Overview
This page lists digital collections related to University history, divided chronologically into the following sections:
- Antebellum & Civil War: 1830s-1860s
- Reconstruction & Military Discipline: 1870s-1890s
- Co-eds & Wartime: 1900s-1940s
- GI Bill & Desegregation: 1950s-1970s
Some useful general sources spanning these periods are listed at the bottom of the page. Others are listed in multiple sections, where they would be the most useful.
General Sources
- CorollaYearbook. Published 1893-2014. All digitized and online.
- University of Alabama photograph collectionAbout 5000 images of campus life, the bulk from the 1870s-1970s.
- University of Alabama presidential portraits26 images, Alva Woods (1831-1837) through Guy Bailey (2012).
Antebellum & Civil War: 1830s-1860s
The University opened in 1831. In 1860, it transitioned to military discipline, which it continued during the Civil War (1861-1865), when it served as a training ground for future Confederate soldiers. In April 1865, most of campus was burned by the Union army. Only four buildings survived: the President's Mansion, the Gorgas House (known as Steward's Hall), the Round House, and the Observatory (now Maxwell Hall).
- University of Alabama catalogueContains academic information, including faculty, courses, facilities, etc. Currently, the only items digitized are from 1833 to 1860.
- A Register of the officers and students of The University of Alabama, 1831-1901Information on students includes date of birth, residence, parents, military service, occupation, marriage, and date of death.
- Early University of Alabama administrative recordsContains most of the early extant records of The University of Alabama. Currently the only materials digitized are receipts related to the use of enslaved labor on campus.
- Manly family papersIncludes the diaries of Basil Manly Sr., the second president of UA, which report on day to day life on campus.
- Dominique Doux Fiquet photograph albumContains 26 images of students, mostly from the 1859 class. It also contains the oldest known photograph of the campus.
- Archibald McLauchlin papersDiaries of an 1850s UA student.
Reconstruction & Military Discipline: 1870s-1890s
After its destruction during the Civil War and the building of Woods Hall in 1867, the University re-opened in 1871. It was still under military discipline, which would not end until around the turn of the twentieth century. Several more buildings had been added to the campus in the 1880s, all at the north side of the modern Quad: Manly, Clark, Garland, Tuomey, and Oliver-Barnard Halls.
- A Register of the officers and students of The University of Alabama, 1831-1901Information on students includes date of birth, residence, parents, military service, occupation, marriage, and date of death.
- Alice and Algernon Sydney Garnett lettersLetters written by a UA professor and his wife, 1870s.
- George L. Byram photograph albumContains 26 images of students, 1879-1881. At this time, the school was under military discipline and students were part of the Alabama Corps of Cadets.
- Josiah and Amelia Gorgas family papersJosiah was president of UA 1878-1879. He and Amelia both served as University Librarian.
- Henry De Lamar Clayton Sr. papersClayton was president of UA 1886-1889.
- Eugene Allen Smith collectionPhotos of campus and Tuscaloosa. Smith was a professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at UA 1870s-1910s as well as State Geologist.
- Hill Ferguson papersFerguson was a student at UA in the 1890s.
Co-eds & Wartime: 1900s-1940s
By the early twentieth century, the school was fully co-ed, though women would be subject to different academic standards and rules for decades to come. All of the remaining buildings flanking the Quad were built during this time, the yellow brick structures in the late 1900s-1910s and most of the rest in the 1920s. During WWI, some students left campus to serve in the military, and campus was used for training exercises. During WWII, the scale of both student service and campus use for training was much greater.
- Eugene Allen Smith collectionPhotos of campus and Tuscaloosa. Smith was a professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at UA 1870s-1910s as well as State Geologist.
- Hill Ferguson papersFerguson was a trustee of UA during the 1910s-1950s.
- Natalie Thornton photographic albumThornton was a UA student in the 1900s. Scenes include the 1908 Boat Race on the Warrior River, the 1908 UA Girls' Tennis Club, a tree planting by the 1908 Senior Class and construction of the Smith Museum.
- James Harry Cowan photograph scrapbookCowan was a UA student in the 1910s. Scenes include University athletes and sporting events, pre game activities in front of Woods Hall, in Birmingham and Rickwood Park. Also contains newspaper clippings and memorabilia.
- Daphne Cunningham diariesCunningham was a UA student in the 1910s.
- Walter Bryan Jones photographsJones was a UA student in the 1910s. He remained connected to the UA campus from the 1920s-1950s as State Geologist and director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
- Huston family papersGeorge Waring Huston was a UA student in the 1910s. He left the University to fight in WWI, where he was killed in 1918. (Collection contains materials from both periods.)
- Rammer JammerStudent humor magazine, 1923-1956.
- George Nichols photographic collectionNichols was a UA student in the 1940s. Scenes include family, fraternity parties, and construction of a homecoming float.
- Fins and FlippersMagazine of British Royal Air Force pilots training at the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics, 1941-1942.
GI Bill & Desegregation: 1950s-1970s
As a more socioeconomically diverse group of students entered American colleges due to the G.I. Bill, this period also saw the desegregation of institutions of higher learning in the South. The first attempt to integrate UA was in 1956; integration was finally accomplished in 1963. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the campus saw a wave of protest activity regarding the Vietnam War, civil rights, and women's rights.
- Crimson-WhiteStudent newspaper. Published 1894-present. The following dates are digitized and online: Sept. 1950-May 1953, Sept. 1955-Aug. 1968, Sept. 1970-Aug. 1974.
- MahoutStudent humor magazine, 1956-1967. Successor to Rammer Jammer.
- FarragoStudent humor magazine, 1967-1971. Successor to Mahout.
- Peyton Norvell Wiggins papersWiggins was a UA student in the 1950s, and he went on to serve in the U.S. Army. (Collections contains materials from both periods.)
- Donn Sanford photographsPhotographs of the first African American student admitted to UA, Autherine Lucy, enrolling February 1956.
- James William Oakley Jr. photographsPhotographs of protests related to the enrollment of African American student Autherine Lucy at UA in 1956.
- University of Alabama Army ROTC scrapbooks27 scrapbooks of UA's ROTC program, 1953-1982. In addition to holding photographs of cadets, sponsors, and professors, the scrapbooks document activities such as commissioning ceremonies, training excursions, and balls.
- Jefferson J. Coleman photo collectionColeman was UA's Director of Alumni Affairs. Scenes include football games, athletic banquets and other sporting events, the Coleman family, Joe Namath, Paul Bryant, and the Delta Chi fraternity. Most photos are 1950s-1980s.
- Educational Media photo collectionPhotos from the early to mid 1960s, with scenes including homecoming activities, basketball and football games, beauty pageants, fraternity and sorority activities, coach Hank Crisp, coach Paul Bryant, president Rose on President's Day 1964, demonstrations against Wallace, 1966 Robert F. Kennedy's visit, Lady Bird Johnson at the University, Lurleen Wallace at the University for Governors Day, and department faculty members.