Prewitt, Perkins John, And Prewitt Family
Papers, 1882-1953

Perkins John Prewitt was born in 1892 in Batesville, Mississippi, the only child of Alice Wade and John Wesley Prewitt. The family moved to Bessemer, Alabama when Perkins was an infant, and John Prewitt died May 25, 1893 in a railroad accident. Alice Prewitt remained in Bessemer, opened a milliner's shop, and six years later married James Lyttle Nail, a Land Agent for the University of Alabama and a Jefferson County Commissioner.

After graduation from high school, Perkins Prewitt attended Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Mississippi State University), but due to financial difficulties he did not return for his senior year. Prewitt moved to Birmingham and at the age of 19 began working for The Birmingham Ledger newspaper as a cub reporter. In 1912 he worked at the St. Louis Globe Democrat. He then moved to Waycross, Georgia, and worked for the Waycross Morning Herald as well as the Waycross Saturday Night. Prewitt published the Waycross Saturday Night himself but only managed to produce six issues. He also worked at a variety of other newspapers including the Jacksonville Metropolis, the Atlanta Georgian, the Mobile Register, the Memphis News Scimitar, and The Montgomery Advertiser.

Prewitt served as City Editor of The Birmingham News from 1919-1925, taught journalism at Birmingham's Howard College (now Samford University), and was Director of the Birmingham Safety Council from 1925 until 1933. After 1933, the Birmingham Safety Council became a part of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Prewitt served on the Chamber of Commerce in the Convention and Tourism Division and in the Safety Council Division until 1946.

Perkins Prewitt died in Alabama in 1953.

Sources:

Bloomer, John W., " 'The Loafers' In Birmingham in the Twenties." The Alabama Review, Vol. XXX, No. 2 (April 1977).

Cunningham, Penelope Prewitt, The Fourth Estate: From the Writings of Perkins J. Prewitt. Birmingham: P. P. Cunningham, 1993.

Scope and Content:

This collection contains the personal correspondence and other papers of four generations of the family of Perkins J. Prewitt. The correspondence begins in 1892 with his maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather and ends with the correspondence of his daughter Penelope Prewitt Cunningham. The early letters are a good description of everyday life in Birmingham and Mentone, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida, and Mississippi at the turn of the century.

There are also extensive files from Prewitt’s work on The Birmingham Safety Council. These files relate to his work with the Hapi-Wapi Tribe, an organization concerned with informing children about safety issues. There are also broadcast scripts from the Hapi-Wapi radio program that aired for five years over the WAPI radio station (see files 207.7.1 through 207.7.23).

The diaries from 1919 through 1925 primarily list journalism assignments while Prewitt worked at The Birmingham News as City Editor. However, as a child, Penelope covered many of the pages with notes, drawings, and other items. (207.10.1 through 207.10.5)

File level finding aid available in the Archives.

Authors -- Alabama -- Birmingham.
Birmingham News -- History.
Birmingham Safety Council.
Cunningham, Penelope Prewitt.
Journalists -- Alabama.
Prewitt family.
Prewitt, Perkins John, 1892-1953.

Collection Number: 207

Size: 8 1/2 linear feet (11 boxes)

Restrictions: Standard preservation and copyright restrictions.

JB/4-27-00