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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National American Woman Suffrage Association

Handbook and Proceedings,16th-48th meeting*

ID: AR148

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Alabama Files, 1940-1955

ID: AR501

These files contain correspondence and other material between the national NAACP office and various Alabama branches. The bulk of the correspondence relates to the issuing of branch charters and membership. Some files also contain small amounts of material relating to race relations in Birmingham and other areas of Alabama.

Size: 3 reels microfilm

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Birmingham Files, 1951-1955

ID: AR502

These files contain correspondence and other material between the national NAACP office and the Birmingham branch office. The bulk of the correspondence relates to the renewal of memberships, membership campaigns and the financial difficulties of the branch. Some files also contain small amounts of material relating to race relations in Birmingham. Earlier material from the Birmingham branch can be found in the NAACP Alabama Files.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Papers of: The Scottsboro Case, 1931-1950

ID: AR1438

Size: 5 reels microfilm

Collection Guide Available: Yes

National Conference of Christians and Jews, Alabama Region

Office Records, 1950-1970

ID: AR567

Size: 10 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Partial

National League of American Pen Women

Records and Publications, 1932-1946

ID: AR1395

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

National Organization for Women, Birmingham Chapter

Records, 1970-1981

ID: AR229

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

National Poetry Week

Scrapbook

ID: AR470

This Scrapbook, compiled by the Birmingham Poetry Club, contains undated newspaper clippings and radio schedules relating to the celebration of National Poetry Week in Birmingham.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

Neves Family

Papers, 1857-1878

ID: AR105

This collection contains photocopies of letters written by members of the Neves family, most written during the Civil War.

Size: ¼ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Newfield, Mayer

Papers, 1950-1973

ID: AR1268

Mayer Newfield was a Birmingham attorney and an active member of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. He was elected to the ADL National Commission in 1959 and was a member of the Birmingham Jewish Community Council. This collection contains correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings and other material that Newfield collected as an official of ADL and the Community Council. Subject areas covered by this material include anti-Semitism, the Civil Rights Movement, the radical right and white supremacists, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Size: 1¾ linear feet, 1 flat box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Newfield, Morris

Papers, 1868-1954

ID: AR817

Morris Newfield was born in Hungary in 1868. In 1894, Newfield immigrated to the United States and attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. A year later he was ordained a rabbi and accepted duties at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Alabama where he remained until his death in 1940. Newfield was a leader of social and religious reform in Birmingham. He founded an interfaith council to improve relations between Christians and Jews, supervised the Jewish Welfare Board, founded the Alabama Conference of Human Relations and the Birmingham chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Newfield served as a professor of Hebrew at Birmingham's Howard College (now Samford University) and as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The collection contains letters relating to Morris Newfield's career as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, including correspondence between Newfield and other religious leaders in the South relating to social issues. Also included are some of Newfield's sermons, sermon notes, financial documents, military records and newspaper clippings.

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Newman, Henry H. "Zipp"

Papers, 1920-1976.

ID: AR388

Henry “Zipp” Newman was a sports writer and editor for the Birmingham News and author of the books The House of Barons: Record of the barons since 1900 (1948), 50 Years of Professional Baseball in Alabama (1950) and The Impact of Southern Football (1969). This collection includes correspondence, newspaper articles, photographs and other material relating to Newman and sports in Alabama.

Size: 2¼ linear feet, (2 flat boxes)

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Nickel, Katrine

Girl Scouts Scrapbook, 1948

ID: AR544

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

Nineteenth Century Club of Birmingham

Records, 1895-

ID: AR228

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Nineteenth Century Club of Birmingham

Yearbooks, 1896-

ID: AR1150

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

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