ALABAMA LIBRARIES PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I: A CHRONOLOGY IN PROGRESS
A.J. Wright Department of Anesthesiology Library
School of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Chronology
This chronology covers events in Alabama history related to books, reading and libraries before World War I. No claim of comprehensiveness is made. Additions/corrections are welcome. Under perpetual construction.
1540 July Spanish explorer Hernando deSoto and his expedition enter what is now Alabama; among their supplies are some books. All the books are burned in the battle of Maubila, October 18, 1540
1786 Don Juan Pedro Eon, cure and abbe of the district of Mobile, dies. The inventory of his estate reveals a private library of eighty-one books.
1807 September A political pamphlet is published at Wakefield; this item is the first known printing in what is now Alabama.
1817 Public library movement begins in Huntsville.
1818 December 10 William Atwood purchases two shares of stock in the Huntsville Library Company. Certificates list Thomas G. Percy as President and Robert Fearn as Treasurer.
1819 During the assembly called to form the State of Alabama, James G. Birney gives notice that he will ask to incorporate the Huntsville Library Company.
1820s Cahaba Female Academy is established early in this decade and includes a library.
1821 Green Academy is founded in Huntsville and exists until destroyed during the Civil War. The Cliosophic Society at the school develops a library.
1822 First books published in Alabama.
1823 Huntsville Library Company chartered by state legislature. Members: Thomas Fearn, Smauel Hazard, John Boardman, James G. Birney, George Fearn, Miles S. Watkins, Henry Minor and Thomas Brandon.
1828 The State Law Library is founded in Montgomery and has 14,000 volumes by 1874.
1829 Spring Hill College library opens and has 5000 items by 1876.
1829 Huntsville Female Seminary library founded; 3000 volumes are collected by 1876.
1831 University of Alabama library founded in Tuscaloosa and has 4000 volumes by 1876.
1835 Marion Female Seminary library founded and has 1000 volumes by 1876.
1835 Franklin Society Reading Room and LIbrary, a subscription institution, is founded in Mobile and has 3670 volumes by 1876. <
1835-6 Alabama Institute of Literature and Industry at Marion, a Baptist school, applies most of its students' farm labor earnings to library purchases.
1836 Judson Female Institute library is founded and collects 3000 volumes by 1876.
1838 A catalog of the University of Alabama library collection is compiled by Richard Furman.
1841 Centenary Institute at Summerfield opens a library that has 1000 items by 1876.
1841 Howard College at Marion founds a library that has 1000 volumes by 1876
1847 Greene Springs School library is founded and has 2500 volumes by 1876.
1848 A catalog of the University of Alabama library is compiled by W.G. Richardson "on the plan of the Brown University catalog".
1849 Library begun at Wetumpka State Prison after reformer Dorothea Dix visits and donates books.
1850 Tuscaloosa Female College library founded and has 1200 volumes by 1876.
1850 March 4 The steamboat Orline St. John burns and sinks on the Alabama River in Wilcox County. On board was a book salesman and his stock.
1851 Alabama Historical Society is founded; the 1876 library report notes that the Society's 250 volume-library was donated to the University of Alabama.
1852 Synodical Female Collegiate Intitute library in Talladega is founded and collects 300 volumes by 1876.
1853 Huntsville Female College library founded and has 575 volumes by 1876.
1854 February 15 First public school act passes Alabama legislature.
1855 Alabama Conference Female College library founded at Tuskegee and has 300 volumes by 1876.
1855 Florence Synodical Female College library founded and has 2500 volumes by 1876.
1859 A sixteen page catalog of the Alabama Supreme Court Library is published.
1859 Southern University at Greensboro library founded and collects 2000 volumes by 1876.
1860 Medical College of Alabama library founded in Mobile and has 500 volumes by 1876.
1860 Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind in Talladega begins a library that has 300 volumes in 1876.
1861 Columbian Institute, a mostly-male academy founded at Taylorville in Tuscaloosa County. The school includes a room dedicated to a library.
1865 April University of Alabama library is burned by raiding Federal troops; only about 1200 volumes survive.
1869 The Law Library of Mobile is founded and grows to 3000 volumes by 1876.
1870 March 1 Huntsville Literary Debating Society is formed and includes a library for its members.
1871 University of Alabama is reorganized and rebuilding of library is begun.
1873 Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama in Auburn opens a library that has 1720 volumes three years later.
1873 State Normal School library at Florence opens and has 1000 volumes in 1876.
1873 (ca.) Collecting of books for the Alabama Geological Survey Library begins.
1873 (ca.) Alabama Historical Society establishes a library and archives, which are later donated to the University of Alabama library.
1874 Hamner Hall School for Boys founded in Montgomery and has 500 books in 1876.
1875 Talladega College library opens and has 300 volumes when surveyed the following year.
1875 (ca.) Park High School in Tuskegee opens a library that has 400 volumes in 1876.
1875 (ca.) Society library at Greene Springs founded and has 1500 volumes in 1876.
