Anne Findley Shores collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS-3743

Scope and Contents

The collection contains the papers, photographs, family Bible, and books of this Tuscaloosa family. The majority of the collection concerns Anne Elizabeth Findley Shores and consists of cards and letters, photographs, and school records. The rest of the collection is mostly letters, cards, and photographs of her parents, Herbert Lyman (Sr.) and Earline Moore Findley, and her uncle, Herbert Lyman Findley, Jr. The family Bible is missing the front pages as well as the first ten chapters of the book of Genesis. It does have birth, death, and marriage records from 1760 to 1945 (births: 1765-1927; deaths: 1835-1945; and marriages: 1760-1921) although it is possible that the earlier entries were recorded at a later date. There is also a collection of diplomas and certificates for various members of the Findley family, including Anne Findley (Shores) junior and senior high school diplomas, Earline Moore Findley's United Daughters of the Confederacy certificate, and Murk H. Findley's 1885 University of Alabama Bachelor of Engineering degree.

The collection also includes five framed portraits and one framed set of three cartoons by Roland M. Harper. The photographic portrait of Kenneth Murchison "Murk" Findley, Jr., was probably made around the time of his graduation from the university. The photographic portrait of Ida Bell Hargrove Findley was made some time between 1893 and 1908. According to family legend, Ida had the portrait made wearing her "second day" dress. The portrait of Herbert Lyman Findley Sr., probably made between 1918 and 1934, hung in a courtroom of the Tuscaloosa County courthouses until 2010, when it was returned to the family for "safekeeping". The portrait of Anne Elizabeth Findley Shores, commissioned by her parents in 1946, was painted by Tuscaloosa artist Nina Ross Struss. The pastel portrait of Roland McMillan Harper, was drawn by Anne Elizabeth Findley Shores using a photograph as a reference, probably during a period after her mother's death in 1953. The set of three cartoons were drawn by family friend Roland McMillan Harper, titled: "Anne and Emily Having a Lawn Party" (3 Nov 1933); "The First Day of School: The Spelling Lesson" (12 Sept 1934); and "The Prunagerie" (undated).

Dates

1885-1978

Creator

Struss, Nina Ross Searcy (Artist, Person)

Biographical / Historical

Anne Elizabeth Findley Shores, daughter of Herbert Lyman (Sr.) and Annie Earline Moore Findley, was born on 6 February 1928 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She graduated from Tuscaloosa High School in 1945 and then from the University of Alabama with a bachelor of science degree. She also received a certification in Medical Technology from the Medical College of Alabama in 1950 and a Master of Arts in Education in 1971 from the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). She worked as a medical technologist in research programs at UAB for twenty years (1950-1970).

She married James Layet Shores, Jr. in 1957. The couple had two children (Elizabeth Findley Shores and James Layet Shores, III) before divorcing in 1961. Anne Findley Shores died in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 30 January 2009.