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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Taft, Philip, 1902-1976

Research Notes on Alabama Labor History, 1902-1977

ID: AR49

Phillip Taft taught at Brown University and was one of the founders of the journal Labor History. This collection contains research notes for Taft’s book Organizing Dixie: Alabama Workers in the Industrial Era (1981). The notes relate to a variety of individuals and organizations including the Alabama State Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations, Alabama Labor Council and the National Labor Relations Board.

Size: 4 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Tardy, Anne Southerne

Scrapbook, 1936-1937

ID: AR481

Anne Southern Tardy was an active member of many local organizations including the Birmingham Art Club, the Colonial Dames of America, and the Birmingham Branch of the National League of American Pen Women in which she served as an officer. Her Sun Through Window Shutters (1935) is a compilation of her poems published in various magazines and newspapers. Tardy died in Birmingham in 1934. This scrapbook contains of newspaper clippings documenting the celebration of National Poetry Week in Birmingham.

Size: 1 volume

Collection Guide Available: No

Taylor, Elberta

“The Story of Birmingham”: A Series of Newspaper Articles, 1940s

ID: AR993

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Taylor, John Harry

Papers, 1903-1942

ID: AR589

John Harry Taylor was born in Tallassee (Elmore County), Alabama in 1876. His family relocated to Birmingham when Taylor was eight year old. As an adult Taylor worked for various abstract companies in Birmingham before co-founding Thompson and Taylor Real Estate and Loan Company in 1908. He was elected to the Birmingham City Commission in 1917 and served as Commissioner of Public Safety until 1921. Taylor was elected to the commission again in 1925 and reelected in 1929. He was defeated in a bid for fourth term in 1933. After leaving the city commission Taylor returned to the real estate business and later served as a member of the Jefferson County Board of Equalization, the county agency that oversees the appraisal of property. John H. Taylor died in Birmingham in 1958. The papers contain correspondence, campaign literature, real estate and insurance documents, and other material relating to Taylor’s life and career in politics and business.

Size: ½ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Temple Beth-El, Birmingham

Records, 1908-1972

ID: AR1794

Seceding from K'nesseth Israel, the congregation of Beth-El was formed in 1907. After 20 years, a temple was constructed on Highland Avenue in Birmingham. Temple Beth-EL is described as a Conservative Jewish congregation with a progressive viewpoint. By 1951, Beth-El was the largest Jewish congregation in Alabama. In 1958 the Ku Klux Klan attempted to bomb the temple, but the bomb was discovered and disarmed before it exploded. This collection contains the temple constitution and by-laws, minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings, correspondence, yearbooks and programs from the Temple Sisterhood, and correspondence and clippings relating to the attempted bombing.

Size: ⅓ linear foot (2 boxes)

Collection Guide Available: No

Temple Emanu-el

Records, 1887-2000

ID: AR796

Temple Emanu-El was established in 1882 as Birmingham’s first synagogue and the congregation constructed a temple on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 17th Street, North in 1889. A new temple was completed on Highland Avenue in 1908. The records of Temple Emanu-El include Board of Trustees/Board of Directors minutes, annual reports, scrapbooks, membership and confirmation records, cemetery records, financial documents, Temple history files, publications, records of Temple organizations and officers and architectural drawings.

Size: 74 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company

Bayview Lake Photographs

ID: AR1401

This collection includes photographs of the Jefferson County Sewage Disposal Plant and architectural information for the Central Water Works and the Village Creek Pumping Station.

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company

Photographic Albums, 1909-1943

ID: AR445

The photographs in these albums chronicle the construction of the United States Steel Fairfield Works and show other T. C. I. installations in the Birmingham area.

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Land Department

Coal Mines Photographs

ID: AR1370

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: No

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Social Science Department

Spring Festival Programs, 1920-1930

ID: AR1585

This collection contains Spring Festival Programs, from 1920 to1930.

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Department of Social Sciences. Division of Physical and Athletics

Physical Education Outlines, 1931-1932

ID: AR1695

This collection, one bound volume, contains typescripts of lesson plans, outlines for skits, and other material for teachers in TCI’s physical education program for children.

Size: ½ linear foot (1 box)

Collection Guide Available: No

Tichenor, Isaac Taylor

Diary, 1850-1903

ID: AR140

Issac Tichenor was a prominent Alabama Baptist minister who served as president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Auburn (now Auburn University) from 1872 to 1882 and as corresponding secretary of the Baptist Home Mission Board from 1882 to 1900.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Collection Guide Available: No

Toulmin, Priestley

Papers, 1887-1923

ID: AR1542

Priestly Toulmin served as chief engineer for the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company and president of the Lehigh Coal Company. The collection includes correspondence, reports on industrial development in the Birmingham area and other material.

Size: 2 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

Trinity Episcopal Church, West End at Birmingham

Records, 1948-1958

ID: AR1402

The Trinity Episcopal Church records contain business receipts for the years 1954 through 1958. Also included are property and insurance documents, yearly budgets and financial reports and a small amount of miscellaneous correspondence. Additional records for this parish are found in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama Records (AR 1046).

Size: 1 box

Collection Guide Available: Yes (online)

Tynes, Hazel

Papers, 1900s

ID: AR755

This collection contains correspondence, yearbooks and unidentified family photographs. A large portion of the collection deals with Tynes’ life at Belmont College.

Size: 7 boxes

Collection Guide Available: Yes

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