1875 (ca.) YMCA library in Selma founded and has 600 volumes by 1876.
1875 (ca.) Two society libraries founded in Marion and have 800 volumes by 1876.
1875 (ca.) Two society libraries in Greensboro have 1500 volumes by 1876.
1875 (ca.) The 1876 library report notes that society libraries at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama have a combined total of 2500 volumes.
1875 (ca.) A society library founded at Gainesville has 700 volumes by 1876.
1878 Benjamin H. Riggs, outgoing secretary of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, turns over to his successor T.A. Means 400 volumes of the society's library; by 1888 this figure had grown to more than 4000 and was in possession of the State Health Officer in Montgomery.
1882 Junius M. Riggs, librarian for the Alabama Supreme Court Library, publishes a catalog of the collection.
1882 Biennial report of the Alabama Insane Hospital describes the workings of the patient library, which has a printed catalog. The librarian is described as "one of our most intelligent patients".
1883 Amelia Gayle Gorgas becomes director of the library at the University of Alabama and serves in that post until 1906.
1884 Birmingham Library Association founded. Raised funds through personal contributions and promotion of baseball games and within a year had accumulated 805 volumes. Collection was soon donated to the local school system and the association dissolved.
1885 Birmingham forms a public school system.
1886 (ca.) Louisa Dodson Holmes establishes a library and reading room for school children in her house in Hayneville. Holmes was the local school teacher.
1886 Law library established at the University of Alabama
1888 Jefferson County forms a public school system.
1889 Bessemer forms public school system.
1890 Library operated by Order of Railroad Conductors, Montgomery.
1890 (ca.) Dr. John H. Phillips, Birmingham Superintendent of Schools, establishes a library for teachers and students at the city's white high school using the book collection from the Birmingham Library Association.
1890s Morgan County's first library, Cotaco Circulating Library, founded. Located in water works office, the library sold shares for $2.00 each, which entitled shareholders to check out books for a year and vote in the association.
1891 Highland Book Club founded in Birmingham.
1891 Library at Birmigham's white high school designated as Birmingham Public Library and opened to subscriptions. By 1899 this library has 6228 volumes and expenditures of $491.97
1891 June Huntsville Circulating Library formed and located until August in Murray and Smith's Book Store. Library is then moved to the YMCA on Eustis Street. Mrs. V.A. Betts is librarian.
1892 Second annual report of the Selma City School Board is published and contains the catalog of the Dallas Male and Female Academy library. The Dallas Academy had been transformed into a Selma public school by act of the Alabama legislature on December 10, 1890.
1893 Helen Keller Library in Tuscumbia opens as result of efforts of the Helen Keller Library and Literary Association, organized in 1892. Library opens with 940 books and had 2000
by 1896. In early years the library opens two hours each Saturday morning, with members serving unpaid terms as librarians.
1893 Thomas McAdory Owen's collection of Alabama-related materials numbers over 2000 titles by this date. His collection--of unknown size--burns in 1906.
1893 Etta Matthews appointed librarian of the Huntsville Circulating Library. Conrad O'Shaughnessy is secretary- treasurer of the governing body. Membership in the library is $1.00 per year.
1894 Selma Library Association is formed. Small library financed by dues and donations opens in 1895. Eventually this library totals some 600 volumes which served as nucleus of the Carnegie library which opened in 1903 and which contained 3500 volumes by 1920.
1894 Public library formed in Fairhope.
1894 City Literary Club is founded in Cullman.
1894 September Ladies Lyceum established in Union Springs, Alabama, in order to devlop a public library.
1895 (ca.) The Southern Library Club in Florence is formed by a group of women; the organization includes a small library.
1895 Anniston public library association, headed by Howard W. Sexton, places a collection of books in Lloyd's Drug Store.
1895 Huntsville Circulating Library moves from YMCA on Eustis Street to the Gordon Building on Franklin Street.
1895 Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs is formed and begins effort to gain public and private support for libraries
1895 April 1-3 Benefit balls are held for the Huntsville Circulating Library
1896 February Subscription library opens in Union Springs; membership fee is $2.00 per year. Collection of 332 books is classified, arranged and cataloged by Mollie Norman.
1897 spring Thursday Study Club is organized in Gadsden. This women's organization's efforts eventually leads to the dedication of a Carnegie library for the city in December l906.
1898 First gift from Andrew Carnegie to a town in Alabama. By 1920 Carnegie had donated over $195,000 in the state.
1898 November 3 Library for blacks in Birmingham opens in the Slater School. Collection contains 1100 volumes. Teachers could use it freely, but others were charged $2.00.
1899 Federation of Women's Clubs establishes a collection of about 25 bound volumes and 15 magazines to be circulated to any women's club requesting it. Transportation charge is one dollar and the collection can remain 3-4 months. By 1901 there are 12 of these libraries going to churches, schools, towns, etc. in addition to clubs. In 1903 the Alabama Educational Association Library Committee begins to find schools where these libraries can be used.
