Faunsdale Plantation

Papers, 1805-1975

(AR 765)

In 1843 Thomas A. Harrison, a native of Virginia, traveled to Alabama accompanied by a party of slaves, and purchased the property in Marengo County that became Faunsdale Plantation. Harrison later sent for his new wife, Louisa Collins Harrison, a native of North Carolina. In 1844 the Harrisons had their only child, Louise Collins Harrison. Thomas A. Harrison died in 1857. Louisa managed Faunsdale and her late husband's estate until 1863 when she married William A. Stickney, a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and a native of Alabama. Stickney served in several parishes and ministered to the slaves and later freedmen at Faunsdale. Louisa died in 1896, William in 1907. The plantation remains in the family today. The collection contains extensive correspondence, diaries, photographs, financial records, slave records and other material documenting several generations of the family. The papers include a significant amount of material relating to Episcopal parishes in Alabama and the relationships between Episcopalians and African American slaves.

Federation of Women’s Missionary Societies of Birmingham

Minutes, 1911-1923

(AR 277)

This volume contains minutes of the semi-annual and occasional meetings of the General Board of the Federation. The group included representatives of missionary societies from the Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopal and Christian denominations.

Size: 1 volume

Grace Episcopal Church, Woodlawn at Birmingham

Records, 1905-1998

(AR 1654)

Established as a mission in 1889 to minister to workers and their families from the nearby textile mills, foundries, and blast furnaces, Grace Episcopal Church has served a diverse community in Woodlawn and the Birmingham area for over 100 years. The collection includes minutes from vestry meetings and annual parish meetings, monthly treasury reports, correspondence, church bulletins, newsletters, membership directories, newspaper clippings and photographs. Financial documents detail several building programs, memorials, donations, and stewardship campaigns.

Size: 21 boxes

Historic American Buildings Survey. Alabama District

Photographs, 1930s

(AR 745)

This collection contains photographs of historic structures in Alabama, especially houses but also some churches and commercial buildings. The collection includes images of some Alabama Episcopal churches.

Size: 9 boxes

Jefferson County, Ala. Board of Equalization

Appraisal Files, 1939-1977

(AR 270)

The Board of Equalization is the agency that appraises property in Jefferson County, Alabama for purposes of taxation. Established in 1938, the BOE maintains files on each piece of taxable property in the county. The appraisal files contain basic information on structures (such as whether the structure is wood frame or brick, the type of roofing, heating, plumbing, number of rooms, size of structure) and the accessed value of the property for various years (but not every year). The files usually include an exterior photograph of the façade of the structure and sometimes date the structure. The structures appraised include residences, commercial and industrial buildings, schools, and churches. Some files include references for deeds and mortgages. Structures built before 1938 are included if they were still standing at the time of the Board of Equalization's first appraisal (generally 1938 to 1940). Structures built after the mid 1970s are not included in these files. The files do not include interior photographs, floor plans or other architectural drawings, names of architects, or detailed information on owners or occupants of a structure. In some cases files for demolished structures were discarded by the Board of Equalization before these files were transferred to the Archives Department in 1981. The files include several Episcopal churches located in Jefferson County.

Size: 1,500 boxes

Jemison, Robert, Jr.

Papers, 1900s-1960s

(AR 6.1)

Robert Jemison, Jr. was one of Birmingham’s most prominent and influential real estate developers of the twentieth century. Born in Tuscaloosa in 1878, Jemison attended the University of Alabama and the University of the South at Sewanee. In 1903 he organized the Jemison Real Estate and Insurance Company and would later organize more than a dozen additional companies. Jemison developed the industrial town of Corey (now Fairfield) as a model community for the United States Steel Corporation. During his long career he built developments for wealthy people and people of modest means, including Forest Park and Redmont in Birmingham and the suburb of Mountain Brook. He served as president of the Birmingham of Commerce and was an active vestry member at Birmingham’s Episcopal Church of the Advent. Jemison’s extensive papers include correspondence, clippings, publications, photographs and other material documenting in detail his personal and business life and his community activities.

Size: 154 boxes

London, Edith Ward and Family

Papers, 1881-1961

(AR 96)

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: 14 boxes

McDowell, William George

Papers, 1906-1938

(AR 1591)

William George McDowell served as the fifth Episcopal Bishop of Alabama. Born in 1882 in Lexington, Kentucky, McDowell was a graduate of Washington and Lee University and Virginia Theological Seminary. He served as rector of two parishes in Virginia and rector of Church of the Holy Innocents in Auburn, Alabama before being elected Bishop-Coadjutor in 1922. McDowell became Bishop of the diocese in 1928. He died March 20, 1938 in Mobile. The papers include correspondence relating to McDowell’s service as Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, a journal kept by McDowell for the years 1909-1918, photographs, newspaper clippings and a scrapbook of clippings about McDowell’s life and career.

Size: 2 boxes

Menschel, Joyce and Robert

Freedom Quilting Bee Files, 1966-1984

(AR 757)

The Freedom Quilting Bee was a cooperative begun in 1966 by a group of African American women in Wilcox County, Alabama. The cooperative produced quilts and other items that were sold in various stores nationwide and by direct mail. This collection includes correspondence, financial records and photographs relating to the Quilting Bee, the Selma Inter-Religious Project and the Cooperative League Fund.

Size: 3 boxes

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