BPL Archivist Jim Baggett speaking at Bessemer Public Library
If you are in charge of putting together programming for your club, school, or organization, consider the Archives Speaker's Bureau the next time you need a compelling program on local, state, or regional history. From stories of historical intrigue like “John Wilkes Booth is Not Dead!”: Birmingham’s Louise Wooster and the Strange Afterlife of Lincoln’s Assassin to programs about art and literature like The Aesthetic of 19th Century Journalism: Newspaper Engravings as Works of Art, the Archives Speaker’s Bureau’s lecture selection is diverse to fit a variety of audiences.

We also offer instructive talks for groups that want to preserve their organization’s or family’s history. Handle with Care: Preserving Your Family Papers and Photographs introduces the fundamentals of home archiving—basic and inexpensive things you can do to ensure that your family letters, scrapbooks and photographs are preserved for the future. Old School Scrapbooking explores scrapbook keeping and keepsakes—visiting cards, photographs, letters, poems, theater programs, paper dolls, newspaper clippings—that people treasured and saved. Visit the Archives website for a full list of lectures.