William Lindsey McDonald papers, 1927-2009 | UNA Archives and Special Collections

By Dixie Norwood

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Collection Overview

Title: William Lindsey McDonald papers, 1927-2009

Primary Creator: William Lindsey McDonald papers, 1927-2009

Extent: 60.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: The Collection arranged into series.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The William Lindsey McDonald Collection (1927-2009; eighty-one boxes) is part of the research collection of William Lindsey McDonald, alumnus of the University of North Alabama, Florence City (AL) historian, and author. Research includes notes, correspondence, ephemera, scrapbooks, duplicated manuscripts, organizational minutes, artifacts, and numerous photographs. Most of the materials relate to the history of the Shoals area. Research articles related to Alabama and surrounding states also are part of this collection. Some materials are personal in nature, particularly those related to family history.

Biographical Note

William Lindsey (Bill) McDonald (June 7, 1927- June 20, 2009) was a native of Florence, Alabama. A lover of history since he was a young boy, bill McDonald was known for his in-depth knowledge of the area's history. A tireless researcher, he served as the Florence City Historian beginning in 1989 and authored or co-authored fifteen books and innumerable articles in magazines, newspapers and periodicals. After serving in World War II, Dr. McDonald received a degree in business administration from Florence State Teachers College (now UNA) in 1952. He was a member of the first graduation class of the new ROTC program and after graduation from college he left to serve as a Second Lieutenant in the Korean War. after reitirng as Army Reserve Colonel with thirty-eight years of sevice, Dr. McDonald had assignments on the staffs of the Provost Marshal General and the Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel at the Pentagon. In addition to his Florence State degree, Dr. McDonald graduated from the Army's Command and General Staff College (1974), the Industrical College of the Armed Forces (1975); and pursued seminary studies in the United Methodist Church.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Biographical],
[Series 2: Organizations],
[Series 3: Correpondence],
[Series 4: Speeches],
[Series 5: Writings],
[Series 6: Sermons],
[Series 7: Research Articles],
[Series 8: Historic Sites],
[Series 9: Historic Sites--Lauderdale County],
[Series 10: Lauderdale County History],
[Series 11: East Lauderdale],
[Series 12: West Lauderdale],
[Series 13: Cloverdale],
[Series 14: Green Hill],
[Series 15: Pickwick],
[Series 16: St. Florian],
[Series 17: Waterloo],
[Series 18: Florence History],
[Series 19: Florence Lauderdale Public Library],
[Series 20: East Florence],
[Series 21: Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital],
[Series 22: Colbert County/Muscle Shoals],
[Series 23: Gilbert Plantation Records],
[Series 24: Wilson Dam/TVA],
[[information restricted]],
[Series 26: University of North Alabama],
[Series 27: Factories and Mills],
[Series 28: Churches],
[Series 29: Lauderdale County Families],
[Series 30: Families],
[Series 31: Prominent Persons],
[Series 32: John Coffee],
[Series 34: Patton and Weeden Families],
[Series 35: Black Residents in the Shoals],
[Series 36: Veterans],
[Series 37: Indian Collection],
[Series 38: Civil War Materials],
[Series 42: Journals],
[Series 39: Alabama],
[Series 41: Maps],
[Series 33: Jackson Family],
[Series 40: Tennessee],
[Series 43: Image Collection Index],
[All]

