The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Birmingham Public Library. Department of Archives & Manuscripts

2100 Park Place
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

Phone: 205-226-3631

Repository URL: http://www.birminghamarchives.org/

Repository code: ab

Repository description (CRHP): There are numerous collections here that pertain to the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and more locally. Several are in organizational records which contain audiovisual materials; there are other oral history collections which deal with the civil rights or related topics. The webpage of the Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives & Manuscripts provides a guide to collections by subject. Relevant subjects include "African-American History and Life," "Civil Rights and Race Relations in Alabama," and "Civil Rights and Race Relations in Birmingham."

This repository also houses the Birmingham Police Surveillance Files, the Eugene "Bull" Connor Papers, and the FBI Investigative File on the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing among its many Civil Rights Movement-related holdings.

This repository also houses the oral histories that Howell Raines used for his book "My Soul is Rested," though this collection is closed to the public for an indefinite amount of time.

Repository description (extant): The collections of the Birmingham Public Library Archives contain more than 400,000 photographs and 30,000,000 documents, including government records, business records, maps, letters, diaries, scrapbooks and architectural drawings.

Repository type: Public Library

Collections:

Jimerson, Norman C. oral history interviews
Manis, Andrew M. oral history interviews
Bette Lee Hanson [collection]
Gee's Bend project
One great city campaign oral history interviews
Birmingfind project
Jerome A. "Buddy" Cooper papers
Howell Raines oral history tapes and related papers
James A. Head Sr. papers