Ms. Woody's Ephemera

A respectful peek into Miss Woody’s teenage scrapbook of the 1930s and 1940s. Please click on the thumbnails to be taken to larger images.

The cover of Ms. Woody’s scrapbook complete with a Marion Institute banner.



An early snapshot of Woody Sturdivant and a private keepsake.



Ah, the wonders of College (advertisement from the 1934 Hollywood movie, College Rhythm)!



Ms. Woody’s Dance Card at Marion Institute.



Ms. Woody is No. 23 on the list of Beauties in this 1934 pageant at Perry County High School.



An early beau (name purposely withheld) of Ms. Woody’s, first as a Marion Institute cadet and then as a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy.



Christmas greetings from the Regiment of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Interesting Documents (29 November 2007)

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Snapshot of Woody Sturdivant Moore and Major General Thomas H. Barfield, MMI president, on the occasion of Moore’s retirement as MMI Librarian in 1980 (she served from 1960 to 1980).



Ms. Woody Moore was a member of the First Place Team in the 1976 Parents’ Weekend Golf Tournament at MMI.



Three snapshots of the Bell Tower being put into place in 1991. With the Chapel clocks, the project cost $100,000, a donation by James M. Hamilton, MMI Class of 1930.



Anita Johnson’s home (my landlady) has a rich and diverse history. Note the references to Harvard Law School, General Sam Houston’s wedding, and of Woodrow Wilson having tea in the front parlor in 1905. (From Perry County Heritage (2 vols., 1991) by W. Stuart Harris.)



“Tara Marsh,“ the home of James G. (C.?) Reynolds on Clay Street in Marion. The Confederate artillery officer’s uniform housed in the MMI Archives belonged to Reynolds. It was donated to the Morgan’s Raiders by his daughter, Mary Felix Reynolds. No C.S.A. artillery unit has yet been identified for Second Lieutenant Reynolds. (From Perry County Heritage (2 vols., 1991) by W. Stuart Harris.)



A two page letter from Hopson Owen Murfee to Professor E. O. Lovett at Princeton University in 1903. In addition to trying to secure Henry Van Dyke to speak at MMI, Murfee is also looking for a new mathematics professor/coach for MMI. He is hoping that Lovett will help him find the right candidate. The letter is interesting as Murfee is beginning to formulate ideas for his “Eton of the South” concept for MMI. In addition to the $700 salary for the first year offered to the new professor, Murfee wants a young unmarried man who is not only competent in his field and who is a graduate of one of the leading universities, but who is also athletic and who wants to make the teaching of young men his profession. Scholarship (publications) is less desired to excellent teaching in the classroom and on the playing field.

Interesting Documents (20 November 2007)

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Detail from an aerial photograph of the MMI campus taken on February 5, 1958. Note the light dusting of snow!



The Old Library, circa 1950s or 1960s.



A MMI parade, circa 1970s or 1980s.



The MMI Drum Corps, circa 1970s or 1980s.



A unique view of the Chapel highlighting the foliage in the vicinity.



Two images of the interior renovation of the Chapel.



Two views of the Chapel bell.



A World War II-era image of the Corps on the football field before the game. Note the cheerleaders and others at far right.



Cadet line at a home football game during the heyday of the Morgan’s Raiders (note Confederate flag in the foreground).

Interesting Documents (13 November 2007)

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Dance cards of Thomas Harvey Crigler, MI Junior College Class of 1924. Crigler later attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Captain Crigler died in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1983.



Memorabilia of T. Harvey Crigler, 1921-1924.



The first “Fall In!” from The Assembly for 1902 (the MMI yearbook).



The MMI Band in 1935-1936 (from a framed photograph).



One of the beautiful raised flower beds of the 1960s and 1970s, planned and supervised by Louise McLeod Wilkerson, wife of an MMI trustee, and planted and tended by Carl Moore, MMI’s expert Gardener. From a framed photograph.



Article about “Bear” Bryant speaking at MMI from the May 13, 1972, issue of The Skirmisher.



From the 1973 MMI Sports Banquet program when Auburn University’s “Shug” Jordan was the guest speaker.



From the same program, a list of the MMI Sports Banquet guest speakers from 1959 to 1972.



