Zora Neale Hurston's Letter to William Stanley Hoole

As one does now and then, I was recently glancing through Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, collected and edited by Carla Kaplan and published in 2002. So what should I find but a letter with an interesting Alabama connection. Let's investigate. 

I'm not going to say much about Hurston, who's life and career are well known. Her entry in the Encyclopedia of Alabama will give you the basics. Although born January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, she and her family soon moved to Eatonville, an all-black town in Florida. During the course of her life, she worked at odd jobs, wrote stories and essays, and did folklore field research in New Orleans, Florida, and Alabama. In the 1950s, she had a connection with another Alabama author, William Bradford Huie. See the Encyclopedia article for more details.

Hurston's final decade were filled with financial and health worries, and after moving back to Florida she worked as a maid. After a stroke in 1959 she entered a nursing home and died there on January 28, 1960. She was practically forgotten despite her substantial research and publication records. Author Alice Walker located her unmarked grave and published an article in 1975 that revived interest in Hurston's work.

William Stanley Hoole [1903-1990] had a long career as librarian and historian. Born in South Carolina, he finished his doctorate in English at Duke University and then taught first at what is now Jacksonville State University and then Birmingham-Southern. He left there for Baylor University and then what is now the University of North Texas,. In 1944 he became director of libraries at the University of Alabama, a post he held for 27 years. During that time he led tremendous growth of the libraries and archives there; the special collections were named after him in 1977. 

Hoole wrote or edited 50 books, over 100 articles and numerous book reviews. His career encompassed significant achievements in the fields of both librarianship and history. He helped establish the Alabama Historical Association and edited its journal from 1948-1967. Subjects of his writing ranged from aspects of librarianship to Confederacy topics. 

He seems to have written Hurston and other authors inquiring about their current projects and asking for a paragraph describing them. I've yet to determine if these were collected in any of his publications. 

Hurston writes from New York City on March 7, 1936, to Hoole at Birmingham-Southern College.  Her first paragraph is an explanation and apology. "I think I must be God's left-hand mule, because I have to work hard. That's very funny too, because no lazier mortal ever cried for breath. But the press of new things, plus the press of old things yet unfinished keep me on the treadmill all the time."  Thus she hasn't answered his "kind and flattering letter before now."

The project Hurston describes is Their Eyes are Watching God which was published the following year. Then she tells Hoole, "I am glad in a way to see my beloved southland coming into so much prominence in literature. I wish some of it was more considered. I observe that some writers are playing to the gallery."

As she ends her letter Hurston describes some of the southern authors she admires, such as Erskine Caldwell, who wrote numerous novels including God's Little Acre, and Carl Carmer for his work Stars Fell on Alabama. She gives special praise to an Alabama writer. "T.S. Stribling is a monnyark, that's something like a king you know, only bigger and better. I love him." 

Stribling wrote 16 novels and numerous articles and short stories. A trilogy of novels was set around Florence from antebellum times into the twentieth century; one of those, The Store, won a Pulitzer Price for fiction in 1933. 

Her final words? "P.S. I come of an Alabama family. Macon County."

William Stanley Hoole 

Birmingham Photo (87): Rush Hotel in 1931

According to its entry at the great BhamWiki site, this hotel was developed by D.M. Rush around 1919 and operated until about 1949. The 1945 Birmingham Yellow pages gives its address as 316 1/2 North 18th Street and the phone number was 7-09411. The small hotel occupied just the second floor of the building seen in the photo below, and was one of the few such accommodations available to blacks in the city.

In the 1930's the facility was owned by Tom Hayes. The place apparently provided hotel arrangements for visiting teams in town to play the Birmingham Black Barons, which played professional baseball in the Negro leagues from 1919 until 1960. In his book Black Baseball's Last Team Standing: The Birmingham Black Barons, 1919-1962 [2019], Bill Plott has a couple of tidbits about the hotel. Manager of the Barons in 1938 was William "Dizzy" Dismukes, a Birmingham native who had also managed the team in 1924. Anyone who wanted to try out for the team that year could contact him at the Rush Hotel [p.117]. He also writes that in 1953 Dismukes had set up shop again at the hotel, this time to recruit for the New York Yankees [p.221]. Thus the hotel may have operated past 1949.

