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THE JOHN C. CRAIGER COLLECTION
Finding Aid
Call number: HC3
Extent: 14 ½ cubic feet
Black Belt Archives, Station 45, Livingston, AL 35470
www.centerforblackbelt.org
JOHN C. CRAIGER COLLECTION
SERIES DECRIPTION AND CONTAINER LIST
Location Number: HC 3: Room 2, Shelf 9&10
Finding Aid
Title: The John C. Craiger Collection
Physical Description: 14 ½ cubic feet: 18 boxes of various sizes: six letter boxes, one half size
letter box, a kodachrome slide box, seven large vinyl record boxes, one smaller 45 rpm vinyl
record box, and two oversized newspaper boxes.
Physical Location: Black Belt Archives: Room 2; Shelf 9&10
Introduction: John C. Craiger, a retired foreign languages professor at Livingston University
(the institutional predecessor of the University of West Alabama), created and owned the records
in this collection. Craiger donated the collection to the Center for the Study of the Black Belt in
2011. The collection totals roughly 14 ½ cubic feet of records and includes 18 boxes of various
sizes: six letter boxes, one half size letter box, a kodachrome slide box, seven large vinyl record
boxes, one smaller 45 rpm vinyl record box, and two oversized newspaper boxes. The
arrangement of this collection varies by box so as to preserve the order established by the record
creator. The folder files are arranged in chronological order from earliest to most recently created
records. Some of the folders contain records whose chronological scope exceeds one year. In
these instances, the folder is filed in the earliest year exhibited by the enclosed records. The
books within the collection are arranged according to literary genre. The vinyl records are
arranged in alphabetical order determined by the first letter of the last name of the musician.
There are no access restrictions on the collection.
This collection contains an assortment of photographs, artistic sketches and drawings, books,
vinyl records, magazines, slides, and newspaper articles owned by Dr. Craiger. The majority of
the collection is books and vinyl records which are indicative of Craiger’s personal taste in
literature and music. The collection also houses hundreds of photographs which depict the town
of Livingston and Livingston University during the 1980s. The artwork and photographs are
indicative of Dr. Craiger’s interest in architecture and historic homes in Alabama’s Black Belt;
included in the collection are numerous photographs of historic homes in Greene, Marengo, and
Sumter Counties and drawings of these buildings. Also included are photographs of Craiger in
Western Europe during World War II. Anyone intrigued by paintings of architecture in small
towns in Western Alabama, different genres of music and art, photography, books written in
foreign languages, photographs depicting the experiences of soldiers during World War II, and
the study of foreign language would find worthwhile items in this collection.
Biographical Sketch: John C. Craiger was born in Shades Mountain, AL on June 4, 1925. He
turned 18 during the middle of World War II, and was subsequently drafted into the United
States Army. During the Second World War, Craiger participated in both the Battle of the Bulge
and the Battle of Bezange-la-Petite. He remained in Europe briefly after the defeat of the Third
Reich and painted watercolors of several French and German villages. After his return to
Alabama, Craiger completed an undergraduate degree at Birmingham-Southern University and
taught classes at the University of Havana, the University of Mississippi, and Duke University
before becoming a full-time faculty member at Livingston University in 1955. During his 32year tenure at Livingston University, Craiger taught Foreign Languages, Speech, Typing,
English Composition, and several business classes. He also served as a faculty advisor to a
fraternity and served as a photographer for local events and the University. The University used
many of Craiger’s photographs for official publications such as the Paragon Yearbook and the
University Catalog. Local merchants sold his artistic renderings of Livingston landscapes and
architecture. Craiger held exhibits to promote his artwork at the York Library, in restaurants and
furniture stores in Meridian, MS, in Oxford, MS, and at Livingston University’s Julia Tutwiler
Library. Craiger retired from LU in spring 1987 and remained in Livingston until October 2009,
when he moved to Satellite Beach, FL, where he resides to this day.
Scope and Content Note: The John C. Craiger Collection houses roughly 1,000 photographs
depicting a broad array of subjects including, but not limited to: antebellum homes and public
buildings in Western Alabama, Luxembourg and France during the 1940s, Livingston
University, Craiger’s vacations, and Craiger’s extended family. The collection contains some
450 vinyl records (both 10-inch and smaller 45s) by a diverse sampling of crooners and classical
composers such as Frank Sinatra, Chopin, and Barbara Streisand. The books in the Craiger
Collection address a broad array of topics such as world religion, the nature of God, teaching
French as a foreign language, southern novels, the history of Birmingham, AL, ancient Egyptian
sarcophagi, and the history of the University of West Alabama. Also included are a book of
original artwork produced by Craiger and a commemorative metal plate engraved with an image
of Webb Hall. The collection includes several old editions of the Sucarnochee Review, the
literary magazine published by the University of West Alabama. The collection also houses a
copy of former Dean of Education Ralph M. Lyon’s A History of Livingston University: 18351963 and a biography about the life of renowned west Alabama folklorist Ruby Pickens Tartt.
