Al Hester papers

The materials pertaining to Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery and Enduring Legacy (and related Reconstruction-era topics) comprise a significant share of the collection. The materials pertaining to Putting On Blue and the Slave Narratives also comprise sizable portions of the collection, with the remainder consisting of research into the topic of Athenians who may or may not have fought at the Battle of the Alamo and a smattering of personal items.

The major original documents in the Gospel Pilgrim series, of importance to researchers, are Hester’s list of persons buried in the cemetery and the maps that he and others created to show gravesites and, if possible, the identities of the persons buried at each site. The list was updated regularly over a decade-long period; the final list found in this collection dates from 2012. A significant share of the rest of the Gospel Pilgrim series consists of research files relating to the interred persons, especially Monroe Morton, Harriet Powers, and Charley Hicks.

Relative to the remainder of the collection, the Gospel Pilgrim series includes more visual materials, including many original photographs of the cemetery gravesites and events related to efforts to restore, and encourage interest in, the cemetery.

Also noteworthy are Gospel Pilgrim-related publications, including some that may be difficult to procure. There are both a final copy and a mock-up of Hester’s pamphlet, Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery: An African-American Historic Site (a copy of which is also available in the Heritage Room book collection). Volume 9 of the Athens Historian, which included an article by Hester, “Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery: A Rich Resource in African-American History.” The Jaeger Company’s “Master Plan for Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery,” a report sponsored by the East Athens Development Corporation, prepared in 2003. A coil-bound program for the 125th anniversary of Springfield Baptist Church, March 28, 2004. A copy of an article, entitled “Preserving Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery,” published in Volume V, No. 1 (February 2005) of Reflections, the newsletter of the Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network. And a copy of a school report about the cemetery written by Makhynzie Morrison.

Similarly, the folder of materials relating to walking tours of the cemetery includes the following: a brochure for the 2009 Athens Heritage Walks for the cemetery and for Henderson Avenue (unrelated), as well as several copies of a map guide for the cemetery walk that year. An updated version of this map guide was made in 2014, and several copies of it are also found here. In addition, there is a map guide for a 2011 walking tour of the cemetery. A “free souvenir booklet” accompanied this tour. An undated brochure, entitled “A Walking Tour of Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery,” appears to have accompanied an earlier version of the tour.

Finally, among the Gospel Pilgrim-related publications there are also drafts of two Hester articles, one entitled, “Educators Buried in Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery,” the second about Harriet Powers. These were at least intended to be published as booklets. Final versions of these two, if they were in fact published, are not found in this collection.

The Enduring Legacy files include correspondence with descendants of Madison Davis and Alfred Richardson, other researchers, and those involved in the production of the books. However, Hester’s personal photocopies and scans of historical materials comprise much of the series. These documents have been preserved largely because they often include Hester’s handwritten notes or were interfiled with Hester’s research notes and, in rarer cases, correspondence. As such, they show Hester’s research and writing process, especially his attempts to construct the genealogy of Davis’s and Richardson’s families and delineate timelines of the Reconstruction era in Athens. A good number of these items are print-outs of U. S. census pages and similar sources of genealogical information and of newspaper clippings (mostly scans from online sources). Hester’s notes include rough drafts, biographies, family trees, summaries of his research progress, and documentation of sources.

Those researching Madison Davis, Alfred Richardson, and related topics may find the following brief index of interviews and correspondence pertaining to Enduring Legacy useful. The individual interviewed or with whom Hester corresponded is listed, followed by the location of related documents in this collection.
Dave Allen, 11 November 2008: Box 22, Folder 109.
Randolph Church, 30 June 2008: Box 20, Folder 81.
Walter H. Clark, 13 September 2009: Box 20, Folder 82.
Patricia Haggard, 24 November 2007: Box 20, Folder 83.
Ann Lacy, 2 February, 7 February, 2008: Box 20, Folder 85.
Madison Davis Lacy, 25 November 2009: Box 20, Folder 85.
Elizabeth Marsh, 17 November 2007: Box 20, Folder 84.

Especially noteworthy in the Putting On Blue series are materials pertaining to the research that the late Robert Denney had engaged in. Denney’s list of “Galvanized Yankees” required extensive work to access due to the original documents having been created in older computer software. While much of the Putting on Blue material mirrors that of the Enduring Legacy series—research files with accompanying notes—a significant share of the collection is taken up by materials related to book production, such as deciding upon images to use and obtaining permission to use the images. There are fewer materials related to the production of Enduring Legacy.

The series for Athens Memories again contains copious research files, including Hester’s lists of Athens residents who were interviewed as part of the Federal Writers’ Project’s Slave Narrative Collection. Materials related to the production of Athens Memories include original photographs, of both the interview subjects and their family members and also houses where those persons lived that were still standing at the time.

The entirety of Hester’s website, no longer online, has been preserved as part of this collection. The bibliography includes a complete listing of Hester’s articles published at the Al Hester’s Blog portion of the site; these articles constitute all of the blog with the exception of a single guest post. Research materials found in the series for Gospel Pilgrim, Enduring Legacy, Putting on Blue, and the Slave Narratives Project may pertain specifically to these articles. However, the series arrangement of this archival collection generally matches the way that Hester’s own files were organized when they were transferred to the Heritage Room. The website is accessible via the Internet Archive: https://wayback.archive-it.org/9910/*/https://www.alhesterauthor.com/, or as stable files accessible at the Heritage Room. Audio recordings of interviews related to Gospel Pilgrim are also available at the Heritage Room. Consult with Heritage Room staff for assistance.