I came across this photograph as I wandered through the Alabama Mosaic site and thought I would explore it a bit. The item is from the digital collections at the Birmingham Public Library, as linked below. That entry tells us nothing beyond noting it shows Birmingham police officers on motorcycles and was taken by O.V. Hunt [1881-1962]. Oscar Virgil Hunt was a commercial photographer in the city for many years and his work documents decades of Birmingham history. The Library maintains a Hunt collection; more about it and him can be found here.
I'm sure someone familiar with the history of Birmingham police uniforms and/or the motorcycle type could date this photo more precisely than I can. However, there is another feature that tells us something. That statue in the background is one of William Elias B. Davis, a prominent city physician who died in February 1903 at the age of forty.
The statue was dedicated in Capitol Park [now Linn Park] on December 14, 1904. In 1957 it was moved to the front of the New Hillman Building and has stood there, more or less, ever since. I've written a blog post on Davis and his physician brother John and their accomplishments. You can also read about them here.
Thus this photo was taken sometime between 1904 and 1957, no doubt closer to the former than the latter. If you have any more ideas, please leave them in the comments!
