"Negro Lore" binder

This collection contains a high school memory book, correspondence, research notes, and manuscripts written by Birmingham teacher Virginia J. Hanson.

The high school memory book, designed and illustrated by Louise Perrett and Sarah K. Smith and published by The Reilly and Britton Co., documents the senior year of Virginia J. Hanson, a 1912 graduate of Birmingham High School. In addition to handwritten notes from classmates and teachers, the book includes photographs of students and classrooms, social invitations, programs from school events, newspaper clippings, and illustrations.

The collection also contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and research notes related to Hanson's master's thesis, completed in 1937. Correspondence written in 1935 documents Hanson's attempts to collect African American and Native American stories for inclusion in her thesis. These stories are collected in three research binders titled "Negro Lore," "Indian Lore," and "Traditional Stories of Slaves and Civil War." Unbound typescript drafts of her thesis, containing extensive handwritten edits, are also included. The thesis, Alabama in Legend and Lore , was never published.