Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Jones Valley High School Yearbooks

Jones Valley High School Yearbooks
Thanks to the kind generosity of Mr. Bob Roper who donated scanned images of 40 Jones Valley High School yearbooks, we have been able to index and make these yearbooks available as part of BPL's Digital Collections database.

Enjoy!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween from the Birmingham Jaycees

In 1977 Mayor David Vann received a spooky surprise when characters from the Birmingham Jaycees haunted house showed up at his weekly press conference.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Woodlawn newspaper articles added

Newspaper article about Woodlawn Thirty-four newspaper articles about the Woodlawn community were recently added to the BPL Digital Collections database.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Birmingham newspapers 1874-1887 available online

Birmingham Iron Age homepage
Birmingham's oldest microfilmed newspapers, The Birmingham Iron Age (1874-1884) and The Weekly Iron Age (1884-1887) are now available online in Birmingham Public Library's Digital Collection.


The Birmingham Iron Age began publication on February 12, 1874 when the city of Birmingham, Alabama was only 26 months old. The original publishers were Duval, Roberts and Persinger but during the early years ownership changed many times. On May 1, 1884 the name of the weekly newspaper was changed to The Weekly Iron Age.

The digital images in this collection were scanned from microfilm copies owned by the Birmingham Public Library.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Birmingham Magazine February 1916

Cover Art The Birmingham Magazine published by the Chamber of Commerce for February 1916 is now available online.

Table of Contents
Regulation of Birmingham Rates Through the Use of the Warrior River by J. T. Slatter p. 9
Benefits of Electricity to Birmingham Manufacturers by W. E. Mitchell p. 14
Birmingham's Office by T P. Hay, Jr. p. 15
Uniform Cost Methods by Charles Neville by p. 17
Birmingham The City of Lights by Frank Hammond p. 19
Editorial Comment p. 20
Business Men's League Notes by Sam H. Fowlkes p. 22
Woman Suffrage by Mrs. Oscar R. Hundley p. 23
The Phenomenal Growth of Birmingham by Robert N. Waldrop p. 25
Jefferson County—Its Road Problems by George H. Clark p. 27
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce p. 29
National Highways by Alma Rittenberry p. 31
The Birmingham Ad Club by H. D. Cullen p. 33
A Rich Mine by Emily Van Dorn Miller p. 35
Agricultural Notes p. 37
Without Malice But Without Compromise by the Editor and Publisher and the Journalist p. 41
Get Together, Stay Together; Then Advertise by E. B. Beason p. 45
Old Negro Songs of the South by Alma Rittenberry p. 47
What, the Press and Our Friends Think of Us p. 49
Palmistry by The DeBrooks p. 51
Interesting Statistics on the Country's Motor Car Industry by Alfred Reeves p. 52
Who's Who in Business Birmingham p. 53
Business Men, Firms and Corporations of Birmingham p. 57
Proceedings of the City Commission p. 65
Information p. 2

Glen Iris and Southside neighborhoods

Several newspaper articles about the Glen Iris and Southside neighborhoods have been added to the Digital Collections database.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Birmingham Magazine January 1916

The Birmingham Magazine published by the Chamber of Commerce for January 1916 is now available online.

Table of Contents
The Panama Canal and the Birmingham District C. M. Evans p. 9
What Concrete Has Done for Civilization P. E. Chalifoux p. 11
Bessemer Canal vs. Armor Plant W. P. Gunn p. 13
The Building Manager of Today T. P. Hay, Jr. p. 14
Some Business Blunders Franklin H. Tonsmeire p. 15
Business Men's League Items Sam H. Fowlkes p. 17
Editorial Comment p. 18
Woman Suffrage at the Alabama State Fair Mrs. Oscar R. Hundley p. 20
Library Talk Carl Milam p. 22
Good Roads and Highways Alma Rittenberry p. 25
New Phase of the Convict Question George H. Clark p. 27
Industries for Birmingham William Blanks Everett p. 30
The Birmingham District E. B. Beason p. 31
The Birmingham Ad Club H. D. Cullen p. 32
The Distributing Powers of Birmingham and Their Restricted Use J. P. Slatter p. 33
Agricultural Notes: Controlling Anthrax p.34
Sales of Old Products by Publicity Edward M. Hager p. 36
Woman of Today Maye Teressa Holder p. 36
Proceedings of the City Commission p. 51
The New Birmingham Chamber of Commerce p. 61
Palmistry DeBrooks p. 71
Information p. 4

