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 consituents, public officials, dignitaries, and citizens of other states seeking information or offering observations. This series consists of the public relations files of Governor Gordon Persons. It contains correspondence, telegrams, clippings, photographs, reports, and publications that document the governor's relations with consituents and correspondents from other states. The records also document the governor's interaction with governors of other states, Congressmen, the President of United States, the vice-president, and other public officials and dignitaries. The files consists 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 consituents celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, births of children, weddings, promotions, awards and honors, and numerous other special occasions. The files also contain letters from consituents 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 govenrors from other states, programs for the meetings, and other general information regarding the conference. This series also contians speeches radio addresses presented by Governor Persons to the people of Alabama in addition to messages, statements, and speeches to the Alabama Legislature. These records refect Persons' low-key personality and aversion to publicity. The Governor attended several college football games, however, he preferred to sit in the stands and not in a designated box. One incident of interest documented in this series was Adlai Stevenson's visit to Alabama in 1953 Nov. These records were stored in filing cabinets at the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History (ADAH) until the summer of 1991 when the records were placed in acid-free storage containers. This series was referred to by the Governor's Office as "Personal Files." The ADAH staff felt this was a confusing title. Because the records deal with consituent requests and comments, public events attended by the governor, and other aspects of the office of the chief executive, the title "Public relations files" was selected to better define the scope of the records. This series ceased to exist in this configuration after 1971. Many components of the series are now scheduled as separate series.