A man named Joe Rush was Black Barons owner in 1923 and 1924, and owner and president in 1925. The Birmingham Black History Project on Facebook has more information about the Rush family. 

Below I've also included a photo from Google Street View showing what the building looked like in 2019. 

Photo by W.B. Phillips in 1931 

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Here's the building via Google Street View February 2019. You can see the same arch over the doorway and the eight windows in the second story. 

Old Alabama Stuff : A Battle House Hotel Menu from 1857

The Battle House Hotel in Mobile has a long and storied history. The facility originally opened in 1852, but that structure burned in 1905. Three years later the current Battle House opened on the same spot, one of the first steel frame structures built in Alabama. The name today is the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa. 

Thus the menu below, from the collection of the New York Public Library and dated March 4, 1857, was used almost five years after James Battle and two half-nephews opened the original hotel on November 13, 1852. The location already had a history as Andrew Jackson's military headquarters during the War of 1812. Two other hotels built on the site had burned.

So just what victuals were being offered that day on the "Bill of Fare" at the Battle House? Well, down the left side we see listings of wines, sherries and champagnes. Among the wines is "Commander Nicholson's Sercial, black seal, bottle racked 1842". Sercial is the driest of wines from the Madeira Islands. Along the right side are more wines, brandies, port, burgundy, claret, and porter and ale. Presumably whiskies were available for the gentlemen who adjourned to a smoking room after the meal. 

The menu lists a variety of meat dishes, including ham, tongue, and "Calf's head brain sauce". Yummy. Side dishes include baked oyster, boiled hominy, another calf's head, sirloin, beef currie [sic], turkey wings, breaded pork, and musette of mutton. Seafood included baked oysters and tripe al lyonnaise. There's several roasted meats, duck, puddings and pastries and barley soup. One important side dish was macaroni au gratin. And how about that baked sago pudding?

Room service was available at an extra charge. Lunch was served for just the ladies from 11 to 12 in the dining room. Children taking a seat at the table were charged full price. Dinner for children and nurses took place from 1 to 1:30.

F.H. Chamberlain and Company are listed as proprietors of the Battle House. Chamberlain, a Baldwin County landowner, had built the Grand Hotel in Point Clear in 1847. 

Below I've included a giant image of the menu to make it more readable and a photo of the hotel from the 1940s. 

Source:

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "DAILY MENU [held by] BATTLE HOUSE [at] "MOBILE,AL." (HOTEL)" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1857.

Part of the Buttolph Collection of Menus

Battle House in the 1940s

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History

Alabama Official Highway Maps 2023-2024

I've done a number of posts on this blog about various maps, usually related to Alabama, Shelby County or Pelham. One of these days I hope to do a piece linking all those items together. In the meantime, here's another one...

This post is the fourth featuring those "Official Highway Maps" of the state you can get for free from the state travel website or pick up at welcome centers or rest stops. I love these maps with their colorful covers; and when you open them up, you have a huge detailed map of the state. 

In the first entry in this series I covered maps from 1976 until 2009-10. Images included the Space and Rocket Center, Barber Motorsports Museum, a statue in Tuskegee, bike riders, the state coat of arms, a beach or two and much more. Images in the second post covered the Gorgas House in Tuscaloosa, Sturdivant Hall in Selma, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Birmingham Museum of Art, a different Space and Rocket Center photo, Birmingham Museum of Art, and others, including beaches. The dates in that post ranged from 2004 to 2021-22. Just for fun I also included a 1974 state map from Texaco and a railroad map issued by the state.

In the early days the back cover might include examples of road signs or in at least one case just "HELP" which could be put on your dashboard. However, most back covers feature the governor at the time and that practice continues today. The third post focused on a 1973 map I came across, with George Wallace on the back. I'm not sure when the state started creating these particular kinds of maps.

So now we come to the latest highway map covers, and here they are....

