Ephemera Collection

Title

Ephemera Collection

Description

In 2009, BBRM staff and volunteers began the archiving of this collection, with the arranging of objects chronologically (1935 – 1995) and the purchasing of proper archival storage materials. In 2011, an oral finding aid with provenance was constructed by conversations between University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies (UA SLIS) volunteer Lindsey Reynolds (now at University of Georgia, Athens Library) and BBRM Director Bob Friedman. In 2013 and 2014, those interviews were transcribed by UA SLIS volunteer Michael Mitchell (known affectionately as the MMT). For each object, the original finding aid conversation has been added and can be found in quotes in the description section. As of the most recent online uploading in August, 2019, the Ephemera Collection consisted of eight boxes containing 413 folders with approximately 850 files, spanning the period 1935-1989.

Collection Items

"Fats" Waller's Original Piano Conceptions No. 1
Box 1 Folder 1: "This is box 1 folder 1, we’re calling it 1935 and it is a musical folder of sheet music for Fats Waller. Number 1: The Original Piano Conceptions. It was purchased at a thrift store somewhere. It’s a music book of Fats Waller…

Agreement, Birmingham Broadcasting Company and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Box 1 Folder 2: "This is box 1 number 2, dated 1938-1939 and it is an agreement between the Birmingham Broadcasting Company, which is probably WBRC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the IBEW who probably did the electrical work…

Flyer, 3rd All Southern Youth Negro Conference
Box 1 Folder 3: "Box 1 number 3 is a four-page flyer from 1939. April 28, 29, and 30th announcing the 3rd All Southern Youth Negro Conference, and the location of that conference would be at the Masonic temple in Birmingham. It is an excellent…

Reproduction, Tuxedo Junction 78 Record
Box 1 Folder 4: "Box 1 folder 4 is a reproduction from 1939 of the Bluebird Release 10409 “Tuxedo Junction” written and performed by the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. That’s a picture of the 78. Donated by Bob Friedman."

500 block, 18th Street North, Birmingham, 1940s
Box 1 Folder 5: "Box 1 number 5 is an approximation of the 500 block of 18th Street North in Birmingham from the 1940s. Obtained at the archives, the archive section of the Birmingham Public Library, which received many many pictures from the…

Manual, Type 25 A Broadcast Frequency Monitor
Box 1 Folder 6: "Box 1 folder 6 is from 1940 approximately. It’s a General Radio Company pamphlet, an instruction manual for a Type 25 A Broadcast Frequency Monitor with schematics. We approximated the year based on the availability of tubes listed…

Four Great Wonders Singers of Birmingham, Alabama
Box 1 Folder 7: "Box 1 number 7. This is a picture from 1940; we approximate from 40. It may be the late 30s but we’re not sure. It’s a picture of the Four Great Wonder Singers of Birmingham, Alabama, and the person that we are most familiar with is…

Leland Chiles, circa 1940
Box 1 Folder 8: "Box 1 number 8 is a picture we approximate from 1940 of Leland Chiles who was a broadcaster at WSFA in Montgomery and later became station manager when WJLD opened in 1942. This is a picture received, a copy of a picture that was…

Data Sheet, Shure Brothers Microphone
Box 1 Folder 9: "Box 1 number 9. From July of 1941, it’s a data sheet describing Shore Brothers microphone model 555A. It could have been received from Ben Franklin; it also could have been in the files of WJLD in the technical section of its file…

Operating Instructions, Precision Series A56 Dual Sensitivity Multi Range Tester
Box 1 Folder 10: "This is box 1 number 10 dated July of ’41. Instructions for operating precision series A56 dual sensitivity multi-range tester: again one of the technical spec publications that were most likely found in the drawer of similar…
View all 413 items

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