Steve Murray STATE OF ALABAMA

DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
624 WASHINGTON AVENUE  MONTGOMERY, AL 36130-0100 Director’s Office
Administrative Services
334-242-4441
242-4361
Research Room 242-4435
Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 300100 School Tours 242-4364
Records Management 242-4452
www.archives.alabama.gov State Records Center 277-9898
Steve Murray FAX 240-3433

DIRECTOR

July 14, 2023

Members of the Alabama Legislature

Via E-mail

Dear Legislators:

I am writing in regard to a June 15 history lecture at the Department of Archives and History, which has
been cited as the motivation for proposed legislation to rescind the Archives’ FY 2023 supplemental
appropriation of $5 million. This letter conveys details previously shared with several of you in
conversation, provides an explanation for why the program was consistent with the mission of the
Archives, and summarizes the intended uses of the supplemental appropriation.

The Archives respects the authority and responsibility of the Legislature to appropriate funds as you see
fit. We hope you will make an informed decision, based on familiarity with the June 15 program and
awareness of our agency’s commitment to integrity and service in the promotion of evidence-based
history.

On June 14, I spoke with nine legislators who called regarding the lecture scheduled to take place the
next day. I shared the following four points of information during those conversations.

1. Format: The June 15 program, titled “Invisible No More: Alabama’s LGBTQ+ History,” was part
of our monthly noontime lecture series called Food for Thought. For more than thirty years, the
series has provided opportunities for the public to hear speakers on a wide array of topics in
Alabama history. Attendees are welcome to bring a sack lunch with them, but the event is not a
luncheon. The lecture is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube, and a recording is available at
https://bit.ly/FFT2023JUNE.

2. Planning Process: The 2023 Food for Thought series was planned beginning in the summer of
2022, when our public-programs staff created a proposed schedule of topics and speakers. I
provided feedback on the draft and approved the final version before invitations were extended
to speakers.

3. Promotion and Audience: The year’s complete schedule is published each January in a press
release and on the Archives website. Every month, a marketing email promoting upcoming
events goes to a list of more than 16,000 recipients, including legislators. A reminder email goes
out 24 to 48 hours before each Food for Thought. The series is promoted to general adult
audiences and not to children.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Delores R. Boyd, Chair, District 7 · Julian D. Butler, Vice Chair, District 5
District 1: Elizabeth P. Stevens; Schley Rutherford Jr. · District 2: Horace H. Horn; Gale Saxon Main
District 3: Fred D. Gray; Barbara Patton · District 4: Bobby M. Junkins; Alyce M. Spruell
District 5: Lynwood Smith · District 6: Majella Chube Hamilton; Garland Cook Smith
At Large: Leigh Davis; Marcus Reid · Ex-officio Member: Governor Kay Ivey
Members of the Alabama Legislature Page 2
July 14, 2023

4. Funding: The only direct costs associated with the program were a speaker stipend and mileage
reimbursement, both paid by a competitive grant from the Alabama Humanities Alliance using
federal funds. State dollars pay for the operation of the building, the salaries of staff, and the
costs associated with promotion—printing, email, the website, etc.

The program’s content aligned with the agency’s statutory mandate to pursue "the diffusion of
knowledge in reference to the history and resources of the state” (Ala. Code §41-6-2). The lecture
highlighted the contributions of a few LGBTQ Alabamians in their chosen pursuits and examined the
early histories of LGBTQ organizations in Alabama through the records created by groups in Auburn,
Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham starting in the early 1970s. It examined primary source documents to find
what they reveal about the interests and motivations of groups that were active decades ago, and it
discussed the limitations of historical evidence for understanding the lives of people in the past. This
approach used basic tools of historical inquiry that can be applied to any topic, and which are routinely
applied in Food for Thought presentations.

The 2023 schedule, for example, offers opportunities to hear about naturalist William Bartram’s
explorations through the Southeast in the late 1700s; college football fight songs; Alabama’s state
mammal, the black bear; the significance of musician Duane Allman’s time in Muscle Shoals for shaping
1970s rock; the 31st Infantry Division in World War II; the excavation of an ancient canoe canal through
the Fort Morgan peninsula; and the influence of family dynamics on white attitudes toward the
Confederate war effort, to name a few. During these and other programs, our intent is to offer history,
not indoctrination.

