Unburied Treasure
Posted on November 1, 2011 by bob in Features
Socktop quilt made during The Great Depression.
by Lenore Reese Vickrey; photos AL. Dept. of Archives and History, Bob Corley
More than 500,000 artifacts are housed in the Alabama Department of Archives and History building in downtown Montgomery. Among them, an extensive collection of Civil War-era Confederate flags, the guitar 14-year-old Hank Williams, Sr. won in a talent show, and an assortment of quilts, some dating from the 1700s. A short list of items reveals the span of history contained under Archives’ roof.
1. Custom-made “Nudie” suits belonging to Alabama native Hank Williams, Sr.“We have four in our collection,” said Jessamyn Boyd, curator of collections.The suits were created by Nudie Cohn, tailor to many country-western stars, and donated by the singer’s mother. William’s long-lost daughter Jett saw the suits for the first time during a recent trip to the Archives.
A mannequin in the Archives’ Sampler Gallery wears one of the suits, plus boots and hat, and holds the Gibson guitar Williams played on WSFA radio.
2. Clothing worn by former Gov. George Wallace, First Lady Cornelia Wallace and security guard E.C. Dothard during the May 15, 1972 assassination attempt in Laurel, Maryland.“We have the shoes he was wearing; the last shoes he ever walked in,” said Boyd. 
The black leather buckle shoes are in a display case, however the blood-stained shirt and pants are out of public view in a special storage drawer in the textile area.“The shirt has an interesting story,” she said. “Clothes are usually cut away on patients in an emergency room, but a hospital orderly, who realized its significance, saved the blue shirt and kept it until a few years ago when Archives acquired it.”
3. The panels, electric switches and meters used to operate “Yellow Mama,” the state’s electric chair.“Yellow Mama” was so named because it was painted with highway-line paint from the Alabama Highway Department.
Built in 1927, the chair was in use until May 10, 2002, when it was retired and put in storage at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The panels, switches and meters reside in the furniture storage area at Archives.
4. Civil War-era Confederate flags, the third largest collection behind the Museum of the Confederacy and the State History Museum in North Carolina.“Right now only one is on display,” Boyd said, “but we plan to exhibit more.”Archives has 90 such flags, many created by the wives and girl friends of men who served in small companies later formed into regiments.
Many of the flags are made of dress silk and painted with inspirational designs.“We’ve been able to conserve about 18 of them with the help of private donations,” she added.
5. A collection of about 75 quilts dating from the late 1700s.“We have a wide range of quilts, from the “crazy” quilts to quilts made of whole cloth,” said Boyd.One of the more unusual quilts was made during the Great Depression, when a New Deal program designed to help farm women provided ladies’ sock tops from a Ft. Payne hosiery factory.
Despite its age, the quilt remains almost pristine white, and features designs in stripes, diamonds, squares, and other shapes.
6. A brass slave collar, part of the collection from the William Rufus King plantation.King, a Selma plantation owner, was the shortest serving vice president of the United States, dying of tuberculosis after three months in office.
He was also the only national politician to be inaugurated outside the country, being in Cuba for health reasons at the time.King owned many slaves and brought them with him to Washington, DC. When slaves traveled, Boyd explained, they wore a metal collar bearing their owner’s name so they could be identified.
7. The chair in which Martin Luther King, Jr. sat before the Selma to Montgomery March, and the stool on which Ralph David Abernathy sat next to King.
“A lot of people remember the photos of this event that were in LIFE magazine,” Boyd said. Archives acquired the chair and stool from the owner of the home in Selma where King and Abernathy prepared for the march.
8. The State Bible.
This volume has been used for the inauguration of most Alabama governors since its purchase. It was also used in 1861 when Jefferson Davis took the oath of the presidency of the Confederacy. For the inaugural ceremonies the Bible is walked over to the Capitol steps and back, the holder escorted by a state trooper.
“There are some wonderful inscriptions inside,” Boyd said.
9. Thomas Bibb’s 1800s dueling pistols.
Both pistols, standard flintlock types, are on display at Archives, and are of special interest to gun lovers, Boyd said, because of their particular firing mechanism and the fact that both are still together.
It’s not known whether Bibb ever engaged in a duel using the pistols.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History houses more than 45,000 cubic feet of records and artifacts, and work continues on expanding the facility to provide more display space for its collections.
For more information, visit www.archives.Alabama.gov.
