Waggoner served as a member of the Birmingham City Commission from the late 1950s until the Commission was abolished in 1963.

Alyce Billings Walker was born in Ensley, Alabama in 1907. She earned an A.B. at Judson College in Marion, Alabama, in 1928, and took a job teaching in the public schools of Birmingham the next year. In 1930 she left teaching to become the society editor for the Birmingham Post; in 1943 she moved to the Birmingham News where she was a feature writer then the director of the women's department. In 1960 she became an associate editor of the paper. Walker authored two books, Hot Sands of Hate (1954) and It's Nice to Live in Birmingham (1963), and edited Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South (1975). She died in Birmingham in 1996. This collection contains correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia of Walker's career with the Birmingham News. As the editor of the women's page Walker supported issues facing women in addition to covering fashion shows and society functions. Also included are her rough drafts and letters concerning the rewriting of Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South.

Newspaper clippings compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department on the career of Alabama Governor Wallace.

Newspaper clippings compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department on the career of Alabama Governor Wallace.

Newspaper clippings compiled by the staff of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department on the career of Alabama Governor Lurleen Wallace.

Photographs showing World War II era servicemen enjoying the amenities provided by the United Service Organization (USO) in Birmingham.

The bulk of this collection concerns the first seven years of the Selma Inter-religious Project under the direction of the Rev. Francis X. Walter. The files mainly contain correspondence to and from supporters of SIP and the various projects with which Walter and his staff worked during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s and early 1970s. The collection also contains business letters, bank books, Walter's personal and business papers, newspapers and newspaper clippings, and a few photographs of Walter and his staff and a quilt sale in Wilcox County.

Ward was elected to the Birmingham Board of Aldermen in 1899, elected mayor in 1904 and reelected in 1907. He lost a 1910 campaign for sheriff of Jefferson County but was elected president of the Birmingham City Commission in 1913. After losing his bid for reelection in 1917 to a candidate whose "True American" platform appealed to anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic elements of the electorate, Ward retired from politics. In 1925 he built a new home on Shades Mountain overlooking Birmingham. Called "Vestavia", Ward's house was modeled on the Roman Temple of the Vestal Virgins. Ward died in 1940, and is best remembered as the eccentric builder of Vestavia, but he was also a progressive urban reformer who as mayor oversaw the construction of libraries, playgrounds, parks, and community centers. He also improved government services to Birmingham's African American community. The papers contain correspondence, reports, and other material documenting Ward's service as president of the Birmingham City Commission and material relating to Ward's unsuccessful campaign for reelection in 1917. The papers also include biographical information on Ward, files on subjects of interest to him including music, flowers, birds, and local history, and a small body of correspondence from Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell. A 24-volume set of scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings relating to Ward's career, Birmingham history, and politics. A separate index to the scrapbooks is available in the Archives.

Late in the day on June 18, 1954, former Alabama state senator Albert Patterson was shot and killed outside his law office in Phenix City, Alabama. Patterson had recently won election as the Democratic Party nominee for attorney general of Alabama based on his promise to combat the organized crime, gambling and prostitution prevalent in Phenix City. A lieutenant colonel in the Alabama National Guard, Jack A Warren was one of the commanding officers of troops in Phenix City while the town was under marshal law. This collection contains police reports, correspondence, interviews, photographs and other material relating to crime and corruption in Phenix City.

Newman Waters was a Birmingham real estate developer who built a number of drive-in movie theaters and theater houses in the Birmingham area in the 1930's and 1940's. He was a director of Southern Electric Steel Company, developer of Office Park, constructed numerous major office buildings in downtown Birmingham, and developed Eastwood Mall, the area's first indoor shopping mall, in 1960. Waters was first president of the Downtown Club (1947), and chaired several Cerebral Palsy Telethons, the organization's project. He was active in the Downtown Improvement Association, serving as president in 1958. These papers, mainly newspaper clippings, relate to Waters’ various interests and activities.

This collection contains a minute book and miscellaneous other records.

This scrapbook contains newspaper clippings and other material relating to the life and career of Birmingham band director John T. “Fess” Whatley. The scrapbook was compiled by Birmingham musician J. L. Lowe.

This scrapbook contains a typed manuscript entitled “Laughter and Longings,” a collection of poems, speeches and reminiscences about Wheeler.

V. T. White was an employee of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company who also served as president of the T.C.I. Employees’ Amateur Baseball Association, an organization overseeing T.C.I.’s industrial baseball league. This collection contains team rosters, regulations governing the league, team schedules, attendance records, correspondence, and other material.