Diary 1880

This collection centers on the 1632-page autobiography written by James Bowron and includes his diaries, in which he made daily entries, which he used to prepare his life story. Bowron kept many of the papers and newspaper articles written by and about him in scrapbooks. There are also some three hundred letters between Bowron and his colleagues. His letter books from 1875-1901 are included in the collection, as well as tributes and biographical sketches. Bowron kept written records on every facet of his life and preserved them for later generations, including things like his billiard record.

The collection documents the development of the iron and steel industry in the South and, more specifically, the history of the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (TCI). In his autobiography and diaries, Bowron develops the story of coal and iron-ore mines in the Birmingham district, both from a technological and financial standpoint. The documents provide a sense of the TCI board of directors' management style from 1882-1901 and the South's dependency on Northern capital. He also lays out the struggle to employ convict labor economically, often through political corruption, while defending the open shop against growing union strength.

Iron marketing at home and abroad, the impact of railroad rates on the iron industry, Southern political ideology, and the social, religious, and political character of Birmingham may also be explored. Valuable information on Henry F. DeBardeleben, Nathaniel Baxter, Henry Badham, George McCormack, and other Alabama industrialists, as well as detailed information on the Bessemer Coal and Land Co., Gulf States Steel, and various Birmingham banks is included.

Bowron's diary was edited by Robert J. Norrell, former professor of history at The University of Alabama, and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1991.