A Quick Visit to the Huntsville Courthouse Square

While I was in Huntsville back in October, I met Dr. Jack Ellis at The Poppy & Parliament pub on the courthouse square for lunch. Jack is a scholar and gentleman who taught at UAH for a number of years. We have a mutual interest--the history of black physicians in Alabama. That topic occupied much of our conversation over a great lunch.

As we finished, Jack suggested a walk around the square and down to Big Spring Park. So off we went...

I only discuss a few of the many sights and history below that you can see in downtown Huntsville. 

First, we walked down to Big Spring. Here are the "ugliest ducks in the park" as Jack put it, posing beside the Indian Creek Canal, the first in the state according to this marker. That canal was developed to move cotton all the way to the Tennessee River.

Actually, there is a canal in Gulf Shores that's a bit older.

Archaeologists Dig Up 1,400-Year-Old Native American Canal in Alabama

The nearly mile-long structure allowed inhabitants to paddle to rich fishing grounds and access trade routes http://tinyurl.com/23twwnhu

The We Are Huntsville web site has the story of the Little Lion:

"Sitting near the actual spring in Big Spring Park is an often over-looked Huntsville landmark. The Little Lion of Big Spring Park was gifted to the city by J.F. Hummel for the opening of Big Spring Park in 1900.

The marble lion was meant to stay in the park “as long as children play in the park”. Sadly, the statue was defaced and damaged in the 1960’s but the Historic Huntsville Foundation refurbished and restored the little lion to the park in 1995."

Holger Toftoy was instrumental in bringing German V-2 rockets and parts back to the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of World War II. He was also involved in  Operation Paperclip which brought scientists here as well. He directed the Ordnance Missile Laboratories at Redstone Arsenal from 1952 until 1958. 

Holger Toftoy [1902-1967]

Source: Wikipedia

The Alabama Territory was officially established on December 10, 1817, so this bank had been operating in the Mississippi Territory since chartered. As noted, the bank operated until February 1825, more than five years after Alabama became a state. 

This building opened in 1836 and served as a bank until 2010, when Regions moved its branch there to another location. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The architect was George Steele, who also designed the building for the Huntsville Female College. I've written about that institution here.

Harrison Brothers Hardware is always worth a visit. Lots of goodies inside!

A postcard view of Big Spring Park, ca. 1950

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Auburn Postcard: Ross Chemical Building

Here we are with another historical postcard to explore. I picked one from Auburn University, since my family has many ties to that institution. As noted below, my grandfather Amos J. Wright, Sr., did his military training on campus at the end of World War II. My parents Amos J. Wright, Jr., and Carolyn Shores Wright met and married while attending Auburn--or Alabama Polytechnic Institute, as it was formally known then--in the late 1940s. My wife Dianne and I met at Auburn--in the library! Daughter Becca graduated from Auburn as well. 

Note that "Samford" is misspelled as "Sanford" on the card. On the back of the card below we see the number "24052" which according to this history of Dexter Press postcards after 1950 makes it part of the 1950-51 batch of cards. That history includes some information about the press from the 1930s until it went out of business in the 1980. 

If this postcard indeed dates to ca. 1950, it was printed just before U.S. postage on postcards increased. From 1872 until 1951, postage was just one cent. The only exception was the two cent rate imposed in 1917-1918 during World War I. 

The post office approved this kind of "divided back" card on March 1, 1907. 

The building's namesake, Bennett Battle Ross [1864-1930] was a Tuskegee native who studied at Auburn, the University of Chicago, and universities in Germany. Ross then taught for six years each at Auburn and LSU before returning to Auburn as professor of general and agricultural chemistry and state chemist. He served as dean of agricultural sciences from 1911 until 1922 and dean of chemistry and pharmacy from 1922 until his death in 1930. In 1926 he published Chemistry in Agriculture. 

Ross Hall has 43,478 square feet of space and was built in 1930. In 1963, the School of Chemistry moved to Saunders Hall. In 1977 Ross was renovated for the use of mechanical, chemical and aerospace engineering. 

