Marveling at Marbling

One of the many wonders of working with rare books is the magnificent things you find within -- like these amazing marbled end papers. This is just a taste of what I came across today working with Confederate Imprints and Alabama collection materials from the mid-19th century. Enjoy!

Sinking Ships and (Relative) Ancient History

One hundred and forty-four years ago, on June 19, 1864, the CSS Alabama was sunk at the end of a fierce naval engagement with the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Cherbourg in France. The Alabama had docked in Cherbourg for maintenance and repairs after over two years on the high seas during the Civil War. The ship was captained by Maryland native Raphael Semmes. Captain Semmes is deeply revered as a local hero in Alabama, especially in Mobile, where a large statue was erected and the town of Semmes, Alabama was named in his honor.


The CSS Alabama was built for the Confederate States in 1862 in Birkenhead, England by the shipbuilders John Laird Sons and Company --- and these very facts are part of the famous sea shanty, Roll, Alabama Roll.

When the Alabama's Keel was Laid,

(Roll Alabama, roll!),

'Twas laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird

(Roll, roll Alabama, roll!)

'Twas Laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird,

twas laid in the town of Birkenhead.

Down the Mersey way she rolled then,

and Liverpool fitted her with guns and men.

From the western isle she sailed forth,

to destroy the commerce of the north.

To Cherbourg port she sailed one day,

for to take her count of prize money.

Many a sailor laddie saw his doom,

when the Kearsarge it hove in view.

When a ball from the forward pivot that day,

shot the Alabama's stern away.

Off the three-mile limit in '64 the Alabama was seen no more.

It was also the subject of a a folk song sung in Afrikans, Daar Kom die Alibama, which commemorates the Alabama's voyage to Cape Town harbor in 1863.

Daar kom die Alibama,

Die Alibama die kom oor die see,

Daar kom die Alibama,

Die Alibama die kom oor die see...

(There comes the Alabama,

The Alabama that comes oer the sea,

There comes the Alabama,

The Alabama that comes oer the sea...)

The CSS Alabama is a topic of great interest to many people from everywhere and for many reasons. The Hoole Library has received reference questions about the CSS Alabama from all over the United States, as well as places like South Africa, Portugal, France, and England -- all places where the Alabama sailed, clocking over 75,000 miles and capturing sixty Union vessels in her short two years.

International interest in the ship continues to this day. Her wreckage was discovered by the French Navy in the 1980s, and over the course of nearly two decades of cooperation between the French and American governments, major joint underwater archeological investigations took place and many artifacts were recovered in the early part of the 21st century at the wreckage site off the coast of France.

We receive reference questions of course because people are interested and because we do have physical holdings on the CSS Alabama, including a photo album kept by an officer of the ship, Edward M. Anderson.

Lt. Edward Maffit Anderson from the Album of E.M. Anderson,
William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama

Dr. W.S. Hoole, namesake of the Hoole Library, wrote about and studied the Alabama, as did former UA History professor, Dr. Charles Summersell. Both men have materials in their own personal collections on the CSS Alabama.

And it was in 1996, relative ancient history in the world of online exhibits and digital collections, a then doctoral student, along with two UA Libraries faculty members, developed and authored the CSS Alabama Digital Collection, a resource of documents, images, maps, and other materials to help those who are interested in CSS Alabama learn more. That young doctoral student is now Dr. Toby Graham, head of the Digital Library of Georgia -- a trailblazer in digital collection development and digital programs. And while the CSS Alabama Digital Collection may look a little dated, it still is used regularly by people all over the world. A twelve year old digital collection is practically a stone tablet in the grand scheme of the evolution of web development technology since that time.

Some of the images were taken from the book, Two Years on the Alabama by Fourth Lt. Arthur Sinclair, published by Lee and Shepard in Boston in 1895. This book is featured in the Publishers' Bindings Online project.

Fourth Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, from the Album of E.M. Anderson,
William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama

Visit the CSS Alabama Digital Collection to learn more about the confederate raider and to experience what was once a cutting edge digital collection. It shows both how far we have come, as well as just how innovative this project was for its time. Additional materials such as sheet music for the song, The Alabama are accessible as part of our digital collections.

Exhibit Mashup No. 1: Dickens meets Goetzel meets the WPA

A new exhibit will be on display in the lobby of the Hoole Library beginning next week, which features some incredible little artifacts in our collections. These figurines were created as part of the WPA-funded project, the Alabama Visual Education Program.

The Alabama Visual Education Project came out of cooperation between The State Department of Education and the Visual Education Project of the Work Projects Administration. It provided a way for public schools in Alabama to purchase high quality visual aids for education purposes at a low cost. Some of these items are now housed in the Hoole Special Collections Library, including a catalog from 1940 listing items which were available for purchase by Alabama public schools. Also included in the collection are the instructional books Flags, Seals, and Coat of Arms of Alabama published in 1939 and History of Western Costume: prehistoric through nineteenth century, published in the 1930’s and featuring 114 full color plates with detailed descriptions.

We have chosen to exhibit this set of beautifully carved and painted wooden figures depicting characters from Charles Dickens novels. It is understood that decades ago, this set was used for teaching/visual aids by UA's English Department. Also created was a set of Shakespeare figures and Chaucer figures, but only two of the other figures are part of the Hoole Collections.

These tiny figures taken from Charles Dickens' novels and the hand-made wooden storage boxes are compelling and unique items to behold. The Hoole Library also holds a scale model of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, which was created as part of this project.

This exhibit features just the Dickens characters, as well as some of Dickens' works housed at the Hoole Library, as well as images from these books -- of course featuring his compelling and classic Victorian morality tale, A Christmas Carol.

The most important volume from our collections exhibited is an 1863 edition of Great Expectations printed by Goetzel in Mobile in 1863. This confederate imprint, though rebound at some point long ago in a library binding is an important piece of Alabama history. Please stop by and see this unique convergence of Victorian London, Confederate-era Mobile, and Depression-era Tuscaloosa. This exhibit was developed largely by Amy Allen, SLIS graduate assistant, working with Jessica Lacher-Feldman.