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.

The Collections

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Labor Unions in Alabama

Scrapbooks, 1920-1971

ID: AR457

These scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings relating to labor unions and labor activities in Alabama.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

Lackey, Leila

Scrapbook, 1914-1916

ID: AR1923

A resident of the Avondale neighborhood, Leila Lackey was a 1916 graduate of Birmingham’s Central High School. This “School Friendship Book” contains notes from classmates, invitations and other correspondence, photographs and memorabilia relating to Lackey’s time in high school.

Size: ½ linear foot (1 flat box)

Collection Guide Available: No

Lakeview Hotel

Records, 1887-1888

ID: AR845

The Lakeview Hotel was a lake resort located on the site that is now the Highland Park Golf Course. It offered visitors a hotel that was removed from the smoke and heat of downtown Birmingham, dance pavilions and boat rides. This collection contains a guest register, time book, day book and cash book.

Size: 4 flat boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Lakeview School

Manuscript, 1901-1958

ID: AR454

This typescript history of Lakeview School was produced by the Research Department of the Birmingham Board of Education.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

Langum Charitable Trust

Records

ID: AR2170

The Langum Charitable Trust is a private operating charitable foundation that awards book and media prizes and makes travel to collections grants. David J. Langum Sr. founded The Langum Initiative for Historical Literature in 2001, which became the Langum Charitable Trust. The Trust seeks to reward and encourage books that make the rich history of America, from the Colonial period to the present, accessible to the educated general public. One prize is in American historical fiction and another is in American legal history. Lastly, the Mallott prize encourages media description and recording of local activism. This facilitates the public’s understanding of community based social, political, and environmental activism.

Size: 4 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

League of American Pen Women. Birmingham Branch

Records, 1936-1980

ID: AR224

This collection contains organizational files, yearbooks, correspondence and other records.

Size: 1 linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

League of Woman Voters of Greater Birmingham, Alabama

Assorted Correspondence, 1921-1932, 1937, 1939, 1946-1950

ID: AR557

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

League of Woman Voters of Greater Birmingham., Alabama

Records, 1952-1976

ID: AR51

This collection includes by-laws, annual reports, correspondence, minutes of meetings, membership lists, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, posters, scrapbooks and financial reports. The collection includes material relating to a Citizens’ Conference on the Alabama Constitution and efforts to repeal the poll tax.

Size: 18½ linear feet (9 boxes)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

LeGrand, Duard

Papers, 1936 and 1968-1979

ID: AR331

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Letitia Club

Records, 1942-1974

ID: AR209

This collection contains minutes of meetings, treasurer’s reports and club history scrapbooks.

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Lincoln School

"The Story of Birmingham" Scrapbook, 1940-1941

ID: AR1715

This scrapbook was compiled by “Lincoln School Library Pupils” in 1940 and “revised” in 1941 and contains clippings of a series of Birmingham Post newspaper articles entitled “The Story of Birmingham” by Elberta Taylor. The articles discuss various well-known events and people in the city’s history, and the students have added hand-written lessons relating to the articles.

Size: 1 linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: No

Little Theater

Photographs and Programs of Productions, 1927-1942

ID: AR876

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Lizzie

Autograph Book, 1886-1890

ID: AR956

This typical late 19th century autograph book was the property of a young woman identified only as “Lizzie.” The book contains autographs and comments from friends of Lizzie, who may have lived in Birmingham or Talladega, Alabama.

Size: 1 volume

Collection Guide Available: No

London, Edith Ward and Family

Papers, 1881-1961

ID: AR96

Born in Birmingham in 1881, Edith Ward London was the daughter of Thomas Ward, an early Birmingham industrialist. London was an avid reader and writer, and in her papers she chronicles her childhood, family life, her poor health, social activities, literary aspirations, religious beliefs, her travels in the United States and abroad, her opinions on literature and the events of her day. Edith Ward grew up near the Birmingham Rolling Mill where her father was a manager. After marrying John London in 1901, Edith resided briefly in Ensley, but most of her life was spent in the Southside neighborhood of Birmingham. The Londons had one child, John London III (Jack). In addition to pursuing her interest in writing, Edith was a member of the Nineteenth Century Club, the Birmingham Camera Club and the Birmingham Amateur Movie Association, for which she wrote movie scripts. She was an active, and sometimes questioning, member of St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church. Edith London died in Birmingham in 1933. In addition to correspondence this collection includes examples of Edith Ward London’s poetry, short stories, religious writings, essays, and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks are typical of the kind kept by women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and include photographs, clippings, dance cards, calling cards, poetry, pencil drawings, dried flowers, letters, and greeting cards. The collection also includes material relating to Edith’s husband and son, including correspondence, newspaper clippings, educational records, photographs, and material relating to the Birmingham Amateur Movie Association. The two volumes of Edith’s diaries included in this collection are extensive typed excerpts that provide a detailed chronicle of the life of an upper middle class girl and woman. The location of the original diaries is not known. The bulk of the material in this collection covers the 1880s to the 1930s.

Size: 4 linear feet, 1 reel, 9 flat boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Loulie Compton Seminary

Records, 1900-1943

ID: AR93

The Loulie Compton Seminary was a Birmingham private school. The records include annual catalogs of classes for the period 1909 to 1924; Seminary Blue Books, the school’s literary publication, for 1905 to 1908; yearbooks for 1921 to 1928; student grade reports for 1900 to 1943; and miscellaneous report cards, commencement programs, alumni luncheon programs and class plays.

Size: 9 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

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