UAH Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives

In 2019, UAH Archives and Special Collections received an Alabama Humanities Alliance major grant to create programming based on the life of UAH history professor Frances Roberts (1916-2000). As part of this grant, Archives and Special Collections faculty developed an online exhibit, Frances Roberts: Her Life and Legacy. A traveling exhibit is in development. The exhibit will be on display in the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, Athens State University, the University of Alabama Hoole Special Collections, and the University of West Alabama in 2021 and 2022.

Roberts was "an Alabama original." Born and raised in Gainesville, AL., she became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in history at the University of Alabama before going on to become the first chair of UAH's Department of History and the namesake of the university's Roberts Hall. She was later inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame, thanks in part to her efforts to help establish Huntsville's Old Town and Twickenham historical districts, Huntsville's Constitution Hall Village, the Huntsville Historical Society, and the Huntsville Preservation Society.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections invites the community to enjoy an afternoon of Apollo history at the M. Louis Salmon Library on Sunday, July 14 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm. The event will include behind-the-scenes tours of the archives, a showing of documentary When We Were Apollo, an opportunity to record personal memories of the Apollo program, and an Apollo history exhibit curated by Archives and Special Collections staff. Light refreshments with a 1960's theme will be served. This event is open to the public. For more information, contact us at archives@uah.edu or 256-824-6523.

This will serve as the opening event for the exhibit "To Land on the Moon: Huntsville and the Apollo Program", which highlights Huntsville's contributions to the space race and Apollo program on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Featuring rare and unique photographs and manuscripts from the UAH Archives and Special Collections, the exhibit highlights the personal perspectives and technical expertise of the Huntsvillians who took us to the moon. The exhibit also examines the impact of the aerospace industry on the development of UAH and the city of Huntsville during the 1960's. "To Land on the Moon" is curated by UAH Archives and Special Collections staff.

This exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, contact archives@uah.edu or call 256-824-6523.

Photograph of Apollo 11 Launch Courtesy NASA