Tag Archives: Patrick Cather

Birmingham Historical Society, BOOK, Book Sale, Book Signing, City of Birmingham, Membership, Publications

Fifty Important Books About Our City 1994-2026

October 29, 2026 bhistorical

Help us celebrate the publication of Birmingham Rebound: Fifty Important Books About Our City, 1994-2026 by Coke S. Matthews III.

Free and Open to the Public
Sunday, November 8th, 4-6PM
Birmingham Historical Society Headquarters
2827 Highland Avenue

Invitation to a book launch for 'Birmingham Rebound: Fifty Important Books About Our City, 1994-2026' by Coke S. Matthews III, including event details and acknowledgments for participating authors.

In 1993, Patrick Cather published a book entitled Birmingham Bound: Opinionated and Often Irreverent Essays of the Fifty Most important Books About Alabama’s Largest City.

Coke Matthews has carefully reviewed and refreshed this list, presenting a curated selection of his 50 titles that explore the rich history of Birmingham, published by Birmingham Historical Society.

Many of the included authors will be on hand to sign these books, and 2026 members can pick up their membership copy. This list is a must have for avid readers, Birmingham historians, and anyone simply curious about Birmingham. Please join Birmingham Historical Society members and the authors who write about our city’s history on Sunday, November 8th, 4-6PM.

Birmingham Rebound Coke Matthews Coke S. Matthews Fifty Important Books About Our City Patrick Cather

BUY IT HERE on AMAZON! Or support your local vendors, Shoppe in Forest Park, Alabama Goods in Homewood, Thank You Books in Crestwood, Sloss Furnaces, and the UAB Bookstore.

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BUILDING BIRMINGHAM'S INDUSTRIAL BASE - 2025 Publication available NOW

This collection of monographs tells the story of the rise of the economic engine that powered Birmingham for its first one hundred years.

Reflecting on their long experience at their respective companies, these four men present succinct and highly readable histories. Birmingham antiquarian and collector John C. (Jay) Draper IV, a Newcomen member who acquired the print booklets of the annual addresses, is pleased to share them in this reprinting that is ‘set up, printed and bound’ in Birmingham, Alabama by their original publisher, Birmingham Publishing Company. This $30.00 publication is not available on Amazon. Please contact BHS to purchase or fill out this online form

Upcoming Events

2026 Events

January 1, Membership Renewal for 2026.
January 19, 2 pm, Preview Showing of Tuxedo Junction, Virginia Samford Theatre, 1116 26th Street South.
January 31, 1:30-4:30 pm, Book Sale, Salamander Festival, Gymnasium, Homewood High School.
February 7, 11:00 am-3:00 pm, Book Sale, Black Heritage Fair, Birmingham African American Genealogy Group, Inc., Birmingham Public Library, 2100 Park Place.
February 23, 7 pm, BIRMINGHAM by the BOOK, Annual Meeting, Auditorium, Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Our speakers: Tom Cosby and Stewart Dansby, Know Your City Quiz, Autograph Party, and cake tasting.
February 23, Cake with a Past Competition, entries due by 4 pm, Auditorium, BBG
September 27, 4-7 pm, Heritage Society Gathering, a progressive party ending at the T. Felton Wimberly House, Forest Park, by invitation.
October 4, 3-5 pm “Fiddling Tom Freeman, the man who Fiddled Franklin Roosevelt to Four Terms”, with folklorist Joyce Cauthern
October 18, 2-5 pm, It’s Nice to Have you in Highland Park, Open Houses and Porch Crawl throughout the neighborhood with a Scavenger Hunt and showing of the Above Birmingham: Aerial Photographs from Birmingham by the Book exhibit.
November 8, 4-6 pm Publication Celebration Coke Mathews III’s Birmingham Rebound: 50 Important Books About Our City, 1994-2026 (with many of those included expected to attend)

Trustees

February 23, Trustee Supper, 5:30, Birmingham Botanical Gardens
March 10, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
May 12, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
September 15, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
December 8, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue

Executive Committee

January 13, Noon
February 10, 2827 Highland Avenue
April 14, 2827 Highland Avenue
June 9, 2827 Highland Avenue
July 14, 2827 Highland Avenue
August 11, 2827 Highland Avenue
October 13, 2827 Highland Avenue
November 10, 2827 Highland Avenue