Series 7: Research Articles

Box 12

Folder 1: RA: Notecards--Box 1

Box 13

Folder 1: RA: Notecards--Box 2

Box 14

Folder 1: Research Articles--Captain Billy Patton
Folder 2: Research Articles--Copy of 1918 Historical Official Souvenir--Cetennial Celebration, Florence Alabama
Folder 3: Research Articles--"Alabama" by M.C. Wilson
Folder 4: Research Articles--Alabama Landscape (Geroge Striikus)
Folder 5: Research Articles--Anne Royall Story (1821)
Folder 6: Research Articles--Architecture of Alabama Historical Houses
Folder 7: Research Articles--Barbed Wire
Folder 8: Research Articles--Beginning of a Plantation life by Dick Frontier
Folder 9: Research Articles--Covered Bridge
Folder 10: Research Articles--Downtown Florence 1914
Folder 11: Research Articles--Early Land Buyers in Florence (Milly Wright)
Folder 12: Research Articles--Early Settlement
Folder 13: Research Articles--Early Settlers of Florence and Vicinity
Folder 14: Research Articles--Fathers of Founders or Kinship in the Shoals (Milly Wright)
Folder 15: Research Articles--"Florence (1822-1871) A Textile Manufacturing Center of the Old South"
Folder 16: Research Articles--Florence of Long Ago (Oscar D. Lucas)
Folder 17: Research Articles--Henry Ford Proposal (1920's)
Folder 18: Research Articles--History of Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
Folder 19: Research Articles--"History of Lauderdale County"
Folder 20: Research Articles--History of Public Land Policies
Folder 21: Research Articles--History of the University of North Alabama
Folder 22: Research Articles--History of the Westward Movement
Folder 23: Research Articles--Houston: City in the Great Bend of Tennessee (Oliver D. Street)
Folder 24: Research Articles--Lauderdale County
Folder 25: Research Articles--Letters to L&N about Lauderdale County (Early 1900)
Folder 26: Research Articles--Natchez Trace
Folder 27: Research Articles--Our Heritage From the Shoals
Folder 28: Research Articles--Plants Native to Alabama for Landscaping
Folder 29: Research Articles--Preservation Work Guidelines
Folder 30: Research Articles--Steamboats on the Tennessee River
Folder 31: Research Articles--The War Years in Lauderdale
Folder 32: Research Articles--White Man Comes to Muscle Shoals
Folder 33: Research Articles--"Folklore and Folways in the Blueridge and Cumberland Plateau Sections of Tennessee" (William E. Cole and Urban Anderson)
Folder 34: Topic Folders--Alabama Historical Commission
Folder 35: Topic Folders--Aboriginal Sites
Folder 36: Topic Folders--Bailey Springs
Folder 37: Topic Folders--Bibliography of Local History Articles
Folder 38: Topic Folders--Cherokee Lions Club
Folder 39: Topic Folders--Civil War in Tennessee Valley
Folder 40: Topic Folders--Coffee High School 1936 Year Book
Folder 41: Topic Folders--Florence Department of Arts & Museums
Folder 42: Topic Folders--Florence Wagon Works
Folder 43: Topic Folders--History of Muscle Shoals
Folder 44: Topic Folders--Indian Mound
Folder 45: Topic Folders: Masonic Lodge Number 14
Folder 46: Topic Folders: Maps of the Shoals
Folder 47: Topic Folders: Military Road
Folder 48: Topic Folders: Mississippi Territory
Folder 49: Topic Folders: Passport for Travel Through Cherokee Nation
Folder 50: Topic Folders: Pope's Tavern
Folder 51: Topic Folders: Preservation and Tax Reform Act of 1976
Folder 52: Topic Folders: Railroad Bridge
Folder 53: Topic Folders: Religion in Muscle Shoals
Folder 54: Topic Folders: Relinquished Lands to the State
Folder 55: Topic Folders: Seven Mile Island
Folder 56: Topic Folders: Sheffield
Folder 57: Topic Folders: Tennessee River Navigation
Folder 58: Topic Folders: Tennessee Valley Historical Society
Folder 59: Topic Folders: Tennessee Valley Historical Society --Meeting Programs/Bulletins (1960-1994; Incomplete)
Folder 60: Topic Folders: Tuscumbia
Folder 61: Topic Folders: Veterans of War of 1812 and Indian Wars (Lauderdale County, AL)
Folder 62: Topic Folders: Celtic
Folder 63: Papers--Wilder Watts: Early North Alabama Indian Papers: Coffee/Meigs Correspondence and Other Information
Folder 64: Miscellaneous Publications--"Souther Children" (Anne R.H. Johnson, 1940)
Folder 65: Miscellaneous Publications--"Hamish MacTavish" (Anne R.H. Johnson)
Folder 66: Miscellaneous Publications: "Letters from Jerusalem" (William A. Graham, 1964)
Folder 67: Miscellaneous Publications: "Jack Scarborough's Memo"
Folder 68: Miscellaneous Publications: "Captain Paddy Boggan and His Times" (K.S. Bennett)
Folder 69: Archives in Manuscripts in Alabama: A Repository Guide (1992)

Box 15

Folder 1: Log Cabin Papers
Folder 2: Trees
Folder 3: Languages and Etymology
Folder 4: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 5: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 6: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 7: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 8: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 9: Miscellaneous Historical Research Notebooks (6)
Folder 10: Miscellaneous Research Notes
Folder 11: Keys to Federal Census--1820-1840
Folder 12: Research Resource Geneology
Folder 13: Research--South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama
Folder 14: Tennessee State Archives
Folder 15: The United States Constitution (Willam C. Scott, Jr. )
Folder 16: Copy of Rare 1797 Edition of Salem, Massachusetts Newspaper
Folder 17: Promise in a Lonely Land
Folder 18: A Story of Lorenzo Dow
Folder 19: Miscellaneous Articles--"Gems"
Folder 20: Shaols Heritage Articles for TVHS Publication (Index)
Folder 21: Letters Regarding Membership in the Clariosophic Society (1860-1891)
Folder 22: "Report on Proposed Power Transmission in Ohio States" (C.R. McKay)
Folder 23: The Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Co.--Season 1917
Folder 24: "Jamestown Festival Official Program" (350th Anniversary)
Folder 25: Early Newspaper Accounts of the Shoals (1800's)
Folder 26: Early Newspaper Accounts of the Shoals (1800's)/Coffee Papers
Folder 27: Early Newspaper Accounts of the Shoals (1800's)/Coffee Papers
Folder 28: Early Newspaper Accounts of the Shoals (1800's)/Coffee Papers

Box 16

Folder 1: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--A-G
Folder 2: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--M-R
Folder 3: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--Johnson, Kenneth R.
Folder 4: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--McWilliams, John
Folder 5: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--Metcalf, Doris
Folder 6: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--Scott, Jr., William C.
Folder 7: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--Wallace, Harry and Watts, C. Wilder
Folder 8: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--Wright, Milly
Folder 9: Shoals Heritage--Other Authors--McDaniel, Mary Jane