In all of the family photographs we have are some Dad took while at Auburn in 1945 and 1946. You can read my blog post about them here. This photo of the Ross Chemical Building was among them. 

Oh, and that building in the background of the postcard? Samford Hall? Here's my grandfather in 1918 standing near the spot where Ross Hall would later be built. Having been drafted into the army, he was in Auburn doing basic training. Luckily for him World War I ended before his unit was deployed, and he returned home to Gadsden. My blog post about all that is here.

Ross Chemical Building [now Ross Hall] in a 1948 postcard

Source: Alabama Postcards Collection via Auburn University Digital Library 

Bennett Battle Ross [25 Dec 1864-4 April 1930]

He is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery in Auburn.

Source: FindAGrave

There's a Ticket Stub for That: Concerts

For a long time I've been collecting ticket stubs mostly from events that Dianne, the kids and I have attended over the years. These memorabilia include stubs from movies, concerts, sporting events, whatever. I now have two cigar boxes [remember those?] full of these things, so let's investigate a few of the contents.

In this post I'm doing the concert tickets; blog posts on sports, movies and a miscellaneous selection of others will follow at some point. I hope.... 

I don't have ticket stubs for some concerts. For instance, I saw The Who at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa on November 22, 1971, but I can't prove it. Also, I seem to remember a couple of concerts at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre not documented here, including a Steppenwolf/Three Dog Night double bill. Neither do I have any stubs for the several times we've seen and enjoyed Roman Street, Eric Essex, and probably others. Daughter Becca and I saw The Manhattan Transfer at UAB's Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, but alas no stubs for that one, either. Great concert, by the way. 

Most of these performances took place in Alabama; a selection of others is at the end. 

Allman Brothers

Dianne and I were living in Tuscaloosa at this time, working toward masters degrees in library science. This ticket is unused, and I've never seen the Allman Brothers. I don't remember how I acquired this one. 

Bob Dylan

 Bob Dylan had one of Rick Carter's bands opening, if I remember correctly. This concert was on April 20, 1991; here's the setlist. 

Alabama Symphony Orchestra

The Alabama Symphony Orchestra can trace its roots to a volunteer ensemble in Birmingham in 1921. The current name was adopted in 1979; financial difficulties forced bankruptcy in the early 1990s. The Orchestra has operated in the black since a 1997 reorganization. 

Paul Simon

Simon was probably still touring in support of his album Rhythm of the Saints which had been released in October 1990. Dianne and I both attended, and I would pick this event as one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Well, one of the many "best" I guess....

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

The LAGQ formed in 1980, so the group had been around for many years by the time son Amos and I saw them at the UAB performing arts center. Amos had played guitar in a metal band with friends in high school, but he--and I--enjoyed this concert of mostly classical music. We sat in Row C, which was practically underneath the group, and their musicianship was incredible. 

To top it off, they did an unexpected sort of encore. It started with a standard classical guitar interpretation of Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major" and by the time it ended the piece had been transformed into country, bluegrass, rock, and jazz renditions. Needless to say we in the audience expressed our appreciation.

Emmy Lou Harris

Harris has been a force in American music for more than four decades. She was born in the Magic City, but her family moved after she completed the first grade. Of course, she sang "Boulder to Birmingham" in this concert and made a few local comments as well.

Ravi & Anouska Shankar

I first encountered the work of Ravi Shankar in the early 1970s, probably as a result of his influence on the Beatles. Dianne and I both looked forward to this concert, and we were not disappointed. His daughter Anoushka played sitar the first half of the concert, and she was spectacular. 

Then, after the intermission, Anouska came out beside her seemingly frail 86 year-old father as he walked slowly to a stool at center stage. Once seated, Ravi began his magical playing. Father and daughter also played together on several pieces. A very special evening...

Taj Mahal

Blues musician Taj Mahal [born Henry Fredericks] has been playing and recording since 1964. In addition to his own unique interpretation of the blues, he incorporations world music and musicians into his work. This concert was a good example of all that. 

