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Dairy Inventory 1916
Alabama College kept detailed records once it established the campus dairy in 1915. This inventory circa 1916 outlines the types, numbers, and prices of its livestock. For context, $1.00 in January 1916 is equivalent to approximately $23.00 in 2017.
Grazing Dairy Cows
This undated photograph of the Montevallo dairy was taken some time during the 1940s. The photograph depicts several dairy cows grazing in the pasture with the barn in the distant background. The dairy closed about ten years after this photo was…
Bottle Cap
Alabama College, later the University of Montevallo, established a dairy to provide the school with easy access to milk and butter. Eventually, the school began to sell the milk to local grocers. They used glass bottles with these types of cardboard…
Dairy Over Budget
These are a few of the documents which show the school's budgets and reports prior to the closing of the dairy. Although there is no clear explanation as to why it was closed or when it was even discussed, the reports suggest it was due to financial…
Matador Segis Walker
Matador Segis Walker was one of the many cows owned by the dairy farm at Alabama College. He was born December 18, 1926, a Pure Bread Holstein-Friesian. The registry traces the cow’s lineage back 3 generations. Its father, called a sire, was…
Hinman Handshake
Beginning on October 15, 1917 President Thomas Palmer entered into correspondence with the Hinman Milking Machine Company based in Oneida, New York. He was seeking information about purchasing a milking machine for the dairy farm at the Alabama…
Alabama College Wins Prize
The Holstein Friesian Association of America sent Alabama College (as The University of Montevallo was known from 1923 to 1969) a check on May 28, 1929. The check was made out for the amount of thirty dollars in prize money ( $435.29 in 2017). The…
New Name, New Catalogs, New Costs
In 1923, upon completing the transition from Alabama Girls' Technical Institute to Alabama College, State College for Women, a new academic catalog was released. The catalogs looked very similar to previous volumes although it displayed the new…
Grim Reaper
On August 15, 1927 Alabama College received a letter containing an advertisement for a new insecticide called Grim Reaper, along with a free sample of the product. The pesticide’s pricing was relatively inexpensive even when adjusted for inflation. …
Milking Machine Letter
The Correspondence between President Thomas Palmer, of the Alabama Girls’ Technical Institute, and the Empire Cream Separator Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey began on January 15, 1918. On February 18 he confirmed in a letter that he had purchased…
Making a Four-Year College
This letter to the "Honorable Board of Trustees" from their chosen Executive Committee outlines important factors to the transition of Alabama Technical Institute and College for Women to Alabama College.
The Executive Committe notices some of…
The Executive Committe notices some of…
The Beginning of a Four-Year College
According to this letter by president Palmer to the Alabama governor and the school's board of trustees, the first year of the four-year college was already underway by October 1922 in the home economics major--but all other majors still only offered…
1922-1923 Session Report Letter to the Governor and Board of Trustees
On February 9, 1923 a committee gathered to divide funds set aside for the expansion of the Institute’s courses of study into a full fledged Bachelor’s program. Alabama College began session in the fall of 1923. In previous years the Institute had…
1921-1922 Session Report Letter to the Governor and Board of Trustees
In the Fall term of 1921, the Alabama Technical Institute and College for women began offering a four year degree in home economics, the first of its kind in the state. Colleges all around ridiculed the institute because home economics was not on the…
Alabama College Bulletin ( 1923-1924)
Alabama College's fall bulletin in 1923 provides many details of the University of Montevallo’s early development. Identified as the “Extension Division Announcement 1923-1924,” it was the college’s first bulletin published under the name “Alabama…
What Alabama College Offers - Bulletin
The small staple bound bulletin, What Alabama College Offers, was distributed throughout the state of Alabama to promote Alabama College. It includes descriptions of the college campus, environment, and avaliable course work in a pocket size format…
Alabama College Farm and Cows
These are photographs of the Alabama College Dairy's cattle which consisted of both award-winning Holstein and Jersey cows. By the end of the dairy's operation in 1960, the cattle consisted of over a hundred cows. All cows occupying the campus farm…
Tuberculosis Free Certification
This is a certificate notifying the Alabama College that the herd of 96 Holstein cattle, located in Montevallo, AL are tuberculosis free. The certificate was issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture and…
Resolution to Change
This is one of the first records of the transition from Alabama Girls' Technical Institute and College for Women, that still taught high school courses, into Alabama College, State College for Women that offered four-year courses such as home…
Invitation to the Fair
This is a letter to Alabama College regarding the college bringing a herd of cattle to the 1927 State Fair. The Fair was held in Birmingham, AL at the state fairgrounds and was held from September 26th to October 1st. The letter came from the desk of…
Letter Regarding the Cleanliness of Milk Cans
A handwritten letter from U.D. Franklin to future president and current business manager E.H. Wills regarding milk cans being returned to the dairy without being cleaned thoroughly. During 1927 tuberculosis was at an all time high, and the first…
Tuberculosis Test
This is proof of a result of a tuberculin test done on a herd of 102 Jersey and Holstein cattle done on June 24, 1930. The tuberculosis vaccine was developed in 1927, but still not very wide spread. The cattle tested for tuberculosis were given an…
Recommendation Letter Written to Dr. Palmer for Job Applicant
The Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word sends a letter of recommendation to Dr. Palmer on behalf of Olivia Ford, a recent graduate seeking employment as a teacher. Miss Ford sent a handwritten letter to Dr. Palmer on June 10, 1920 inquiring about…
Moving the Herd
This letter written in 1929 about Alabama College’s first dairy had been around for about 20 years at this point, but it had not been updated since it was first built. The letter is written by a building coordinator pleading with the board of…
Squirrels on Campus
This letter states that the season for taking squirrels closed on February 1st and it would not begin again until the following fall. The letter was written by I. T. Quinn commissioner of the Alabama State Department of Game and Fisheries in…
The Other Side of Cows
Pictured here is the Alabama College’s herd of certified Holstein-Friesian cows at milking time. The twice-daily milking process took over an hour. After milking the cows were let out into the pasture to graze and walk around. The dairy was operated…
Letter to the Alabama Governor regarding the transition to Alabama College
A letter to the Governor of Alabama, William W. Brandon from the Alabama College Board of Trustees. This is the first page of the full letter from the Board which outlines the completion of the transition to the new name of Alabama College as well as…
The Cow Blanket That Can't Come Off!
An advertisement sent to the Alabama College Business Manager, W.J. Bailey, for a Cow Blanket from the R. Laacke Company. There is a letter that precedes the advertisement which alludes to the fact that it is the third letter which was sent after the…
A Faithful Horse
This short newspaper clipping humanizes President Palmer and shows us a softer side of the gargantuan figure who oversaw Montevallo for nearly two decades. This document, commemorating the death of Dr. Palmer's horse of twenty five years, Old…
Follow-up Letter to Washington
After President Palmer met with Dr. S.P. Capen, higher education specialist at the U.S. Bureau of Education, he followed up with an impassioned letter that reveals details about their exchange in Montgomery. The document encapsulates President…