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Wade Hall Collection on American Life

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-4257
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters and documents to and from friends, family, and business associates. The preponderance of these letters were written in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and describe day-to-day life experiences, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.

Dates

  • Creation: 1803 - 1946

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are responsible for using the materials in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any copyright claimants in collection materials. Copyright for official University records is held by The University of Alabama. The library claims only physical ownership of many manuscript collections. Anyone wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of literary property rights or copyrights. Please contact Special Collections (archives@ua.edu) with questions regarding specific manuscript collections. For more information about copyright policy, please visit: https://www.ua.edu/copyright/. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal implications, for which the University of Alabama assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

A Union Springs, Alabama, native, Wade Henry Hall was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He continued his education earning a BS from Troy University, a MA from The University of Alabama, and a PhD from the University of Illinois. He went on to become a distinguished college professor and one of Alabama's most widely published and versatile authors. He wrote numerous works relating to Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern history, including The Kentucky Anthology: 200 Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State , One Man's Lincoln , and Conecuh People: Words of Life from the Alabama Black Belt .

Hall taught English and served as chair of the English and Humanities programs at Kentucky Southern College (1962-1969) and Bellarmine University (1969-1996) in Louisville, Kentucky, for almost forty years. He retired in 1996 and returned to Union Springs in 2006.

Hall was an avid collector, focusing primarily on items related to Southern history and culture. His interests were wide-ranging and included books, music, manuscripts, photographs, and quilts. He donated significant portions of his collections to the universities of Alabama, Troy, and Kentucky as well as to art museums in Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. The manuscripts collection here gathers together letters, journals, and other papers from the middle of the nineteenth through the whole of the twentieth century and allows researchers to see the world through the lives of everyday Americans, demonstrating the value of ordinary people's perspectives to researchers interested in American history, literature, and culture.

Hall died on September 26, 2015, aged 81, after a long illness.

Extent

15.2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Letters and documents to and from friends, family, and business associates around the United States and the world, discussing ordinary life.

Arrangement

This collection consists of 488 individual collections and previously unprocessed materials donated by Wade Hall that have been combined to create the Wade Hall Collection on American Life. These smaller collections were originally processed by Special Collections staff between 1990-2017.

The Wade Hall Collection on American Life is arranged into five geographical area series, and then arranged chronologically within each series.

Physical Location

These materials are stored at our off-site Archival Facility (AF) and may require up to two business days for retrieval and delivery for use in our Hoole Library reading room. Please email archives@ua.edu or call 205-348-0500 for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Wade Hall, 1990-2015

Title
Guide to Wade Hall Collection on American Life
Status
Completed
Date
2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2020: This collection was made up of 504 individual collections and previously unprocessed materials donated by Wade Hall that have been combined to create the Wade Hall Collection on American Life. These smaller collections were originally processed by Special Collections staff between 1990-2017.

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0266
205.348.0513