Daniel Avery Humphry and his family were residents of Tuscaloosa, Alabama from 1852 until 1868. Avery was the junior partner in the firm of Leach and Avery, an agricultural supply business involved primarily in the operation of a foundry for making plows. Federal troops destroyed the facilities of Leach and Avery during the raid on Tuscaloosa in April 1865. The partners attempted to rebuild, but Avery died in December 1866. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to a claim filed by Julia Avery to secure reparations for damages to her husband’s property. The remainder of the collection includes letters from Daniel Avery to his brother-in-law, Richard Morgan, discussing his travels to sell plows in 1847 and 1849. There are also two letters dated 1879 to Julia Avery from Rose “Avery,” a former family servant which refer to mutual acquaintances in Tuscaloosa.

Alexander Boyd was a small landowner in Union, Green County, Alabama who emigrated with his family to Arkansas shortly before the start of the Civil War. During the Reconstruction era, Boyd cooperated with occupying Union forces and was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. These papers consist of letters written to Boyd, both in Alabama and Arkansas, by members of his family. The letters include discussions of slavery, courtship and marriage, farming, illnesses and remedies and Reconstruction.

This collection includes letters from John P. Elsberry, written during his service in the Confederate army in Virginia and genealogical information on the Buell family.

This collection contains personal and business correspondence and other material relating to the Walker and allied families associated with Cedar Grove Plantation in Marengo County, Alabama.

This is a miscellaneous collection compiled by the staff of the Archives. The collection includes letters written by Confederate soldiers, posters, Confederate bonds, a diary, a muster roll and other material.

John Clark immigrated from Ireland to Mississippi in 1851. During the Civil War he served in Company F, 16th Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers and died in 1864. This collection includes a portion of Clark’s service record and copes of six letters that Clark wrote home from Virginia in 1862.

This collection contains a typescript of an autobiographical reminiscence written by William Clarke, a Marengo County lawyer during the 19th century. Of particular interest is Clarke’s account of his participation in Alabama’s 1861 secession convention.

This diary contains class notes and other jottings, including material relating to military events in Tennessee during the Civil War and an account of the Battle of Vicksburg.

Newspaper clippings and other material compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department.

Dunn served in Company D, First Virginia Infantry Regiment. This collection contains a diary and log book, a letter from Dunn to his sister and other material.

This collection includes correspondence of H. F. Early for the period March 1861 to April 1863. One letter, written by M. F. Arness, includes a detailed description of the battlefield at First Bull Run. The papers also contain some material relating to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sybil Bergin.

In 1843 Thomas A. Harrison, a native of Virginia, traveled to Alabama accompanied by a party of slaves, and purchased the property in Marengo County that became Faunsdale Plantation. Harrison later sent for his new wife, Louisa Collins Harrison, a native of North Carolina. In 1844 the Harrisons had their only child, Louise Collins Harrison. Thomas A. Harrison died in 1857. Louisa managed Faunsdale and her late husband's estate until 1863 when she married William A. Stickney, a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and a native of Alabama. Stickney served in several parishes and ministered to the slaves and later freedmen at Faunsdale. Louisa died in 1896, William in 1907. The plantation remains in the family today. The collection contains extensive correspondence, diaries, photographs, financial records, slave records (including births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and harvest records) and other material documenting several generations of the family.

This collection of photocopied typescripts includes autobiographical and biographical material on Francis Mitchell Grace and Bayliss Earle Grace, both prominent figures in 19th century Jefferson County, Alabama. The collection also includes a number of historical writings by Francis Mitchell Grace, such as his recollections of the Civil War and his narrative “Jefferson County, Alabama, 1872.”

Graham enlisted in Company H, 3rd Alabama Volunteers near Norfolk, Virginia in October 1861. He was involved in fighting at Malvern Hill, Seven Pines, The Wilderness and Chancellorsville, where he was wounded.