Administrative files, 1942-1947.

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Administrative files, 1942-1947.

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

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.

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

Alabama Department of Archives and History

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6696893

Alabama Department of Archives and History

Related Entities

There are 20 Entities related to this resource.

Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. (Mobile, Ala.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pw7btj (corporateBody)

Hill, J. Lister (Joseph Lister), 1894-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fv9bnj (person)

Joseph Lister Hill (December 29, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Alabama in the U.S. Congress for more than forty-five years, as both a U.S. Representative (1923–1938) and a U.S. Senator (1938–1969). During his Senate career he was active on health-related issues, and served as Senate Majority Whip (1941–47), and Hill also served as the Chair of the Senate Labor Committee. At the time of his retirement, Hill was the fourth-mo...

Jarman, Peterson Bryant, 1892-1955

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f48gsc (person)

Pete Jarman was born in Greensboro, Ala. in 1892 and was a veteran of World War I. He served the State of Ala. in a variety of public offices including Assistant State Examiner of Accounts (1919-1930), Secretary of State (1931-1934), Assistant State Comptroller (1935-1936) and as a member ot the State Democratic Executive Committee (1922-1930). He also served as a U.S. House Representative (1937-1949) and as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia (1949-1953). He died in Washington, D.C. in 1955. ...

Hobbs, Sam 1877-1952.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rb8vss (person)

Geismer, Henry S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gt5rjm (person)

Alabama State Defense Council.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qv926w (corporateBody)

Jones, George Bliss.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gx633b (person)

Amos, Mabel Till.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69s3gdv (person)

Boykin, Frank W. (Frank William), 1885-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kd2r94 (person)

Frank W. Boykin was a U.S. Representative from Alabama from his election in 1935 to the early 1960s. He was also a businessman involved with real estate development, timber, and naval stores. From the description of Papers, 1911-1972. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122284922 ...

Alabama Salvage Committee.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vq8hbj (corporateBody)

Manasco, Carter, b. 1902.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n88dn0 (person)

Carter Manasco was secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, William Brockman Bankhead. Manasco was elected following Bankhead's death in 1940 to complete his term as Representative from Ala. From the description of Letters, 1940. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122538428 ...

Alabama. Governor (1943-1947 : Sparks)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk4fb8 (corporateBody)

Selective Service System.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x11p5f (corporateBody)

Rouzer, I.S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69618mf (person)

United States. Office of Price Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6158717 (corporateBody)

Doris Razook lived in Savannah, Georgia. From the description of Doris Razook ration book, 1943. (Georgia Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 166147794 During World War II the Office of Price Administration (OPA) was the government agency that rationed most consumer goods and regulated their prices. Some of the rationed items included, tires, cars, gas, coffee, meats, and other food stuffs. OPA was in place for the duration of the war and continued operations until 1947...

Starnes, Joe, 1895-1962.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61643m1 (person)

Norton, Ewell.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k37kmw (person)

Bankhead, John Hollis, 1872-1946

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6445q58 (person)

U.S. senator from Alabama. From the description of Letter, 1932 Jan. 4. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70974791 Bankhead was born 1872 July 2 to John H. and Tallulah Brockman Bankhead at Moscow, Lamar Co., Ala. He graduated from the University of Ala. with a B.A. in 1891 as president of his class. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1893 with a Bachelor of Laws, again as president of his class. That same year he began practicing law in Jasper,...

Sparks, Chauncey, 1884-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s47jvt (person)

Chauncey Sparks was a prominent public figure who served in a variety of positions in Alabama, including Barbour County inferior court judge, Eufaula city attorney, and Alabama Department of Archives and History trustee. He also served in the Alabama state legislature, and from 1943 to 1947, he was governor of the state. From the description of Papers, [190-?]-[196-?]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122388466 ...

Grant, George Alexander, 1891-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bp1688 (person)