Again from the 1973 Sports Banquet program, a list of the Junior College All-Americans and Honorable Mention All-Americans from 1959 to 1972.

Of Governors and Coaches

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A number of Alabama governors and NCAA and professional football coaches have visited MMI over the years. Here are a few whose images I have recently located.

James E. “Big Jim” Folsom, Sr. (Governor 1947-1951, 1955-1959). This image is supposedly Folsom.



George Wallace (Governor 1963-1967, 1971-1979, 1983-1987); his wife, Lurleen Wallace (Governor 1967-1968). This image was made in 1974 at MMI.



Forrest H. “Fob” James, Jr. (Governor 1979-1983, 1995-1999). Governor James with MMI president Brigadier General W. Thomas Adams at MMI.



H. Guy Hunt (Governor 1987-1993). Governor Hunt with Major General Clyde W. Spence, Jr., MMI president.



Legendary Alabama Head Football Coach Paul William “Bear” Bryant was the MMI Sports Banquet speaker in 1972.



Legendary Auburn Head Football Coach James Ralph “Shug” Jordan was the MMI Sports Banquet speaker in 1973.



Bill Curry (Head Coach: Georgia Tech, University of Alabama, and the University of Kentucky). MMI Sports Banquet speaker Bill Curry with some MMI College Cheerleaders.



Charley Pell (Head Coach: Jacksonville State University, Clemson University, and the University of Florida). Image taken in 1977 at the MMI Sports Banquet with (L-R) Frank North, MMI’s Athletic Director and Head Football Coach, Charley Pell, and Major General Thomas H. Barfield, MMI president.

Interesting Documents (29 October 2007)

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The 1900 All-Institute Football Team with Hopson O. Murfee as manager.



MMI faculty circa 1900 including the first three presidents of Marion Military Institute: James T. Murfee, Hopson O. Murfee, and Walter L. Murfee – a father and his sons.



Excerpt from a VMI questionnaire in which James T. Murfee states that he was offered, but declined, the presidencies of the University of Alabama, what is now Auburn University, and what is now the University of Montevallo. Murfee was president of Howard College (our predecessor) and then founder and first president of Marion Military Institute.



Transcript of James Thomas Murfee, Virginia Military Institute Class of 1853, of Southampton, Virginia. Founder and first president of Marion Military Institute, Murfee graduated first in his class at VMI and was the highest ranking cadet – the First Captain.



A letter dated July 15, 1902, from Dr. P. B. Barringer at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He is responding to H. O. Murfee’s letter regarding the success of MMI graduates at UVA.



The interior of the Chapel at MMI in the late 19th Century.



Howard College Cadets, circa late 19th Century. Note the number of Derby (Bowler) hats!

Interesting Documents (19 October 2007)

Mr. Barkley has been preserving the important documents housed in the MMI Archives. Many of these items have been kept in non-acid-free boxes and folders that have encouraged their deterioration. Mr. Barkley's goal is to document these items and place them in storage that will not contribute to decomposition.

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Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama spoke to a crowd of some 3,000 people (a third of them white) at the Perry County Fairgrounds in Marion, Alabama, on Saturday, October 26, 1913. Prior to his speech, Washington was introduced by COL Hopson O. Murfee, President of Marion Military Institute, who mentioned that his father, COL James T. Murfee, founder and first president of MMI, was instrumental in bringing Booker T. Washington to Alabama and Tuskegee Institute. Washington confirmed Murfee’s statement in his opening remarks.



The Booker T. Washington Monument at Tuskegee University.



Press release describing a dinner hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Hopson O. Murfee for the First Lady, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Eleanor) , in their country home near Prattville, Alabama, on Thursday, September 14, 1939. The dinner coincided with Eleanor Roosevelt’s visit to Montgomery.



An Act to incorporate Marion Military Institute in Marion, Perry County, Alabama, approved February 20, 1889.



Photostat of a letter written by Robert E. Lee, President of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, to COL John W. Lapsley of Selma, Alabama, dated June 5, 1866. The letter concerns the poor performance of COL Lapsley’s son, John, at Washington College (he later transferred to the College of William and Mary in Virginia).