Planter of Pelika and Lafayette, Ala.. Also represented are his brother, Alexander A. Allen (fl. 1832-1870), planter and lawyer of Bainbridge and Lexington, Ga.; Alexander's son, Alexander A. Allen (d. 1918), reporter and editor of Macon and Atlanta, Ga.; Willia M. (b. 1853) and Ruth Linton Allen (fl. 1891-1914), Alabama educators and travelers; and other Allen family members and their Wheat and Linton relations. Chiefly correspondence between George Washington Allen and his brother, Alexander A. Allen, about planting (chiefly cotton); plantation life, including buying and selling slaves; family affairs; and the practice of law. Civil War letters deal with preparations for war and, later, with descriptions of destruction left in the wake of battles. Postwar letters discuss Reconstruction in various states. Letters, 1870s-1880s, relate to the journalism career of Alexander A. Allen's son, Alexander, Jr. Among his correspondents is Georgia governor Hoke Smith (1855-1931). Also included are letters, chiefly in the 1890s through 1918, from various family members traveling in Europe, particularly William and Ruth Linton Allen, whose teaching careers in various Alabama girls' schools are also documented. Many letters from the 1910s through 1932 deal with Linton family history. Also included are school essays; scrapbooks relating to the teaching careers of Allen family members, 1880s-1920s; 1828 and 1831 mathematics books; and scrapbooks from European travel in the 1890s.
