youth across the state.
Adventures in Genealogy
Alabama History DIY: World War I Service Crowdsourcing Project
By Meredith McDonough
As part of the WWI centennial commemoration, the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has undertaken a massive project—one that will surely offer numerous finds for genealogists with Alabama connections. The ADAH is digitizing the service records of over one hundred thousand individuals who served during WWI, and to accomplish this task before the centennial year concludes, it is seeking volunteers to assist in the project. Volunteers may work remotely, from the comfort of their own homes, and require no special training. To learn more or to join the effort, contact Meredith McDonough at meredith.mcdonough@archives.alabama.gov.
The Nature Journal
Centennial Trees
As volatile weather sweeps across the state, it wreaks havoc on all kinds of inhabitants. We may often think of the damage to trees only in terms of their human cost—whether they hit any property. However, damage to local flora carries significant consequences, which some local botanists are trying to combat. Birmingham’s Henry Hughes leads the unique Centennial Tree Program, which aims to restore the native tree canopy throughout the city. Alabama Heritage’s resident naturalist, L. J. Davenport, describes the project and his own efforts to contribute seedlings to save Birmingham’s native trees.
Reading the Southern Past
Hurricanes in History
Just in time for hurricane season, this quarter’s installment of “Reading the Southern Past” looks at books about this weather phenomenon. Stephen Goldfarb considers Stuart B. Schwartz’s Sea of Storms: A History of Hurricanes in the Greater Caribbean from Columbus to Katrina (Princeton University Press, 2015) and Walter J. Fraser Jr.’s Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea (University of Georgia Press, 2006) to learn more about how hurricanes have affected the South for generations.
