Group works with book and museum to preserve the city’s flood-scarred history
This story is part of a partnership between the Montgomery Advertiser and Auburn University’s Living Democracy program. Now in its 13th year, the program scatters students across rural Alabama to spend 10 weeks learning about the inner workings of the community and writing about their observations.
ELBA – In May 2011, a group of historians and teachers came together to tell the story of Elba in a book. Just two years later, the group published Elba: Then and Now, 1853–2013.
Gilmer said it’s important to capture the personal anecdotes of those who grew up in or near Elba. Their memories of Saturday visits to the downtown theater, as well as the memories of others, are important to preserve for future generations, she added.
The illustrated history book was all the more significant in Elba because devastating floods in the town had destroyed important personal photos and documents over time. The Alabama Historical Commission honored the Elba History Committee with a Distinguished Service Award in 2014 for its research and publication.
“We sold at least 2,000 copies. We sold it for the price,” Gilmer said. Almost everyone on Elba now has a copy, she said, but copies are now being distributed to anyone curious about what Elba looked like long ago.
Despite the success of “Elba: Then and Now,” Gilmer said the group encountered another problem while compiling the book: the difficulty of finding historical resources and artifacts, some of which had been destroyed by flooding.
The Elba History Committee, originally composed of Nell Gilmer (chair), Jean Helms, Collis Parrish, Perry Stinson, John Frank Hudson, Lillie Ward, Eleanor Green, Fred Smith Jr. and Anna Head Spence, continued to meet. The old Elba Jail, a historic site downtown, became the next target. The group hoped to renovate the space and turn it into a museum.
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Jean Helms, president of the Elba Historical Preservation Alliance, said they could have re-roofed the prison and installed window guards and doors. But their efforts have been hampered by ongoing vandalism. Helms said broken windows, smashed locks and trash in the prison are “a heartbreak.”
Next, they focused on finding a place for a museum outside of the prison. The group focused on obtaining nonprofit status, which would allow them to apply for grants to fund a museum.
Now they are waiting for their nonprofit status to be announced and for a price to be set on a building in downtown Elba that they hope to purchase to house the museum.
Helms said the museum will preserve artifacts such as tools, books, maps and Native American items. Many of the items that need a museum home have been passed down through families and range from common household items to paintings by local artists.
However, since there is no museum, Gilmer said, they have no place to store these artifacts and have had to turn down offers for the items.
The museum’s focus will be on “education and preservation,” Gilmer said.
From an educational perspective, the museum could offer visitors and students the opportunity to learn how to do things from the past, such as making butter or husking corn.
As plans are made, the group of citizens working to create the museum realizes patience is needed. “We have struggled and are still struggling, but we believe it is worth the effort,” Helms said.
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Peggy Stroud, a member of the Elba Historical Preservation Alliance, said it would be helpful if younger people joined the mostly retired staff.
Helms said: “You reach a certain age in life where you learn to be patient. You don’t get discouraged when things don’t happen quickly. We’ve taken our time with this and I think it will pay off.”
She said the group will continue to work to preserve history and share it with future generations, whether through writing books, protecting historic buildings or establishing a museum, because they are “simply doing what we can do for our hometown to make it a better place.”
Elisha OyolaA Living democracy student at Auburn University, is living and learning in Elba, Alabama, this summer as the Jean O’Connor Snyder Intern with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life. The community service program, coordinated by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, prepares undergraduate students for civic life through summer living and learning experiences..
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