Archives & Manuscripts: Guide to the Collections

The collections of the Birmingham Public Library Archives contain more than 400,000 photographs and 30,000,000 documents, including government records, business records, maps, letters, diaries, scrapbooks and architectural drawings.

American Civil War

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The Collections

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Avery Family

Papers, 1835-1903 and 1960

ID: AR75

Daniel Avery Humphry and his family were residents of Tuscaloosa, Alabama from 1852 until 1868. Avery was the junior partner in the firm of Leach and Avery, an agricultural supply business involved primarily in the operation of a foundry for making plows. Federal troops destroyed the facilities of Leach and Avery during the raid on Tuscaloosa in April 1865. The partners attempted to rebuild, but Avery died in December 1866. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to a claim filed by Julia Avery to secure reparations for damages to her husband’s property. The remainder of the collection includes letters from Daniel Avery to his brother-in-law, Richard Morgan, discussing his travels to sell plows in 1847 and 1849. There are also two letters dated 1879 to Julia Avery from Rose “Avery,” a former family servant which refer to mutual acquaintances in Tuscaloosa.

Size: ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Boyd, Alexander

Papers, 1856-1870

ID: AR14

Alexander Boyd was a small landowner in Union, Green County, Alabama who emigrated with his family to Arkansas shortly before the start of the Civil War. During the Reconstruction era, Boyd cooperated with occupying Union forces and was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. These papers consist of letters written to Boyd, both in Alabama and Arkansas, by members of his family. The letters include discussions of slavery, courtship and marriage, farming, illnesses and remedies and Reconstruction.

Size: ½ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Buell-Ellsberry Family

Papers, 1937-1978 & Letters 1864-1866,

ID: AR190

This collection includes letters from John P. Elsberry, written during his service in the Confederate army in Virginia and genealogical information on the Buell family.

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Cedar Grove Plantation

Papers, 1833-1964

ID: AR390

This collection contains personal and business correspondence and other material relating to the Walker and allied families associated with Cedar Grove Plantation in Marengo County, Alabama.

Size: 2 reels microfilm

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Civil War Collection

Miscellaneous Documents, 1860-1865

ID: AR283

This is a miscellaneous collection compiled by the staff of the Archives. The collection includes letters written by Confederate soldiers, posters, Confederate bonds, a diary, a muster roll and other material.

Size: 5 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Clark, John

Correspondence, 1862-1864

ID: AR1405

John Clark immigrated from Ireland to Mississippi in 1851. During the Civil War he served in Company F, 16th Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers and died in 1864. This collection includes a portion of Clark’s service record and copes of six letters that Clark wrote home from Virginia in 1862.

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Clarke, William Edward

Reminiscence, 1896

ID: AR1055

This collection contains a typescript of an autobiographical reminiscence written by William Clarke, a Marengo County lawyer during the 19th century. Of particular interest is Clarke’s account of his participation in Alabama’s 1861 secession convention.

Size: ⅛ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: No

Clarken, Matthew

Civil War Diary, 1859-1863

ID: AR403

This diary contains class notes and other jottings, including material relating to military events in Tennessee during the Civil War and an account of the Battle of Vicksburg.

Size: 1 flat box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Confederate Submarine "Hunley"

Scrapbook

ID: AR1389

Newspaper clippings and other material compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department.

Size: 1 volume

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Dunn, R. E.

Civil War Diary and Company D Log Book, 1862-1864

ID: AR279

Dunn served in Company D, First Virginia Infantry Regiment. This collection contains a diary and log book, a letter from Dunn to his sister and other material.

Size: ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Early, Frank

Papers, 1861-1863

ID: AR174

This collection includes correspondence of H. F. Early for the period March 1861 to April 1863. One letter, written by M. F. Arness, includes a detailed description of the battlefield at First Bull Run. The papers also contain some material relating to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sybil Bergin.

Size: ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

English, George M.

Letters

ID: AR1238

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Faunsdale Plantation

Papers, 1840-1970

ID: AR765

In 1843 Thomas A. Harrison, a native of Virginia, traveled to Alabama accompanied by a party of slaves, and purchased the property in Marengo County that became Faunsdale Plantation. Harrison later sent for his new wife, Louisa Collins Harrison, a native of North Carolina. In 1844 the Harrisons had their only child, Louise Collins Harrison. Thomas A. Harrison died in 1857. Louisa managed Faunsdale and her late husband's estate until 1863 when she married William A. Stickney, a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and a native of Alabama. Stickney served in several parishes and ministered to the slaves and later freedmen at Faunsdale. Louisa died in 1896, William in 1907. The plantation remains in the family today. The collection contains extensive correspondence, diaries, photographs, financial records, slave records (including births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and harvest records) and other material documenting several generations of the family.

Size: 56 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Grace Family

Papers

ID: AR189

This collection of photocopied typescripts includes autobiographical and biographical material on Francis Mitchell Grace and Bayliss Earle Grace, both prominent figures in 19th century Jefferson County, Alabama. The collection also includes a number of historical writings by Francis Mitchell Grace, such as his recollections of the Civil War and his narrative “Jefferson County, Alabama, 1872.”

Size: ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Graham, Needham Alexander

Civil War Diary, 1861-1862

ID: AR504

Graham enlisted in Company H, 3rd Alabama Volunteers near Norfolk, Virginia in October 1861. He was involved in fighting at Malvern Hill, Seven Pines, The Wilderness and Chancellorsville, where he was wounded.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

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