Thomas W. Martin typescript

This collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, signed book pages, publication announcements, catalogs, and newspaper clippings related to the careers of several Alabama authors. In addition to materials related to individual authors, the collection also contains a small number of records related to two Alabama literary clubs: the Alabama Writers Conclave and the Birmingham Branch of the National League of American Pen Women.

While some of the authors featured in this collection are represented by a single document, the collection contains slightly more extensive holdings related to Thomas Chalmers McCorvey, Frank Owsley Jr., and Mary Behrendsen Ward. Material related to Thomas Chalmers McCorvey include a handwritten speech entitled "Marriage and its Customs" from 1877 and a letter from McCorvey's father. The Frank Owsley Jr. papers consists of a series of correspondence between Owsley and book dealer Pat Cather, dated from 1983-1984. The Mary Behrendsen Ward papers consist of a collection of personal correspondence dated from 1929-1948, and approximately ten manuscripts, including the short stories "That Danged Woman," "Behind the Mask," "Birmingham's Amusing Sign Language," and a collection of Christmas poems.

The second box includes materials that Patrick Cather created and collected. While the collection contains materials written by multiple authors, the bulk of the material consists of Cather's professional and personal correspondence. Most of this correspondence is dated between 1980 and 1994 and includes orders placed to Cather and Brown Books and correspondence related to Cather's personal collection of Alabama books and pamphlets.

The third phase box contains publication announcements, book catalogs, and newspaper clippings relating to Alabama authors and publishers. Although most of the material in this group dates between 1920 and 1988, the bulk are dated from 1980 to 1988. In addition to announcements released by small local publishers, University of Alabama Press materials are also included.