Overton, Eleazor C.

Papers, 1963-1966

(AR 267)

Eleazor C. Overton, a local optometrist and native of Birmingham, was elected to the Birmingham City Council in 1963. He was instrumental in the founding of the Jefferson County Commission on Economic Opportunity and the Office of Economic Opportunity and in the establishment of the School of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The papers contain Overton’s official files and consist largely of correspondence, pamphlets, reports, and miscellaneous studies relating to the governance of the city. These papers cover a wide variety of topics including public safety, public improvements, taxation and municipal finances and, they provide an account of Birmingham's growth from 1963 through 1966.

Size: 8 boxes

Phillips, John Herbert

Correspondence, 1901-1906

(AR 242)

Phillips served as Birmingham’s first Superintendent of Education.

Size: 1 box

Red Mountain Museum

Records, 1970-1992

(AR 1253)

Opened in September 1977, the Red Mountain Museum was established by the City of Birmingham to promote the study of the sciences. The museum overlooked the Red Mountain Expressway cut, and its exhibits and programs highlighted the geology of the Birmingham area. In 1991, the Red Mountain Museum merged with Discovery Place to form Discovery 2000, and this facility planned the development of a science center in downtown Birmingham. That downtown facility, the McWane Center, opened in July 1998. This collection contains correspondence, financial data, publications, newspaper clipping files, and subject files on exhibits, programs, and the sciences.

Size: 8 boxes

Seibels, George C., Jr.

Papers, 1967-1975

(AR 263)

George G. Seibels, Jr., the first Republican Mayor of Birmingham, was born in 1912 in Coronado, California. He grew up in Virginia and graduated the University of Virginia with a degree in history in 1937. Seibels moved to Birmingham in 1938 to work in the insurance business. He was elected to the Birmingham City Council in 1963, served as Mayor of Birmingham from 1967 to 1975, and represented Jefferson County in the Alabama legislature from 1978 to 1990. George Seibels died in Birmingham in March 2000. The papers contain correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to Seibels’ four years as a member of the Birmingham City Council and his two terms as Mayor of Birmingham. A major emphasis within the City Council Correspondence is a study of African American police officers from other Southern states. A major emphasis within the Mayoral Correspondence is the Police Department files. Topics include the department’s shooting policy, police-community relations, and a wide range of intelligence files.

Size: 51 boxes

Seibels, George C., Jr.

Scrapbooks, 1967-1969

(AR 471)

Newspaper clippings relating to the first two year’s of Seibels’ term as mayor of Birmingham.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Taylor, John Harry

Papers, 1903-1942

(AR 589)

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: 1 box

Vann, David Johnson

Papers, 1959-1979

(AR 113)

Attorney David Vann served as a special assistant to Birmingham mayor Albert Boutwell and was elected to the Birmingham city council in 1971. He helped lead an unsuccessful campaign, known as "One Great City," to consolidate the city governments of Birmingham and its suburbs into a single countywide municipal government. Vann was elected mayor of Birmingham in 1975 and served one term, losing his bid for reelection to Richard Arrington, Jr. In 1980 Vann became a lobbyist and special council to Arrington, and served two terms as chair of the Birmingham Water Works and Sewer Board and was a founding board member of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This collection contains office files from David Vann's term as a member of the Birmingham, Alabama City Council (1970-1975) office files from Vann's term as mayor of Birmingham (1975-1979), and personal files covering the period 1959 to 1974. The collection is arranged into five series: city council correspondence; mayoral correspondence; reading files; reports, booklets, and pamphlets; and personal files. The files include material relating to the operation of the city government and departments (including extensive files on the police department), economic development, legislative reapportionment in Alabama and the One Great City campaign.

Size: 29 boxes

Waggoner, James T. “Jabbo”

Papers, 1954-1963

(AR 346)

Waggoner served as a member of the Birmingham City Commission from the late 1950s until the Commission was abolished in 1963.

Size: 7 boxes

Ward, George B.

Papers and Scrapbooks, 1908-1940

(AR 12)

Ward was elected to the Birmingham Board of Aldermen in 1899, elected mayor in 1904 and reelected in 1907. He lost a 1910 campaign for sheriff of Jefferson County but was elected president of the Birmingham City Commission in 1913. After losing his bid for reelection in 1917 to a candidate whose "True American" platform appealed to anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic elements of the electorate, Ward retired from politics. In 1925 he built a new home on Shades Mountain overlooking Birmingham. Called "Vestavia", Ward's house was modeled on the Roman Temple of the Vestal Virgins. Ward died in 1940, and is best remembered as the eccentric builder of Vestavia, but he was also a progressive urban reformer who as mayor oversaw the construction of libraries, playgrounds, parks, and community centers. He also improved government services to Birmingham's African American community. The papers contain correspondence, reports, and other material documenting Ward's service as president of the Birmingham City Commission and material relating to Ward's unsuccessful campaign for reelection in 1917. The papers also include biographical information on Ward, files on subjects of interest to him including music, flowers, birds, and local history, and a small body of correspondence from Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell. A 24-volume set of scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings relating to Ward's career, Birmingham history, and politics. A separate index to the scrapbooks is available in the Archives.

Woodlawn, Ala. Board of Aldermen

Minutes, Ordinances, and City Code, 1893-1909

(AR 1690)

Minutes of the Woodlawn, Alabama Board of Aldermen and ordinances passed by the board for the period May 8, 1893 to December 26, 1899, January 9, 1900 to July 13, 1903, July 14, 1903 to July 4, 1907, July 8, 1907 to December 30, 1909, and the city code and ordinances for the period February 7, 1895 to August 12, 1907 and undated. Woodlawn was annexed into the City of Birmingham.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Woodlawn, Ala. Fire Company

Minutes and By Laws, 1893-1896

(AR 1691)

Minutes and by laws of the Woodlawn, Alabama Fire Company (fire department) for the period August 17, 1893 to September 24, 1896.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

Wylam, Ala. Board of Aldermen

Minutes, Ordinances, and City Code, 1900-1909

(AR 1692)

Minutes of the Wylam, Alabama Board of Aldermen and ordinances passed by the board for the period September 17, 1900 to September 17, 1906 and

October 1, 1906 to January 5, 1909, the city code and ordinances for the period February 3, 1904 to May 21, 1906, and ordinances for the period August 6, 1906 to August 4, 1908. Wylam was annexed into the City of Birmingham.

Size: 1 reel microfilm

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