Alabama Theatre
Opened on December 26, 1927, and certified as a national historic landmark
in 1979, the Alabama Theatre earned its nickname as the Showplace of the
South with movie premieres, stage productions, and architectural
extravagance. Among the images and text in this collection are photos of
the theatre in its heyday and the complete souvenir program for the gala
opening.
Birmingham Storm, March 25, 1901
Each year Birmingham braces for the threat of
violent weather. In 1901 a storm of unprecedented magnitude ripped through
town leveling buildings and taking lives. This 26-page souvenir pamphlet
from 1901 provides eyewitness testimony, estimates of damage, and
photographs of the wreckage.
Birmingham Terminal (Ala.)
In 1909 Birmingham erected the most extensive train station built in the
South at the time and in the 1970s demolished it. An article from a 1909
issue of American Architect and photographs through the years
provide a picture of the building from its promising beginning to its
demolition.
Buildings in Birmingham
These images depict some of Birmingham’s
prominent historic landmarks, pop culture palaces, businesses, churches,
government buildings, and gathering spaces. While some of these structures
have survived to the present, others are only memories. These photos form
a composite portrait of the city over time.
Business districts in Birmingham
The Birmingham business district once
flourished downtown near the intersection of 20th Street and 1st
Avenue North. In this collection are scenes of the commercial buildings
and businesses that lined the downtown grid of streets, images of the
historic black business district that prospered in the era of Jim Crow,
and early photos of emerging commercial districts outside of the city
center.
Businessmen in Birmingham
These historic portraits show the faces of men
whose names may be more familiar. These individuals were the builders of
industry, banking, and commerce in the early days of Birmingham. Today
their names remain on businesses, institutions, buildings, parks, and
streets.
East Lake pamphlet advertising the new
Birmingham suburb in the 1890s.
The East Lake Land Company issued this 31-page
pamphlet in 1890 to promote East Lake, a suburban community developed just
five miles from the center of Birmingham. Text and engraved images
describe the advantages of suburban living east of town and far from the
grime and grit of the furnaces in the west.
Eastwood Mall
When Eastwood Mall opened its doors in 1960,
newspapers hailed it the city of the future. It was the first
indoor, air-conditioned shopping center in Alabama with shops,
restaurants, a theater, and even sidewalks under one roof. This collection
illustrates in articles, photographs, and links to additional resources
the development and decline of Eastwood Mall.
Gee's
Bend
Before their stunning quilts became a national treasure, the people
of Gee’s Bend shared a unique history and culture that was cultivated in
isolation over time. From the early 1800s until WWII, the remote community
was secluded in a deep bend of the Alabama River in rural Wilcox County.
Gradual changes after the war accelerated in the 1960s, and in 1980-81,
the Birmingham Public Library undertook a project to preserve the record
of Gee’s Bend in photographs, recordings, and oral histories. This digital
collection includes some of the 450 images that photographer John Reese
captured for the exhibit Looking Back at Gee’s Bend.
Indians of North America engravings by
Theodore de Bry
In the sixteenth century Theodore De Bry
produced engravings to convey his impressions of the New World to the Old.
This collection of images represents a portion of the library’s complete
set of the prints that were included in De Bry’s monumental work Grand
Voyages and that are the subject of the BPL publication
Discovering
America’s Southeast.
Movie Theaters
Once upon a time movie theaters brought the glitter of
Hollywood
to towns and cities all across the country. For most Americans, “going
to a show” was a special occasion. Ushers lit the way to the seats, news
and cartoons preceded the feature film, and audiences mingled in the
lobby to see and be seen during the intermission. As this collection
shows, Birmingham’s old
theaters ranged in elegance and style. To their audiences, all of them
were worth the price of admission.
Old Homes in Birmingham
Photos from the early 20th century show some
of the grand homes of Birmingham in their prime. Descriptions from the
1910 city directory provide names and occupations of the homeowners and
the addresses and street names of the period.
Rucker Agee Map Collection
The
Rucker Agee Map Collection, named to honor the original benefactor, contains regional and historical maps and atlases from the 16th
through the 20th centuries. While the emphasis of the
collection is on the area of the globe occupied by Alabama, the historic
maps retrace the development of the region over centuries and illustrate
the evolution of mapmaking. Featured in this online collection are many
of the library’s notable and important maps.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Bombing (Birmingham, Ala.)
On September 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Sixteenth Street
Baptist Church and killed four little girls. These powerful images show
the immediate and widespread destruction of the tragedy and heartbreak
that inspired a movement. Sixteenth Street Baptist Church is located at
the intersection of 16th Street and 6th Avenue North.
Street railroads in Birmingham
Before cars and gasoline became kings of the
road, Birmingham’s street railroads moved the masses. These images show
the road and rail network in the early 1900s and the business and power
sources that ran them.
Vulcan
The cast-iron statue of Vulcan, a mythological
symbol of fire and forge, overlooks Birmingham from Red Mountain in Vulcan
Park. At 56 feet high, it is the largest cast-iron statue in the world and
the second largest statue in America. Commissioned by the Commercial Club
for the St. Louis Exposition of 1904, sculpted by Italian sculptor
Giuseppe Moretti, and cast in a Birmingham foundry, Vulcan symbolizes the
city’s ties to iron, steel, and coal. After a four-year restoration
project, Vulcan reopened in 2004.
Women artists of Birmingham
This collection includes photos of artwork and
pictures of a group of women artists who challenged the status quo of the
first half of the 20th century. The images come from the
library’s extensive collection of photographs and memorabilia. Additional
information on these extraordinary women is in
Art of the New South:
Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1950by Vicki Leigh Ingham.