Finally, please allow me to share with you information on the intended uses of the supplemental
appropriation made to the Archives. The earmark in the bill indicated that the $5 million is to be used
for “museum upgrades and/or property purchases.” The museum upgrades include a multi-part project
to enhance and expand our existing Museum of Alabama exhibits. The funds will support the redesign of
our Native American content, the creation of a new military gallery to honor the service of Alabamians,
the development of an all-new children’s gallery, and technological and content updates to the decade-
old Alabama Voices gallery. The property purchase will be to secure a site for the future construction of
a preservation facility to house our growing collections and 21st-century functions such as digitization
and the management of born-digital records. Additional information on the projects is provided in the
attached flier.

We invite you to visit the Archives at your convenience to learn more about these projects and our
commitment to serve everyone who calls Alabama home.

Respectfully,

Steve Murray
Director
 Summer 2023
Learn more about the ADAH at archives.alabama.gov

Updates & Enhancements Ahead for the Museum of Alabama

The ADAH has launched a major capital project to expand and enhance the Museum of Alabama, the state
history museum located at the ADAH in Montgomery. Planning for this new phase of work began in 2022,
and installation is scheduled to begin in mid-2025. New exhibits will open in early 2026, when the agency
will mark its 125th anniversary of service to the state and the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation.
Funding for the project is provided by a 2023 supplemental appropriation by the Legislature, to be matched
with support from the Alabama Archives and History Foundation.

New Children's Gallery

A reimagined space will make Alabama’s history fun,
engaging, and relevant for children ages 2 to 10. The
gallery will demonstrate that they are a valued part of
our state’s story and that we believe in the contributions
they can make to Alabama.
Flexible learning stations will introduce age-appropriate
topics in Alabama history with a focus on engaging
history and civics concepts through play.
The gallery will serve as a demonstration space for early
childhood educators.

New Exhibit:
Alabama Military Stories
This exhibit will honor the experiences of Alabamians
in military service during war and peacetime, and
will explore the effects of service on their lives and
communities.
The purpose of the exhibit is to deepen visitors’
understanding of the courage and cost that come
with answering the call of duty.

New Exhibit: First Peoples of Alabama

A new presentation of the history of Alabama’s first peoples will
center and highlight Native American perspectives, creating a
space where the stories of Alabama’s indigenous people are told
respectfully, accurately, and in an engaging way.

Updated Exhibit: Alabama Voices

Updates to the Museum of Alabama’s ten-year-old centerpiece exhibit will introduce additional stories of
Alabama’s contributions to the American experience and incorporate new research. These enhancements will
take advantage of new technology to better serve the evolving learning styles of visitors.
 Summer 2023
Learn more about the ADAH at archives.alabama.gov

Planning Underway for New Preservation Facility

As collections and services of the ADAH continue to grow, the current building’s capacity is rapidly nearing its
limit. Periodic expansion of the agency’s facilities has been necessary throughout our history, with building
projects being completed in 1907, 1940, 1974, and 2005. We are again at the point of requiring additional,
environmentally sound storage capacity as well as new space for 21st-century functions such as digitization
and the management of electronic records.
A functional assessment begun in 2022 is nearing completion and will serve as a guide for planning the
new facility. Funding to purchase a site for future construction was provided by a 2023 supplemental
appropriation by the Legislature.

(Left) The building’s best records storage area in the

2005 wing has no available space for collections growth.

(Right) Storage conditions in older portions of the building,

including this space used for newspapers, are substandard.

(Left) The room Goals for A New

dedicated to the
ADAH’s superb
Preservation Facility:
textiles collection,
including • Collections storage space to accommodate the
quilts, flags, next 25 years of growth
and clothing,
is at maximum • Storage for large museum artifacts
capacity and
does not meet • Appropriate environmental controls for the
best-practices long-term preservation of fragile materials,
standards for including the ADAH’s rapidly growing audiovisual
environmental collection
control.
• An updated conservation lab
• Office and meeting space for collections and
records management staff