Art Garfunkel

We saw Paul Simon in 1991, and then Art Garfunkel in 2008. Dianne and I grew up in the 1960s when songs like "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "The Boxer", "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Scarborough Fair" were everywhere. I'm glad we got to see them both perform, even if not together. Garfunkel's album Some Enchanted Evening had been released in 2007. 

The Chieftains 

We actually saw The Chieftains twice at the Alys Stephens Center, but I don't seem to have the stub for the other one. As Wikipedia notes, "The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music. They are regarded as having helped popularize Irish music around the world." 

The concerts we saw were a rousing delight. Co-founder Moloney died in 2021, and

the band's future is uncertain. They did regroup in 

April 2023 to perform when President Joe Biden visited his ancestral Irish home. 

Celtic Woman 

We've also seen Celtic Woman twice; the first time was with daughter Becca at the Alabama Theatre. The group formed in 2004 and has toured steadily since then, with many personnel changes along the way. Luckily fiddler Mairead Nesbitt performed with the group both times; she put on quite a show by herself. And of course the song harmonies by the vocalists were wonderful. 

Leo Kottke

What can I say? Kottke is simply a wizard on the 12-string guitar and one of the all-time great American guitarists, 6- or 12-string. Born in 1945, he began performing in the mid-1960s and released his first album in 1969. He has toured and recorded both solo and with others over the years. Sometimes he sings, but most of his work is instrumental. In concert he tells a lot of stories. 

We saw him twice, once at Zydeco in 2001 and earlier on Sunday afternoon, June 20, 1993, at City Stages in Birmingham. He appeared solo both times. If you ever get the chance to see him live, don't miss it. He also has plenty of recorded music to choose from. If you've never heard him play, YouTube can help.

And believe it or not, there is a connection between Kottke and the English band Procol Harum ["Whiter Shade of Pale", etc.]. 

I have the stubs for several concerts I attended in Atlanta in 1974. What a year!

Jefferson Starship 

Jefferson Starship is one of those rock bands with a very convoluted history; Wikipedia sorts it out for us. The group, featuring former Jefferson Airplane members Grace Slick and Paul Kantner and a number of other musicians, began touring under that name in March 1974. Thus I saw them early in their existence at the Omni in Atlanta, an indoor coliseum opened in 1972 and demolished in 1997.

Weather Report 

This jazz fusion group was active from 1970 until 1986 and recorded some great music. Some friends and I saw them at the Great Southeast Music Hall, a superb venue that was actually a bar, restaurant and concert hall. Capacity was 525; the audience sat on cushions on the floor. Beer came in 32oz metal buckets that cost $2.75

Founded in 1970 by keyboardist Joe Zawinul, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and others, Weather Report blended various musical styles and used a large number of musicians during its existence. One of the band's best known works is the instrumental "Birdland", written by Zawinul as a tribute to the New York City nightclub of that name. The Manhattan Transfer has a great version of that song with lyrics. 

Something I especially remember about this performance is one of the band's percussionists playing as he strolled through the audience.

Grateful Dead & Maria Muldaur

Well, I was never a Deadhead, but I sure do like the music, and I'm glad I got to see them live. On this particular night they played a number of favorites, including "U.S. Blues", "Scarlet Begonias" and the immortal "Truckin'". You can see the entire set list and listen to the concert at the Internet Archive. 

Oh, and I enjoyed folk and blues singer Maria Muldaur as well. Her career began in 1963, but she had released her first solo album the year before I saw her. That work included her popular song "Midnight at the Oasis", a showcase for her beautiful voice. I'm glad to see she is still active. 

Bob Dylan & The Band 

Dylan had just released the Planet Waves album, and this tour with The Band had forty shows in North America in January and February 1974. As with the other shows I saw at the Omni, the place was packed. This one was Dylan's first tour in seven years. The Before the Flood live album released on June 20, 1974 documents the tour, although most tracks were recorded at the Los Angeles show. 

I started listening to both Dylan and The Band in the 1960's, so this show was special. They played another concert in Atlanta the next night. You can see the set list of performances I saw here.