2025 Events

January 25, 1:30-4:30 pm , Book Sale, Salamander Festival, Gymnasium, Homewood High School.
February 1,11:00 am-3:00 pm, Book Sale, Black Heritage Fair, Birmingham African American Genealogy Group, Inc., Birmingham Public Library, 2100 Park Place.
February 24, 7 pm, Revival at Rickwood, Annual Meeting, Auditorium, Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Our speaker : Gerald Watkins, Director Friends of Rickwood.
February 24, Family Favorite Chocolate Cake Competition, entries due by 4 pm, Auditorium, BBG
April 13, 5 pm, Heritage Society Gathering, Historic Herbert Stockham House, Redmont, by invitation.
October 19, 3-5 p.m., It’s Nice to Have You in Highland Park, at 2827 Highland AvenueNovember 16, 2 p.m., A Traveler’s Tales: William Bartram’s 1775 Journey…through the Southern British Colonies and the future state of Alabama, as told by Brian Rushing, naturalist and Bartram admirer, at 2827 Highland Avenue AND:Celebrating the release of Building Birmingham’s Industrial Base, our 2025 Members Book, at 2827 Highland AvenueJanuary 18th, 2 p.m., Tuxedo Junction documentary at the Virginia Samford Theater.February 23, 5: 30 p.m., BHS Trustees Supper and Annual Meeting, celebrating the release of Birmingham By the BookMarch 15 or 22, 2 p.m. 1776, at the Virginia Samford Theater.

Trustees

February 24, Trustee Supper, 5:30, Birmingham Botanical Gardens
March 11, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
May 13, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
September 9, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue
December 9, Noon, Trustees Meeting, 2827 Highland Avenue

Executive Committee

January 14, Noon
February 11, 2827 Highland Avenue
April 8, 2827 Highland Avenue
June 10, 2827 Highland Avenue
July 8, 2827 Highland Avenue
August 12, 2827 Highland Avenue
October 14, 2827 Highland Avenue
November 11, 2827 Highland Avenue

Birmingham Historical Society Publications

2026. Birmingham by the Book: A Guide to the Magic City
2025. Building Birmingham’s Industrial Base
2024. It’s Nice to Live in Birmingham
2023. 100 Years by Anne Roberts Gayler
2022. Birmingham’s Dynamite Hill
2021. Birmingham: The City Beautiful, Compliments of G. Ward
2020. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide (reprint of 1981 edition)
2019. Pretty Posies, Powerful Healing: An Herbal Primer
2019. Shades Creek: Flowing Through Time
2018. Warren H. Manning’s City Plan for Birmingham, reprint of 1919 plan
2016. Birmingham, 1915, reprint
2016. For Science and Humanity: Building Southern Research
2015. Bob Moody’s Birmingham: A City in Watercolor
2014. Mountain Brook-A Historic American Landscape
2013. MINUTES-Central Committee of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
2012. The Jemison Magazine: Birmingham and Mountain Brook, 1926-1930, reprint of the magazines
2011. The Jemison Magazine and The Selling of Birmingham, 1910-1914, reprint of the magazines
2010. Digging Out of the Great Depression: Federal Programs At Work In and About the Birmingham Area
2009. Mountain Brook Village: Then & Now
2008. D.O. Whilldin: Alabama Architect
2007. Hand Down Unharmed: Olmsted Files on Birmingham Parks: 1910-1925
2006. The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham
2005. A Park System for Birmingham, Olmsted Brothers, 1925, Reprint.
2004. Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1950
2003. A Guide to Architectural Styles Featuring Birmingham Homes
2001. Aspiration: Birmingham’s Historic Houses of Worship
2001. A Pizella Affair: Portraits of the Comer Family
1999. Walking Tours of Birmingham Churches Conducted from 1990-1999
1999. Vive Vulcan! Activities for Schools
1998. In Celebration of the Restoration of Alabama Power Company’s 1925 Tower
1998. Low Virtues: The Value of Human Scale Architecture to Birmingham Urbanism
1998. A Walk to Freedom-The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964
1997. Birmingham Bound-An Atlas of the South’s Premier Industrial Region
1996. Birmingham View: Through the Years in Photographs
1995. Birmingham’s Vulcan, reprint 1938 booklet
1995. Vulcan & His Times-A Tell all about Birmingham’s Most Famous Landmark
1994. The Birmingham Industrial Heritage District Map
1992. True Tales of Birmingham
1991. Mountain Brook Estates, reprint of a 1926 publication
1991. Judge Clarence Allgood: His Brother’s Keeper
1990. Cinderella Stories, Transformations of Historic Birmingham Buildings
1989. Designs on Birmingham: A Landscape History of a Southern City and its Suburbs
1989. Buildings Against Cities: The Struggle to Make Places
1988. House Detective: A Guide to Researching Birmingham Buildings
1986. Image of the City, by Grady Clay
1985. Go To Town, Birmingham: A Public Forum on a Vital City Center
1984. Old Birmingham-New Architecture: Student Projects for a Historic Downtown Context
1983. Five Points Heritage Hike and Patch
1982. Town Within A City: The Five Points South Neighborhood, 1880-1930
1981. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide
1980. Birmingham Heritage Hike Guide and Patch
1978. The Ghost in the Sloss Furnaces
1978. Downtown Discovery Tour
1978. Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide
1977-1987. The Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society, 14 issues

Research, Publishing, and Education