By the time you read this letter, I will be enjoying my shady porch at old Fort McClellan, having done the unthinkable. I will have retired. My nineteen years with Alabama Heritage seem to have passed in a flash—a glorious, wonderful, valuable, unforgettable flash. But as I dig into the memories, I realize just how much has been packed into those years, and I am grateful.
I felt privileged in 2002, when the University of Alabama chose me to be the next editor-in-chief of Alabama Heritage. Before my first day on the job, I was invited by the late Maury Smith, AH board chair at the time, to visit the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Then-director Ed Bridges allowed me into the archival inner sanctum, every historian’s impossible dream: “the stacks.” We went through floor after floor of tight spaces packed with the historical treasures of our state. I held Hank Williams’s hat! And I knew I had made the right choice to take this job. I had walked into a career with history as its mandate. How could I be so lucky?
I found myself rather starstruck in those early days. I recognized the names of callers on my phone as the Alabama historians whose books had long lined my shelves at home. Katherine Braund, George Rable, Wayne Flynt, Leah Atkins, Guy Hubbs, Larry Clayton—scholars I had always mistakenly imagined to be an inaccessible ivory-tower club—became my colleagues, and soon, my friends.
History-loving people around the state began to invite me to wonderful places. I remember my first photo shoot with Robin McDonald at the Ava Maria Grotto in Cullman. (He said he let editors come along to carry his bags, and I did.) I went to historic sites, libraries, archives, museums, and many places most people rarely see around this state for my job. Every article became an exploration into a past that never runs out of fascinating stories.
I will never forget developing what remains my favorite article: Phil Beidler’s The Lost Battalion of the Ia Drang. This robust Vietnam piece told the story of the ambush of a group of men sent to rescue the beleaguered troops memorialized in the movie We Were Soldiers. We had the privilege of working with Gen. Hal Moore and photojournalist Joe Galloway, who were played by Mel Gibson and Barry Pepper in the movie. In preparing the article, I had a naïve idea that I wanted a picture of every Alabama soldier who died in that action—and our boys were ten percent of the casualties that day. I had no idea how hard it would be to find family members of men who had died forty years earlier—men whose parents had passed and spouses had remarried. But when I did find the families of eight of the fifteen and told them their departed soldier was going to be honored in the magazine, it was worth every hour.
As if this job itself was not enough of a privilege, I also had the benefit of earning a doctorate in history for free—a perk of UA employment. For about six years, I crossed over and helped the great people at the University of Alabama Press publish history books. Then, there were the unforgettable years of partnering with some of Alabama’s finest people to plan for and carry out the biggest bicentennial in US history. I never imagined I would have my name embedded in a plaque in Montgomery’s Bicentennial Legacy Park, but it is there. This was my job!
Truly, it was our job. The Alabama Heritage team, past and present, were and are dedicated to bringing the stories of Alabama alive. I won’t begin to name everyone, but I am deeply grateful to Suzanne Wolfe, the magazine’s founding editor. And I cannot imagine having gone through this growth experience without the strong support, guidance, and talent of now-retired marketing manager Sara Martin, customer service coordinator Cindy Sanford, and creative director Robin McDonald, who were all there from my first day on the job. And still with us are three amazing women I am proud to have hired during my tenure. Editor Susan Reynolds and consulting editor Elizabeth Wade are the brilliant minds behind the content you enjoy so much. [Title tbd] Rebecca Minder is the tireless talent behind our marketing and digital media. And there are so many others who have a hand in our work—our proofreaders, writers, department editors, corporate sponsors, board members, and Friends of Alabama Heritage. There are the archives and museums who provide information and images.
I thank our copublishers. The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History have been the foundation beneath us for decades. And UA has been the best employer I could ask for. Without them, there would be no us.
And finally, and most importantly, I thank you. I had this brilliant segment of my life, this dream job, because you are probably the mostly loyal magazine subscriber base in the country. I ask you to continue to be that for Alabama Heritage, because undoubtedly, with the team I’m leaving behind, the best things are ahead.