1900 Public library founded in Dothan.
1900 Alabama Department of Education's Division of School Community Organization issues first "Library List for Elementary Schools" which appeared annually until about 1930.
1901 March 2 Alabama Department of Archives and History is organized by legislative act of February 27. A reference library will develop as a part of the activities of the department.
1901 (ca.) One of the initial large gifts to the Alabama State Department of Archives and History is the 2500-piece library of J.L.M. Curry, donated by his heirs.
1902 Public library founded in Birmingham.
1903 Alabama Educational Association forms a Library Committee, which will draw up bills to present to the legislature, help organize libraries, etc.
1903 Carnegie library opens in Selma.
1904 State Superintendent of Education begins support of the school library movement by announcing that schools cannot adequately perform their function without good libraries.
1904 Thomas Owen attempts to count libraries in the state in non-educaitonal institutions.
1904 November 21 First annual meeting of the Alabama Library Association takes place in Montgomery
1905 Public library founded in Decatur.
1905 Alabama Library Association offers to assume responsibility for the Federation of Women's Clubs travelling libraries, and more than 1700 books, 9 bookcases and $9.81 were turned over to the Association.
1905 Thirty-seven out of sixty-seven counties have no school libraries; one in fifty schools in the state have a library of any kind.
1905 Mollie Norman reorganizes Union Springs subscription library according to the Dewey system.
1905 Public library founded in Livingston.
1905 State Superintendent of Education begins annual survey of libraries in educational institutions.
1905 Carnegie library organized in Decatur.
1906 Public library founded in Talladega.
1906 December 20 Gadsden Carnegie library dedicated.
1907 First serious consideration of library legislation by the state legislature results in the Library Act of 1907, which establishes the principle of state support for library services by authorizing and financing the Library Extension Divsion of the Department of Archives and History. This division was to operate a system of travelling libraries for the entire state. These mobile libraries would consist of 25- 35 books sent to rural communities and schools for a period of up to four months; shipping and transportation costs were to be paid by recipients. Establishment of school and public libraries was to be encouraged and assisted, and a summer course in library instruction instituted.
1907 Survey of libraries not in public schools reveals that 90 such libraries exist in 53 municipalities; all but 22 were connected with educational institutions and seven were for blacks.
1907 Alabama State Department of Archives and History organizes a reference service for state legislators.
1907 Public library founded in Dadeville.
1908 Public library founded in Bessemer.
1908 Alabama Educational Association declares that every child has a right to access to good books.
1908 First of three summer schools for library training organized by Thomas Owen. A total of 20 students were trained at their own expense during these three summers.
1908 Ladies Lyceum of Union Springs transfers control of its subscription library to the newly-chartered Union Springs Library Association.
1909 Alabama Teachers' and Young People's Reading Circle is formed.
1909 April Union Springs Library Association petitions the city council for an annual appropriation to support its library's operating expenses. Council agrees to appropriate $1000 per year if a $10,000 building can be constructed to house a public library.
1909 October 1 Birmingham Public Library becomes a truely public, free library.
1909 November 4 Library Day in the public schools of Alabama.
1910 Union Springs Library Association makes initial contact with the Carnegie library program.
1910 November Union Springs Library Association elects its first paid librarian--Mollie Norman. In February 1912 she issues her first annual report, noting that the library has 1200 volumes, is open five days a week for two hours per day and has circulated more than 1400 volumes on 199 borrower cards. Ms. Norman has three young ladies as unpaid apprentices.
1911 Rural School Library Law first proposed in 1907, is passed by Alabama legislature. Law provides for financial constributions from school districts, county and state for operation of public libraries. Amended in 1919. In 1911 468 white school libraries held 83,152 volumes and 47 libraries in black schools held 3723 books out of a total of 6566 public schools in the state. By 1919 2135 white school libraries held 215,346 books and 131 black school libraries held 12,095 in 6459 public schools.
1913 Carl Milam accepts position of director, Birmingham Public Library, where he remains until late 1919.
1913 November 7 First meeting of the Carnegie Library Board in Huntsville is held.
1914 Public library is founded in Robertsdale.
1915 Legislature passes act requiring libraries to submit to Director of the State Department of Archives and History any information he may request.
1916 Survey indicates that fourteen of 125 high schools in the state had no library and most that did held under 100 books.
1916 February 29 Huntsville Carnegie Library opens to public.
1917 Birmingham Public Library director Carl Milam is instrumental in creating libraries in military training camps in Alabama.
1918 October 9 Booker T. Washington Branch Library for blacks opens in Birmingham.
1918 City of Birmingham asked to gather 5000 books for distribution to soldiers; people gather 26,000.
1919 Library Act of 1919 permitted counties and municipalities to establish and operate free public libraries with tax monies under certain restrictions.
1920 Fairfield forms Board of Education for public school system.
1920 University of Alabama George Ketchum Medical Library is moved, along with the medical school, from Mobile to Tuscaloosa.