BONUS Throwback Thursday - U.S. Centennial Flag

As we prepare to celebrate our nation's independence next week during the July 4th holiday, we thought it might be fitting to share one of the treasured artifacts housed in the Samford University Library's Special Collection -- a hand-sewn linen United States flag from 1876.

Images courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

The flag features 37 stars (the number of U.S. states at the time) and is signed by "M. Baker" -- further research identifies her as Matilda Baker, a shopkeeper in her early 50s at the time the flag was made.

Click here for more information about Matilda Baker and the U.S. Centennial Flag

Click here to learn more about items from the Samford University Library Special Collection

Throwback Thursday - Old Main

Image courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

Photograph of "Old Main" building at Howard College's East Lake campus in Birmingham in 1949.  If something was happening on campus, it likely happened here.

Library Hours for the July 4th Holiday

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The Samford University Library will be CLOSED Tuesday, July 4th, in observance of the Independence Day holiday.  We will be open the following hours during the preceding weekend:

• Friday, June 30th:  7:30am - 5:00pm
• Saturday, July 1st:  10:00am - 5:00pm
• Sunday, July 2nd:  1:00pm - 5:00pm
• Monday, July 3rd:  7:30am - 8:00pm

We will resume our normal summer hours on Wednesday, July 5th.

For more information about the library's hours of operation, please click HERE.

Throwback Thursday - 1925 Glee Club

Image courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

A photograph of the Howard College Glee club in 1925. On back the some of the students are identified as A.H. Eubank, E.N. House, Peyton A. Eurona and Frank Aokins (directing).

Throwback Thursday - Campus Construction

Image courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

Major Harwell Davis (President 1939-58), Frank P. Samford, and Paul A. Redmond at the construction site of the Homewood campus' administration building, now known as Samford Hall.

Throwback Thursday - First Summer School Students

Image courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

If you're attending summer classes at Samford this year, you have something in common with these individuals as Howard College opened its very first summer school 102 years ago yesterday.

In order to provide for the extension of teachers' certificates, Howard College established a Department of Education with the opening of its first summer school on June 7, 1915. The school for teachers was run in conjunction with the summer school for college students. About fifty students were registered the first summer. Professor James W. Norman, who had recently been named to the faculty of the School of Education of the University of Minnesota, was Dean of the Summer School. The school closed July 16th of that year.

We don't know how warm it was the day this picture was taken, but the record daytime high for Birmingham on this day in history is 97 °F in 1933... so the next time you're thinking you're uncomfortably hot while dressed in shorts and t-shirts, just consider the outfits they're wearing here.

Throwback Thursday - A. Bess Clark

Image courtesy of the Samford University Library Special Collection.

This formal photograph of A. Bess Clark appeared in the July 1919 edition of the Howard College Summer Bulletin.  Clark was both the Dean of Women and an English professor at the time.