These Highly Readable Books, Written by Local Authors, are Indispensible for Anyone With an Interest in the History of our Town and Region.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of Mike Mahan’s 324 page memoir about growing up in Montevallo.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of the 2011 publication, “Montevallo” – 128 pages by Carey Heatherly and Clark Hultquist.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of the 2000 Ex Libris publication: “Time Has Made a Change in Me” – a collection of short memoirs about growing up in Montevallo. 302 pages – Edited by Montevallo native and noted historian, Robert David Ward.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of University of Montevallo history professor, James Day’s exhaustive 209 page history of Central Alabama’s 19th & 20th century Coal industry.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of former University of Montevallo history professor, David Morgan's meditations on his adopted state and his observations about living in Montevallo and his career on the University faculty.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of Montevallo native, John S. Sledge’s recent book about the Civil War in Alabama. It includes a detailed account of Wilson's Raiders’ foray through Montevallo as they fought their way to destroy the armories at Selma.
Lamar and Me, a small volume of remembrances about growing up in Montevallo was published by native son Robert David Ward in 1983. It went out of print shortly after its initial publication. The Montevallo Historical Society is pleased to bring this entertaining collection back to life as a digital pdf file that can be read online or downloaded for free.
The Lives and Times of Kingswood in Alabama 1817-1890, by Golda W. Johnson was published by the University of Montevallo in 1976 following the conclusion of the restoration of the 150 year old "King House" on campus. The book gives an account of the life and times of Montevallo settler, planter, and entrepreneur, Edmund King, who completed the Federal Style house for his family's home in 1823. The book is out of print but you can click on the cover image to open a pdf file of the complete book. For reader convenience, the file was downloaded from the online digital archives of the UM Carmichael Library.
Dr. Lucille Griffith's excellent book on the University of Montevallo's historic campus buildings, White Columns and Red Brick (published in 1987), is part of the Milner Archives maintained online by the University's Carmichael Library. You can see the book in its entirety in digital format by clicking on the photograph of its cover at right.
Click HERE to order from Amazon.com a copy of this pictorial history of Montevallo by UM professors Carey Heatherly and Clark Hultquist
In 1976 –1977, the Local History & Geography Class of Thompson High School, just 10 miles north of Montevallo on State Highway 119, published Volume I, No.1 and Volume II, No.1 of a written history of the area entitled Good Morning Yesterday.
The text and photographs of both books was researched, collected, and compiled by students in the class. Their faculty sponsor and advisor was the teacher of the class, Mrs. Tommie Ruth Mowry Harrison, a native of Wilton and a graduate of Montevallo High School as well as the University of Montevallo.
The first volume focused on the development and growth of the Alabaster / Siluria area and offered brief histories of churches in the Elliotsville and Helena communities. A reprint of Volume 1, No. 1 of Good Morning Yesterday has recently become available for purchase for around $5 through Amazon.com.
Volume II, No. 1 broadens its scope to encompass the history of Montevallo and other communities throughout Shelby County. It also gives considerable attention to the history of Coal Mining in the county. This 142 page book has been out-of-print and unavailable for purchase for many years. The Montevallo Historical Society is pleased to offer it in it's entirety to visitors of our website as a downloadable and printable pdf file.
One notable fact about Thompson HIgh's 1976 -1977 Local History Class is that future University of Montevallo graduate and famous Broadway performing star, Rebecca Luker from Helena, was a student contributor to Volume I, No. 1.
Both of these local histories were printed by Times Printing Co. of Montevallo.
Click on the book cover to order a copy of Volume 1, No. 1 from Amazon.com
To view or download a pdf file of Vol. II, No.1 in its entirety, click on the book cover at left.