This collection consists mainly of letters written to George and Eleanor Bridges, of Homewood, Jefferson County, Alabama, and others written by George. There are several letters written in Spanish from friends in Guatemala, Cuba, and Mexico. One letter, dated April 27, 1950, is a carbon copy of a letter from Alyce Billings Walker, Director of the Women’s Department of the Birmingham News Age – Herald to Dr. John Gallalee, President of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, in which she recommends that George Bridges be considered for producing a special sculpture to go into the new Physics Building on campus. Dr. Gallalee’s reply is also included. In it, dated May 2, 1950, he indicates that he is not sure of where the project stands and that he is referring Mrs. Walker’s letter to Dr. Eric Rodgers, head of the Physics Department.

There are also eight newspaper clippings. In three of the clippings (including photographs) George Bridges is shown carving the statue of the Rev. W. D. Hargrove, founder of the Union Bethel Independent Methodist Church. The caption under one of the pictures states “The statue is believed to be the first to a Negro minister in the world.” The other clippings are articles George or Eleanor clipped and saved.

The miscellaneous items include invoices, business cards, scratch sheets of paper, and a seven page essay on the Arts in the South. The essay is not signed.

The four journals include a 1964 amateur gardening diary kept by Eleanor Bridges. There is also what appears to be a book of favorite quotations. The third journal appears to be a combination phone book and note book for Eleanor’s committee work. The fourth journal is a log book kept by Mrs. Richard Massey of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, on a cruise from New York City, New York to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1923.

George Bridges was born in Tennessee in 1899 (possibly 31 March) and was a well-known sculptor in Alabama. He and his wife, Eleanor (born in Georgia on 16 December 1899), lived in Homewood, Jefferson County, Alabama. The bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham was made by George Bridges. He died in February 1976; she died in June 1987.

Alabama (localbroad)

Arts--Alabama (lcsh)

Business records (aat)

Clippings (information artifacts) (aat)

Community and Place (localbroad)

Diaries (aat)

Essays (Local)

Jefferson County (Ala.) (lcsh)

Music and Performing Arts (localbroad)

Personal correspondence (aat)

Sculptors--United States (lcsh)

Southern Life and Culture (localbroad)

Sports, Recreation and Leisure (localbroad)

Travel and Tourism (localbroad)