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Paoli Ashe Smith papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-1294
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists mainly of personal correspondence from Smith to his mother during World War I, letters received from several of his cousins, financial and legal papers, and photographs. It also contains miscellaneous items related to Smith’s father, legal papers of his mother, a letter written to Mrs. Smith from her sister Netta Tutwiler, and a small quantity of financial and legal papers of a cousin, Margaret Roberts Ellington. The papers are fragmentary, with a gap spanning a period of almost thirty-five years, from the 1930s through 1963. The strength of the collection lies in the World War I material, particularly in Paoli Smith's correspondence, which offers a wartime perspective on his own life, the lives of non-combatants, and the effects of war upon the countryside.

Dates

  • Creation: 1882-1970

Biographical/Historical note

Smith was born in Greensboro, Alabama, in 1894, the only child of Paoli Ashe Smith and Gessner Harrison Tutwiler Smith. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1911, worked as a journalist for the Birmingham Ledger, 1911-15, leaving that job for the insurance business. From 1917 to 1919 he served as an intelligence officer in the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. Following the war he joined the Sparrow Advertising Agency in Birmingham, where he worked from 1921 to 1962, serving as president for much of that period. He died in Birmingham on 3 March 1972.

Extent

0.4 Linear Feet (106 items)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection consists mainly of personal correspondence from this jorunalist and Greensboro, Alabama, native to his mother during World War I, letters received from several of his cousins, financial and legal papers, and photographs. It also contains materials relating to other members of his family.

Provenance

Gift of Netta Johnson Holley, 1979.

Processed by

unknown

Title
Guide to the Paoli Ashe Smith Papers
Status
Completed
Date
June 2010
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0266
205.348.0513