World War II
(continued, page 2)
Koenig, Frederick G.
Short Stories and Poetry
(AR 1582)
Frederick Koenig was a
lawyer, manufacturing executive, and an active member
of the Birmingham business community. Born in 1915 in
Birmingham, Koenig earned a bachelor’s degree
from Birmingham-Southern College in 1935 and an LL.B.
from Harvard University in 1938. He worked as a lawyer
in Birmingham until he enlisted in the U.S. Infantry in
1942. Koenig returned to Birmingham in 1946 and worked
for Alabama By-Products, the company he remained with
for the rest of his life. He served on various boards
and as the director of the Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce. He died in Birmingham in 1978. This
collection contains a form rejection letter from The
New Yorker and one bound volume of typescripts of
stories and poetry relating to World War II entitled
“War Stories and Poems.” The stories were
probably written in the 1940s when Koenig was in the
Infantry and then working for the Tennessee Valley
Authority. At least one of the poems may have been
written while he was a student at Harvard in the late
1930s. None of the material is dated, but most of the
stories have return addresses. The stories and poems
are about espionage, love, and betrayal, and are
populated with handsome men in uniform and alluring
women either mourning a soldiers’ departure or
themselves agents in international intrigue.
Size: 1 volume and 1
file
May, Elizabeth Ann
Papers, 1935-1949
(AR 318)
These papers contain
brochures, correspondence, subject files, newspaper
clippings, scrapbooks and photographs relating to
May’s activities while President of the
Birmingham Business and Professional Women’s
Club. The collection also contains newspaper clippings,
correspondence and other material relating to the 1948
demonstration of Alabama’s first television
broadcast; National Business Women’s Week and
Woman of the Year for Birmingham; the cancellation of
the Freedom Train stop in Birmingham due to
controversies over racial segregation; the March of
Dimes campaign in Birmingham; and clippings on the role
of women on the home front during World War II.
Size: 1 box
Meshad, Floyd
World War II Scrapbooks, 1941-1943
(AR 254)
These three scrapbooks
contain clippings from Birmingham newspapers relating
to World War II.
Size: 1 reel microfilm
Perkins, Ruth and Herbert W.
Parker
Papers, 1939-1947
(AR 1915)
This collection contains
letters written to Ruth Perkins, a young woman residing
in the Birmingham, Alabama area in the late 1930s and
early 1940s. Perkins, whose full name was Mildred Ruth,
was born about 1922 and was the daughter of Oscar R.
and Luine O. Perkins. The letters are typical of those
written between family and friends of the time with
discussions of school, holidays, friends and relatives.
Five letters are from three servicemen, all from camps
in the United States. All three young men seem to have
been romantically involved with Ruth Perkins. The
collection also contains World War II era military
documents of Herbert W. Parker, a Birmingham area
resident. At the time of this writing, the relationship
between Perkins and Parker is unknown.
Size: 1 box
Walpole, Julia
United Service Organization (USO)
Photographs
(AR 875)
Photographs showing
World War II era servicemen enjoying the amenities
provided by the United Service Organization (USO) in
Birmingham.
Size: 51 photographs
World War II
Scrapbook, 1939-1940
(AR 846)
Size: 1 volume
World War II
Scrapbooks, 1939-1945
(AR 1212)
Newspaper clippings
compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public
Library’s Southern History Department. The
clippings are arranged by subject.
Size: 11 volumes
