Alabama Anthropological Society records, W.0059

Abstract: Records of this early Alabama society, including correspondence, reports, newsletters, and photographs.Scope and Content Note: This collection contains a variety of materials, primarily from the early part of the twentieth century, of the Alabama Anthropological Society. A significant portion of the collection is made up of correspondence (incoming and outgoing) of Peter Brannon, founding member and the Society's second president. There are also several papers or reports on Indian relics, as well as other anthropological interests. There is also a photo album containing photographs and newspaper clippings documenting Alabama Anthropological Society field trips from 1920-1922. The photographs were taken at archaeological sites in Dallas County, Macon County, and Elmore County. Newspaper clippings include obituary notices for society founder Thomas McAdory Owen, announcements, and reports on anthropological events in Alabama.Biographical/Historical Note: The Alabama Anthropological Society was founded in 1909 by Alabama Department of Archives and History Director Thomas McAdory Owen and founding members Peter Brannon, Henry S. Halbert, Herbert B. Battle, Buckner Beasley, Edgar C. Horton, J.T. Letcher, and J. H. Paterson.Following Owen's death in 1920, Brannon became president of the society and began publishing the newsletter Arrow Points. During the 1920s, when the club was most active, members participated in archaeological digs throughout Alabama, and many donated the artifacts they excavated to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. By the 1930s, the group's activities declined significantly as larger-scaled archaeological programs came to the fore. The society ended with the death of its last original members in the 1960s.Sources: "The Alabama Anthropological Society: Alabama's Pioneer Archaeologists," Alabama Department of Archives and History. http://www.archives.alabama.gov/discoveryboxes/The%20Alabama%20Anthropological%20SocietyONLINE.pdf.Waselkov, Gregory A. "A History of the Alabama Anthropological Society," Southeastern Archaeology 13, no. 1 (Summer 1994): 64-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40713018