Compare Constellations

Alabama. Governor (1943-1947 : Sparks). Administrative files, 1942-1947.

Title: Administrative files, 1942-1947.

The Governor is the chief executive of the state whose function is to administer the laws of the state. One of the activities used to accomplish this function is the administering of executive decisions and actions. This series consists of the administrative files of Governor Chauncey Sparks. It contains correspondence, reports, photographs, pamphlets, publications, and telegrams. The records consist of correspondence and other material regarding the activities of the numerous state departments and agencies. The bulk of the routine correspondence was handled by George Bliss Jones, secretary to the governor, and Mabel Amos, the governor's recording secretary. The files continue to document the programs established during the administration of Frank Dixon in response to the United States' entry in World War II. The Selective Service System files contain information on recruitment, draft boards, industry, defense programs, jobs, propaganda, rationing, and civilian defense. Among the groups and agencies represented in these files are: Office of Price Administration (OPA), Alabama Salvage Committee, and the State Defense Council. Race relations and labor strikes plagued the Sparks administration. These files contain correspondence and telegrams between Governor Sparks, Alabama congressional officers, and I.S. Rouzer, President of the Alabama Mining Institute. The coal miners' strikes of 1943 in Ozark and Birmingham, and the 1945 strike in Birmingham are documented along with a strike of Birmingham newspapers that also occurred in 1945. Race riots and segregation are well documented in the Sparks records. The files contain reports from investigators and law enforcement officers, correspondence from citizens across the nation, publications, and other material maintained by the governor and his staff regarding race relations in the state. The two incidents that aroused the greatest furor were the race riot at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Corporation in Mobile in 1943 May, and an order by the War Department to end segregation at Maxwell Field in Montgomery. Another incident of note was the investigation of Cleburne County Sheriff Ewell Norton regarding the arrest of two African American youths around Christmas 1944 and the extraordinarily high fines set for minor violations. The records of Governor Sparks also contain considerable information regarding the ongoing debate over freight rates. This issue continued to be the main topic of concern at the Southern Governors' Conference meetings. The administrative files also document the Alabama Department of Archives and History's acquisition in 1945 of a piece of oar that supposedly came from the C.S.S. Alabama. Notable correspondents with the governor in this series included: Senator John H. Bankhead, Frank Boykin, Henry S. Geismer (the Governor's representative in Washington, D.C.), George Grant, Senator Lister Hill, Sam Hobbs, Pete Jarman, Carter Manasco, and Joe Starnes.

ArchivalResource: 49 cubic ft. (48 records center cartons and 4 indexes card boxes).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122380860 View

Alabama. Governor (1939-1943 : Dixon). Appointment files, 1939-1942.

Title: Appointment files, 1939-1942.

The Governor is the chief executive of the state whose function is to administer the laws of the state. One of the activities used to accomplish this function is the appointing of individuals to various state and local offices and the signing of grants and commissions. This series consists of correspondence, telegrams, and applications relating to appointments, resignations and commissions for state and local government positions during the administration of Governor Frank Dixon. The series contains letters of recommendation and notices to the governor that a certain position is vacant. Most of the vacancies are due to the death or resignation of the officeholder. A few of the vacancies resulted when the officeholder was convicted or because the individual entered service in the armed forces. This series also contains the commission from the governor appointing the individual to a particular office. Of special interest is the file containing correspondence and telegrams regarding the death of William Bankhead. Dixon called a special election to fill Bankhead's seat in Congress. Copies of the proclamation certifying Carter Manasco's election as the U.S. Representative for the Seventh Congressional District of Alabama are also included.

ArchivalResource: 6.5 cubic ft. (7 records center cartons).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122508308 View

Alabama. Governor (1943-1947 : Sparks). Public relation files, 1943-1947.

Title: Public relation files, 1943-1947.

The Governor is the chief executive of the state whose function is to administer the laws of the state. One of the activities used to accomplish this function is the administering of greetings, congratulations, recommendations, and other responses to constituents, public officials, dignitaries, and citizens of other states seeking information or offering observations. This series consists of the public relations files of Governor Chauncey Sparks. It contains correspondence, telegrams, clippings, photographs, reports, and publications that document the governor's relations with constituents and correspondents from other states. The records also document the governor's interaction with governors of other states, Congressmen, the President of the United States, the vice-president, and other public officials and dignitaries. The files consist of greetings from the governor to visiting dignitaries, businessmen, and school groups. The governor also sent greetings and congratulatory messages to governors of other states and constituents celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, births of children, weddings, promotions, awards and honors, and numerous other special occasions. The files also contain letters from constituents asking for money for themselves or for fund raising projects. A large portion of these requests are for churches and church activities as well as numerous fraternal organizations. Included in the records are invitations to ribbon-cuttings, parades, and other organizational events, and requests for speaking engagements. There are letters from citizens requesting appointments to speak with the governor and requests for a recommendation from the governor for a job, promotion, scholarship, and many other situations. This series also contains correspondence pertaining to the governor's speeches and statements. The participation of Alabama's chief executive in the National Governors' Conference and the Southern Governors' Conference is also documented in this series. The files contain correspondence with governors from other states, programs for the meetings, and other general information regarding the conference. Some specific items of interest in the files of Governor Sparks include correspondence and itineraries relevant to visits to the state of Alabama by Lord Halifax, British Ambassador to the United States, in 1943 April; and Wendel Wilkie in 1943 June. The records also document the Governor's 1943 trip to Washington, D.C. This series contains information on and responses to several of Sparks' speaking engagements including his presentations at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.; Tuskegee Institute; and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Birmingham. Also of interest is the correspondence regarding Sparks' participation in the 1944 National Democratic Convention in Chicago and Democratic Party issues and activities in general. The majority of this correspondence was handled by Sparks' secretary, George Bliss Jones.

ArchivalResource: 9 cubic ft. (9 records center cartons).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122352783 View

Manasco, Carter, b.1902. Letters, 1940.

Title: Letters, 1940.

Letters, 1940, of sympathy written to Manasco on the occasion of Bankhead's death in 1940.

ArchivalResource: 1 folder.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122538428 View

Crow, Charles B. (Charles Brandon), 1897-1955. Papers, 1920-1949.

Title: Papers, 1920-1949.

Papers, 1920-1949, that contain correspondence, letters, telegrams, financial records, estate records, applications, subject files, military records, lists, photographs, clippings, printed records, licenses, and other records. The most important series in this collection are the correspondence and letters, the subject files, and the patronage, political. In all of those series the political career of John H. Bankhead (1872-1946), and to a lesser extent, Lister Hill and Hugo L. Black are discussed. U.S. and Ala. politics receive much attention, especially the New Deal, unemployment, and the search for jobs through the patronage system. Aspects of the New Deal covered especially well include farm tenancy and the Farm Security Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the court packing scheme of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the National Labor Relations Board. Ala. subjects and political subjects covered especially well include: the beginning of radio station WSGN, U.S. political patronage in Ala., the grooming of Jim Simpson to unseat John H. Bankhead (1872-1946) in 1942, the campaign of William B. Bankhead for the presidency, 1940; and a plan to create the Ala. Medical College in Birmingham. Race relations in the U.S. Army, and the World War, 1939-1945, received extensive treatment also.

ArchivalResource: 1.7 cubic ft. (5 archives boxes)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122441781 View