On This Day In Alabama History: Alabama History Commission Was Founded

Alabama News Center | January 6, 2018 @ 5:00 am

By Graydon Rust Alabama 200

January 6, 1899

The Alabama History Commission was founded with Thomas M. Owen as the chairman. In a show of Southern patriotism and pride for state’s past, the Alabama House of Representatives passed the bill 49-1 immediately before unveiling the Confederate Monument at the State Capitol. As chairman of the commission, Owen prepared a 447-page report on the condition of historical materials in the state that recommended the creation of an independent, state-supported agency to officially house the state’s historical records. Owen later drafted the bill to create the Alabama Department of Archives and History, which passed the Legislature nearly unanimously in 1901, and served as the agency’s first director until his death in 1920.

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