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    Eudora Welty exhibit to open in Mobile

    “If exposure is essential, still more so is the reflection.”
    Eudora Welty, from Foreword, One Time, One Place

    With the exhibition “Eudora Welty: Exposures and Reflections” opening September 2 at the Museum of Mobile, I am reflecting on my memory of Eudora Welty’s visit to Agnes Scott College in 1977. She seemed elderly as she walked up the chapel aisle to read from the podium to the eagerly listening Scotties. Now I realize that she was only in her late 60s. At previous Writers’ Festivals, we had heard Robert Penn Warren, Reynolds Price and Josephine Jacobsen, but Eudora Welty touched our Southern sense of self. Read more »

    A Touch of Foolishness

    Bert Kaempfert was a little known orchestra leader, a songwriter and arranger during the “big band” era of the 1950’s. His recordings enjoyed only moderate success until he recorded “Red Roses for a Blue Lady,” a song that had been around for two decades without hitting the charts. German born Kaempfert’s rendition of this tune, previously recorded by Guy Lombardo, immediately placed in the top 10 pop recordings of 1965, selling over a million records. Read more »

    Book a Road Scholars talk today!

    Bettina Byrd-Giles gets you thinking. She gets you thinking about the origin of your family’s name, about your heritage and about the variety of backgrounds represented in Alabama yesterday and today. In her Road Scholars Speakers Bureau presentation “The Cultural Evolution of Alabama,” Mrs. Byrd-Giles shows us that the 22nd state is not monocultural. Read more »

    A big thanks to Alabama Booksmith, and YOU!!

    Thanks to Jake Reiss and his staff at Alabama Booksmith for helping raise more than $4,300 for AHF! Jake raffled and auctioned off two signed copies of To Kill a Mockingbird at his Homewood store on August 11. Customers donated $5 for every raffle ticket, totaling about $2,000, and the lucky auction winner took home the book for $2,300. Read more »

    NEH Chairman Impressed by AHF, Birmingham

    NEH Chairman Jim Leach was a big hit in Birmingham on July 29, delivering a talk on civility and American politics at Samford University and participating in a series of meetings and tours around the city. This was his first visit to Birmingham or Alabama since he was a young child, and he was extremely impressed with what he saw. Read about a few highlights from his day after the jump. Read more »

    Sign up for our golf tournament today!

    Join us for a golf tournament benefiting the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Birmingham Lions Club Foundation.

    Monday, October 11, 2010
    Pine Tree Country Club
    8 a.m. Shotgun Start

    You can select from the following price packages:
    $125 Player Fee
    $200 Sponsorship Sign Only
    $450 Arranged Foursome Fee
    $275 Hole Sponsorship and One Player
    $600 Hole Sponsorship and Four Players

    All fees include a luncheon at the Pine Tree Country Club. Prizes will be awarded for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place teams, closest to the hole and longest drive.

    To sign up for the tournament, email us for a form: jdome@ahf.net.

    The 2010 Fall Luncheon is Right Around the Corner!

    This year’s Alabama Humanities Awards Luncheon will be held Monday, September 13, 2010, at noon at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham.

    The luncheon will feature our guest speaker, chief legal correspondent for CBS News Jan Crawford. We will honor Edgar Welden, 2010’s Alabama Humanities Award recipient, and the Robert R. Meyer Foundation as this year’s Charitable Organization in the Humanities. We will also present a special resolution in recognition of The Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth.

    For more information, and to R.S.V.P., visit our luncheon website. Read more »

    National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman to Visit Birmingham

    Please join us on Thursday, July 29, at 6 p.m. for an evening with Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The reception and program, “Civility in a Fractured Society,” will take place at Brock Recital Hall at Samford University.

    The event is presented by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, in partnership with Samford’s Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership and the Birmingham Area Consortium for Higher Education. Read more »

    Congratulations to Nancy Anderson!

    A former AHF board member and chair is continuing to help educate the youth of Alabama, and earning students national recognition for their efforts.

    Nancy Anderson, an English professor at Auburn University Montgomery, surprised elementary school students this week with a letter from President Barack Obama. Read more »

    Win a Signed Copy of To Kill a Mockingbird

    This has been a big year for Alabama’s beloved book, and now you have a chance to win a signed copy of your own!

    The Alabama Booksmith will hold a raffle and auction for two copies of To Kill a Mockingbird. Each book has a cloth slipcase, the original 1960 jacket design, ribbon marker, and bookplate signed by Harper Lee.

    One book will be raffled off—for every $5 donation to the Alabama Humanities Foundation, your name will be entered into the drawing. The drawing will take place on August 11, 2010, at 6 p.m. when Harper Lee biographer Kerry Madden draws the winning name.

    To win the other copy, enter the auction at The Alabama Booksmith’s website. Each offer must surpass the previous highest total by $10, until $1,000 is reached. Then a $50 increase will be necessary. The highest bid as of 6 p.m. on August 11, 2010, will get to take the book home. Read more »