Publication Date
12-6-2023
Abstract
This collection contains miscellaneous literary works by Alabama authors and biographical information about them. For the purposes of this collection, “Alabama author” can include those born in other states who published works while living in Alabama. Types of works include poetry, short stories, essays, articles, song lyrics, etc. In some cases brief biographies have been compiled or newspaper clippings are included with the works; with some only a bibliography and brief biographical information is provided. Some of this biographical information appears to have been compiled by Thomas J. Freeman, a Library department head, in his capacity as chairman of the Bibliographic Committee of the Alabama Library Association in the 1980s in preparation for the publication Twentieth Century Alabama Authors.
The bulk of the collection looks to have been solicited and compiled by Mae Pinson in the 1930s and early 1940s. Pinson was a State Normal School student who graduated prior to 1919. She went on to teach at Jacksonville High School and Anniston High School (English). According to correspondence, she, along with the Anniston High School librarian Willowdean Richardson, wrote authors and publishing houses requesting biographical information and copies of works by Alabama authors. She planned to both use these works in the classroom and publish an anthology of Alabama authors suitable for high school (eleventh grade) use. She also wrote other entities (e.g., Birmingham Public Library) seeking bibliographies and lists of local authors to use for units she was teaching.
The collection originated with works culled from the Library’s general vertical file. While some of the authors were affiliated with Jacksonville State as students or faculty, the majority were not. Brief biographical information for each author is included in the arrangement section below.
This collection may grow as other historical works (by local Alabama authors and/or JSU-affiliated individuals) are discovered/acquired.
Recommended Citation
Latham, Bethany, "Miscellaneous Literary Works by Alabama Authors: Finding Aid" (2023). Finding Aids. 35.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/lib_ac_findaid/35