Copies of the Paragon (Livingston University’s Yearbook) dating from 1958 to 1982 are housed
within the book boxes of the Craiger Collection. The records within the collection were created
between 1940 and 1997. This broad date range spans the military and academic career of Dr.
Craiger. The records in the John C. Craiger Collection would be a useful resource for anyone
interested in artistic renderings of west Alabama subjects, photographs of old homes in the
Alabama Black Belt, pictures of Livingston University students from the 1950s to the 1980s, the
Sucarnochee Review, Alabama novelists, vinyl records, and the history of the University of West
Alabama.
JOHN C. CRAIGER COLLECTION
SERIES DECRIPTION AND CONTAINER LIST
Location Number: HC 3: Room 2, Shelf 9&10
Finding Aid
Container Listing
Box 1 of 18 - Folders 1940 to 1997
Folder 1 - Finding Aid
Folder 2 - 1940-1972 Magazines
Folder 3 - 1941-5 Prints - World War II Photographs
Folder 4 - 1943-6 Photographs Prints - Luxembourg, Battle of the Bulge, Family
Folder 5 - 1950-1990 Prints - Photographs and Drawings
Folder 6 - 1954 - Poem - Pathetique
Folder 7 - 1960-1995 Sketches- Sumter County, New Orleans
Folder 8 - 1961 Poetry Notebook
Folder 9 - 1965-7 Personal Correspondence
Folder 10 - 1965 - Techniques of Teaching a Foreign Language
Folder 11 - 1968 - Citizen’s Handbook on Nuclear Attack
Folder 12 - 1968 - The Old Covered Bridge Brochure
Folder 13 - 1979 - Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Newsletter
Folder 14 - 1980-2007 - Newspaper Articles
Folder 15 - 1983-6 - Photographs - Livingston I
Folder 16 - 1983-6 - Photographs - Livingston II
Folder 17 - 1984 - Photographs
Folder 18 - 1984 - Photographs - Historic Homes in Greene, Marengo, and Sumter Counties
Folder 19 - 1988-2007 - Photographs and Prints - Art and Family I
Folder 20 - 1988-2007 - Photographs and Prints - Art and Family II
Folder 21 - 1988-1992 - Photographs - University of West Alabama
Folder 22 - 1989 - French Vacation - Photographs, Postcards, Prints, Negatives I
Folder 23 - 1989 - French Vacation - Photographs, Postcards, Prints, Negatives II
Folder 24 - 1989 - French Vacation Scrapbook
Folder 25 - 1989 - List of Flowers
Folder 26 - 1991-1994 - Photographs - Family, Nantucket I
Folder 27 - 1991-1994 - Photographs - Family, Nantucket II
Folder 28 - 1991-1994 - Scrapbook - Nantucket, Granddaughter’s Drawings
Folder 29 - 1997 - Photographs - London, Paris
Folder 30 - Phillips [Birmingham, Ala] High School; Birmingham Southern College
Folder 31 - Livingston, Alabama; Livingston University; Ruby Pickens Tartt; Meridian Orchestra
Folder 32 - War Dept. Publications: Spanish (1943); French (1943); 101st Infantry – Battle of the
Bulge
Box 2 of 18 - Dictionaries; Teaching Manuals
Elements of Literature - Robert Scholes & Carl Klaus
How to Write While You Sleep - Elizabeth Irvin Ross
Nuevo Diccionario De La Lengua Castellana 1887
The American College Dictionary - C.L. Barnhart
The Elements of Style - William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White
The New Columbia Encyclopedia - William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey
The New Pioneer Album For Postage Stamp In the World - H.E. Harris
The New Pocket Roget’s Thesaurus - Norman Lewis
The Writer’s Control of Tone - Edward M. White
Short Story: How to Write an Exciting Short Story, A Step-by-Step Approach
Box 3 of 18 - Biblical Books; Teaching Resources
A Bad Place of Luck - Tom Abrams
America Composition and Rhetoric 4th Edition - Donald Davidson
A Guide to Building a Full-Time Career: “ How To Be A Freelance Writer” - David Martindale
A Walk Through Fire - William Cobb
Back to Birmingham: Richard Arrington, Jr. and His Times - Jimmie Lewis Franklin
Birmingham-Southern College - 1995 Alumni Directory
Coming of Age at the Y - William Cobb
Don Quijote - De La Mancha
El Farol - Julio/ Agosto
Gabr’l Blow Sof’, Sumter County, Alabama Slave Narratives - Alan Brown & David Taylor
God The Evidence - Patrick Glynn
Harry Reunited - William Cobb
Harbrace College Handbook - John C. Hodge and Mary E. Whitten
Living with the Alabama-Mississippi Shore - Wayne F. Canis, William J. Neal, Orrin H. Pilkey, Jr.
Orrin H. Pilkey
Nonverbal Communication - Abne M. Eisenberg and Ralph R. Smith, Jr.