Now, as I prepare to retire to my porch, let me echo what I've said to many a retiring historian: We never really retire. I’ll have my laptop on my shady front porch at Fort McClellan. I’ll research. I’ll write. History, in any of its many and varied forms, will always be my job. A dream job.
I wish you all the best, and thank you with all my heart,
Donna Cox Baker
I found myself rather starstruck in those early days. I recognized the names of callers on my phone as the Alabama historians whose books had long lined my shelves at home. Katherine Braund, George Rable, Wayne Flynt, Leah Atkins, Guy Hubbs, Larry Clayton—scholars I had always mistakenly imagined to be an inaccessible ivory-tower club—became my colleagues, and soon, my friends.
History-loving people around the state began to invite me to wonderful places. I remember my first photo shoot with Robin McDonald at the Ava Maria Grotto in Cullman. (He said he let editors come along to carry his bags, and I did.) I went to historic sites, libraries, archives, museums, and many places most people rarely see around this state for my job. Every article became an exploration into a past that never runs out of fascinating stories.
I will never forget developing what remains my favorite article: Phil Beidler’s The Lost Battalion of the Ia Drang. This robust Vietnam piece told the story of the ambush of a group of men sent to rescue the beleaguered troops memorialized in the movie We Were Soldiers. We had the privilege of working with Gen. Hal Moore and photojournalist Joe Galloway, who were played by Mel Gibson and Barry Pepper in the movie. In preparing the article, I had a naïve idea that I wanted a picture of every Alabama soldier who died in that action—and our boys were ten percent of the casualties that day. I had no idea how hard it would be to find family members of men who had died forty years earlier—men whose parents had passed and spouses had remarried. But when I did find the families of eight of the fifteen and told them their departed soldier was going to be honored in the magazine, it was worth every hour.
As if this job itself was not enough of a privilege, I also had the benefit of earning a doctorate in history for free—a perk of UA employment. For about six years, I crossed over and helped the great people at the University of Alabama Press publish history books. Then, there were the unforgettable years of partnering with some of Alabama’s finest people to plan for and carry out the biggest bicentennial in US history. I never imagined I would have my name embedded in a plaque in Montgomery’s Bicentennial Legacy Park, but it is there. This was my job!
Truly, it was our job. The Alabama Heritage team, past and present, were and are dedicated to bringing the stories of Alabama alive. I won’t begin to name everyone, but I am deeply grateful to Suzanne Wolfe, the magazine’s founding editor. And I cannot imagine having gone through this growth experience without the strong support, guidance, and talent of now-retired marketing manager Sara Martin, customer service coordinator Cindy Sanford, and creative director Robin McDonald, who were all there from my first day on the job. And still with us are three amazing women I am proud to have hired during my tenure. Editor Susan Reynolds and consulting editor Elizabeth Wade are the brilliant minds behind the content you enjoy so much. [Title tbd] Rebecca Minder is the tireless talent behind our marketing and digital media. And there are so many others who have a hand in our work—our proofreaders, writers, department editors, corporate sponsors, board members, and Friends of Alabama Heritage. There are the archives and museums who provide information and images.
I thank our copublishers. The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History have been the foundation beneath us for decades. And UA has been the best employer I could ask for. Without them, there would be no us.
And finally, and most importantly, I thank you. I had this brilliant segment of my life, this dream job, because you are probably the mostly loyal magazine subscriber base in the country. I ask you to continue to be that for Alabama Heritage, because undoubtedly, with the team I’m leaving behind, the best things are ahead.
Now, as I prepare to retire to my porch, let me echo what I've said to many a retiring historian: We never really retire. I’ll have my laptop on my shady front porch at Fort McClellan. I’ll research. I’ll write. History, in any of its many and varied forms, will always be my job. A dream job.
I wish you all the best, and thank you with all my heart,
Donna Cox Baker