Clayton Park

Clayton Park Monument credit: Birmingham Post Herald 11/10/1952
Newspaper articles about the creation and dedication of Clayton Park (1951-1952) were recently added to the Digital Collection.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

La Paree photographs added

Detail of the La Paree Cafe Photograph BPL Archives Accession Number 22-36-2-10-5
Three photographs of the exterior and interior of the 2013 5th Avenue North building that the La Paree restaurant occupied for many years have been added to the collection.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Photographs Added March 28

Photographs featuring President Roosevelt visiting Fairfield, street scenes, streetcars, libraries and more. Click here to view all the new photographs.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Photographs Added February 21

Consolidated Dairies
Photographs of Consolidated Dairies, East Lake Atheneum, Florence Hotel, Rosenberger's Birmingham Trunk Factory, Capitol Theatre, Galax Theatre, and Strand Theatre were recently added. To view the photographs click here.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Margaret Allen School 1915

The 1915 yearbook for the Margaret Allen School was recently added to the online database.


School girls standing

"'A day in June' is an almost every-day affair in Birmingham, there is nothing at all rare about it. What about a day in February when it snows? Ah, that is rare indeed! So rare is it, that last year none of us who were ten, or twelve, or maybe fourteen, had ever seen snow that "stayed on the ground." And one of us, older than that, whose home was in Florida, had never even seen a snow fall! Is it any wonder that we ran eagerly to school to know what the others thought of it? So hurriedly did we come, and so unused were we to this experience, that we came in oxfords and without sign of overshoes, causing many wise and disapproving looks from the teachers, and much following up, by parents, with things that go with snows.

The "grown-ups," realizing at once that there was much fun in store for us out of doors; because they had seen one or two real snows in Alabama, gave us a half-holiday. They knew that we would be too old and too big to play in the next one. This is a picture of a crowd of the happiest of us, taken on the roof garden. The roof garden has been the scene of many good times in the sunshine, but only once have we stood on it with our feet deep buried in snow." ~ page 45

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Photographs Added

Photographs depicting the Birmingham Gun Club, Redmont Tire Company, women's suffrage, Henley School, Tutwiler Hotel, Fairfield Theatre, Royal Theatre, and the 1893 Avondale Croquet Club were recently added. Click here to view the images.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Barker School newspaper stories online

Barker School on fire
Newspaper articles about Barker School are now available online. Most of the articles cover the 1941 fire that destroyed the school.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Powell School Items Added

Newspaper article
Newspaper articles and a typewritten letter about Powell School have been added to the Digital Collections database. Click here to view.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

227 Photographs Of Birmingham From 1923

Roebuck Country and Auto Club
Over 200 photographs covering a wide-range of topics were published in 1923 as photographic plates in a nine-part portfolio titled Art Work of Birmingham, Ala. This entire work has been digitized and added to Birmingham Public Library's Digital Collections database. Photographs included in the portfolio depict parks, homes, businesses, hospitals, schools and churches. To see all nine parts click here.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Eleanor Roosevelt Program 1938, Birmingham, AL.

Eleanor RooseveltThe sixteen page program of Eleanor Roosevelt's lecture visit to Birmingham, Alabama is available online. Almost all of the content is made up of advertisements. Roosevelt's presentation was held in Birmingham's Auditorium and the title of her lecture was "The Individual's Relationship to the Community".

Birmingham Public Library Reports Online

Several years of reports by the Birmingham Public Library (Alabama) are available online.

1934-1937
1937-1947
1947-1953
50th Anniversary (1960)
1977-1987

Friday, January 11, 2008

George Ward For Sheriff In 1910

The 48 page pamphlet published in 1910 by Birmingham Mayor George Ward titled George Ward Made A Business Mayor, George Ward Will Make A Business Sheriff, Help Him Win has been digitized and is available online. There is much statistical and historical information about Birmingham featured in this work. As George Ward states on the back cover of his pamphlet:


"The primary object in sending out this little book is, of course, to present to the people of Jefferson County whatever claims and qualifications I may have for the office of Sheriff. By way of atonement, however, for inflicting so much matter, purely personal, on their attention, there is also set forth much interesting data concerning the County Government, its voting strength, duties of Sheriff, Etc., Etc. It is hoped this information will prove of enough permanent value, and in form sufficiently attractive, to justify its being preserved for future use."

Click here to view this pamphlet.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Ensley High School Yearbooks


The 1917, 1923, and 1924 Ensley High School yearbooks are available online and are full-text searchable. Click here to browse through the three annuals.