Silent Messages - Albert Mehrabian
Speech Idea And Delivery - Lomas - Richardson
The Face In The Window and Other Alabama Ghostlore - Alan Brown
The Hermit King - William Cobb
The Macmillan Handbook of English - John M. Kiezek and Walker Gibson
The Mind of The Bible-Believer - Edmund D. Cohen
The Lost Book Of The Bible
The Valley And The Hills: An Illustrated History Birmingham & Jefferson County - Leah Rawls
Atkins
Tutankhamen Amenism, Atenism and Egyptian Monotheism - Sir Ernest A. Wallis Budge
Watch Us Pass - Robert Canzoneri
Box 4 of 18 - Livingston Yearbooks; Birmingham-Southern Yearbooks
101 Things to Make with Human Skin Novelty Book Sleeve
Battle of the Bulge - John Pilmott
Citizen Soldiers - Stephen Ambrose
Contemporary Southern Art Festival Catalog
French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum - Jefferson C. Harrison
Livingston University Paragon 1972
Livingston University Paragon 1975
Livingston University Paragon 1976
Livingston University Paragon 1982
Livingston University Paragon 1985
Reader’s Digest - January-February 1966
Reader’s Digest - March-April 1966
The Colonel Clan 1955
The Search for Alexander - An Exhibition
The Southern Accent 1947
The Southern Accent 1948
The Southern Accent 1950
The Southern Accent 1949
Three Centuries of Craigers
Sucarnochee Review Second Edition
Box 5 of 18 - Livingston Yearbooks
Livingston State College Paragon 1956
Livingston State College Paragon 1957
Livingston State College Paragon 1958
Livingston State College Paragon 1962
Livingston State College Paragon 1963
Livingston State College Paragon 1964
Livingston State College Paragon 1965
Livingston State College Paragon 1966
Livingston State College Paragon 1967
Livingston State College Paragon 1968
Livingston State College Paragon 1969
Livingston State College Paragon 1970
The Living Bible Paraphrase Red Letter Edition 1975
Box 6 of 18 - Foreign Language Books
A History of Livingston University 1835-1963 - Ralph M. Lyon, Ph.D.
A Latin Dictionary for High-School Students - S. Dwight Arms
Advanced French Composition - Hill and Smith
Alabama Bound: Contemporary Stories of State - James E. Colquitt
Athalie - Racine
Coleccion Universal Poema Del Cid
Colomba - Prosper Merimee
Demosthene - Greek translation
Demosthene - French translation
Dictionnaire Anglais-Francais et Francais-Anglais
Echoes - Norman R. Shapiro and Evelyn Singer Simha
El Ciego The Blind-Man - Richard Lapan Esther by Racin
French Composition - C.H. Grandgent
French Reader - George W. Rollins
French Romantic Plays - W.W. Comfort
Halevy’s L’Abbe Constantin - Thomas Logie
Hay Que Ayudarte, Charlie Brown - Charles M. Schulz
History of World War II
Holy Bible King James Version
L’avare: Comedie En Cinq Actes Et En Prose Par Moliere
La Galana - Pilar Millan Astray
La Mare Au Diable Sand - A. Randall-Lawton
La Revolucion De Julio - B. Perez Galdos
La Vida Es Sueno Calderon - W.W. Comfort
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Le Malade Imaginaire - Moliere
La Madre Naturaleza - y Emilia Pardo Bazan
La Verdad Sosphechosa, Edition Annotee Par Edouard Barry
Livingston State College Announcements 1964-1965
Livingston University General Catalogue and Announcements - 1979-80
Mandala Spring 1973 - Dr. Robert R Gilbert, Dr. Betty Jean Tucker
Marina Pineda - Frederico Garcia Lorca
Metodo Espanol - M.D. Berlitz
Oeuvres De J. de La Fontaine - Alphonse Pauly
Preparatory French Reader - O.B. Super, PhD
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and the Salaman and Absal of Jami - Edward Fitzgerald
Seize Petits Contes Tout Modernes - Charles Grimm
The Bible for Students of Literature and Art - G.B. Harrison
The Greatest Generation - Tom Brokaw
The Sucarnochee Review Spring 1984 - Joe Musso
The Sucarnochee Review Spring 1985 - Tracy D. Lauder
The Sucarnochee Review Spring 1986 - Tracy D. Lauder
To Save Bastogne - Robert F. Phillips
Toting the Lead Row - Ruby Pickens Tartt, Alabama Folklorist - Virginia Pounds Brown and
Laurella Owens
Tore Y Fiesta
Twelve Plus - Biography Documnetary of Lawrence Delaine
Who’s Who in Nazi Germany - Robert Wistrich
Box 7 of 18 - Photo Album and Webb Hall Plate
Box 8 of 18 - Slides - April 1988
Box 9 of 18 - Vinyl Record Album
Box 10 of 18 - Sketchbook - Architectural and Landscape Sketches
Box 11 of 18 - 45 RPM Vinyl Records A to S
Box 12 of 18 - Vinyl Records 25 to CH
Box 13 of 18 - Vinyl Records CH to EM
Box 14 of 18 - Vinyl Records FA to HA
Box 15 of 18 - Vinyl Records HA to NE
Box 16 of 18 - Vinyl Records NE to SIM
Box 17 of 18 - Vinyl Records SIN to WH
Box 18 of 18 - WI to Z