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Alabama. Board of Inspectors of Convicts. Administrative correspondence, 1881-1897.

Title: Administrative correspondence, 1881-1897.

Administrative correspondence documents the administration of a department or division, and tends to deal with matters that have an impact on the program areas that the department or division is mandated to carry out. This series consists of the administrative correspondence of the Board of Inspectors of Convicts and its predecessor agency, the Board of Inspectors of the Penitentiary, between 1881 and 1897. The bulk of the series covers the years from 1883 to 1897 when Reginald Heber Dawson served as president of the board. The series consists of eighteen volumes: five letterbooks containing letters to the board and thirteen letterpress copybooks containing letters from the board. Most volumes are individually indexed. The letterbooks containing incoming letters are extremely fragile. The majority of the series consists of reports to Dawson from Inspectors W. D. Lee and A. T. Henley concerning their inspections of conditions of prisons, mines and farms where prisoners were leased; classification and medical reports from prison physicians Shirley Bragg and Russell M. Cunningham; and reports from prison chaplain Evan Nicholson. A significant amount of correspondence deals with personal and political matters of concern to Dawson, particularly the gubernatorial aspirations of himself and his brother, N. H. R. Dawson. Other correspondents include: Ala. Governors Rufus Wills Cobb, Edward Asbury O'Neal, Thomas Seay and Thomas Goode Jones; State Democratic Executive Committee members Henry Clay Tompkins, Edmund W. Pettus and Tennent Lomax; Ala. Penitentiary Warden and later U. S. Representative John H. Bankhead, and prison reformer Julia Strudwick Tutwiler.

ArchivalResource: 3.5 cubic ft. (18 volumes contained in 1 oversized box, 2 records center cartons, and 2 microfilm cases).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122381526 View

Alabama. Governor (1882-1886 : E.A. O'Neal). Appointments files, 1882-1886.

Title: Appointments files, 1882-1886.

The governor of Ala. is responsible for making appointments to various state and local offices and for signing grants and commissions. This series consists of letters and petitions relating to appointments, appointment recommendations, and resignations. The main state-appointed positions, for which petitions and letters of recommendations were sent to the governor, are watchman of the capitol building and grounds, Ordnance Sergeant of the Ala. troops, and Inspectors of the Penitentiary (also referred to as Inspector of Convicts). In 1885, the title "Board of Inspectors of the Penitentiary" was legislatively changed to "Board of Inspectors of Convicts." Another position for which petitions and letters were sent is for the office of judge of the seventh judicial circuit of Ala. Some of the letters are to or from William C. Oates, J.L. Pugh, prison inspector J.H. Judkins, the governor's private secretary Robert McKee, attorney J.G. Harris, and former Governor Rufus Wills Cobb. Also included are letters about Rufus Wills Cobb, J.H. Judkins, and J.G. Harris. The letter from Robert McKee is a recommendation for Dr. Henry J. Winn of Birmingham to be appointed to the position of Superintendent of Convicts. The letters from and about Rufus Wills Cobb pertain to his appointment as judge of the seventh judicial circuit of Ala. The oversized folder contains the appointment of James W. Lapsley to the office of agent of the State of Ala. within the Republic of Mexico, ordering him to return Isaac H. Vincent to Ala.

ArchivalResource: 10 folders.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122557809 View

Alabama. Governor (1857-1861 : A.B. Moore). Military correspondence, 1860-1861.

Title: Military correspondence, 1860-1861.

This series consists of Gov. A.B. Moore's military correspondence from 1860 to 1861, containing correspondence, reports, legislative acts and resolutions, financial statements, receipts, and petitions. An act approved 1860 Feb. to "provide for the efficient military organization of the state" greatly expanded the Governor's military authority. The act established a Military Commission composed of the Governor, Adjutant and Inspector General, and Quartermaster General, and provided for a volunteer corps of eight thousand men. Much of the correspondence is from volunteer companies which after organizing and electing officers, sought the Governor's official recognition in order to draw pay and receive equipment. Also included is correspondence from county sheriffs and judges of probate in compliance with a law requiring them to locate and collect state-owned military equipment which had fallen into private hands. A great deal of correspondence concerns James R. Powell's efforts to purchase arms for the state in Washington, D.C., Richmond, Va., New York, N.Y., New Haven, Ct., and Chickapee, Mass. One of the most frequent correpondents is Duff C. Green, Moore's Quartermaster General. Topics discussed by them include the occupation by Ala. troops of the U.S. Army Arsenal at Mt. Vernon, and the capture of Forts Morgan and Gaines. Included is a copy of a letter by Moore to U.S. President James Buchanan in which Moore offers an explanation for the occupation of the Mt. Vernon Arsenal. Also included is correspondence between Moore and Fla. Gov. M.S. Perry, concerning the use of Ala. troops to aid in the capture and occupation of U.S. forts near Pensacola, Fla. Present also is correspondence with members of the government of the Confederate States of America, such as Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, C.G. Memminger, L.P. Walker, and Thomas Hill Watts; with military officials such as Braxton Bragg and Tennent Lomax; with Ala. business leaders such as Daniel Pratt and Josiah Morris; and with state political leaders such as William Brooks, A.B. Meek, George S. Houston, Jeremiah Clemens, Edmund W. Pettus, Percy Walker, George Goldthwaite, and Rufus W. Cobb. Of particular interest is a group of letters forwarded to Moore 1861 July and Aug. from sheriffs, judges, and private citizens concerning public demonstrations of pro-Union sentiment by many people in Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Blount counties. As evidence of sedition are several letters from "Unionists" and "Lincoln men" who attempted to dissuade their friends and relatives from supporting the Confederate war effort.

ArchivalResource: Originals: 0.5 cubic ft. (1 archives box).Copies: 2 microfilm reels.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/81455638 View

Moren, Edward H. (Edward Hawthorne), 1825-1886. Papers, 1841-1887.

Title: Papers, 1841-1887.

Papers, 1841-1887 and n.d., including genealogical records, a journal (notebook), letters, postcards, a photograph, accounts, receipts, contracts, notes (bookkeeping), a resolution, admission cards, notices, announcements, political matter, circulars, printed matter, and other types of records. The most important series in this collection is the one composed of letters. That series is particularly rich and descriptive in discussing the U.S. Civil War, and the Reconstruction and Redemption periods in Ala. history. The political problems caused by railroad development is covered very well, as is the economic status of Alabamians after the Civil War. There are some letters from former slaves of Moren that are of interest. The financial records are detailed and informative.

ArchivalResource: .4 cubic ft. (2 archives containers).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122586716 View