George Wallace

OK, I despise George Wallace. But there's no question of his historical significance. He may have had more biographies written of him — from the obsequious The Wallace Story to the excellent The Politics of Rage — than any other American governor who didn't later become a president.

His library is housed in full at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and there's a list online. (The books come after the phonograph records.) There are lots of typos — e.g., "Fliight of the Enola Gay" followed by "Atomis Suicide?" — but nothing too difficult.

With the phono records removed, there are 1,513 items, including a few that represent two copies. Many are periodicals and can be passed over.

The collection is far from scholarly but more eclectic than one might expect. This seems to be largely because of gifts to Wallace while he was governor. A few titles from after the 1972 assassination attempt that paralyzed him are enough to inspire pity in even a severe critic: Central Nervous System Trauma and Free Yourself from Pain.

It's interesting to see who signed copies of their books for Wallace.

I can devote a few minutes a day to this. Anyone else think it's worth doing?

there's no question of his historical significance

Actually I had to google just to know who you were on about. But okay - now I get it: minor "famous American".

Sure, I would be willing to help.

Maybe you have to be a southerner (as in American South) or a U.S. political junkie to recognize him. Wallace was a liberal who turned into a staunch segregationist, ran for president twice^H^H^H^H^H four times as an "outsider," and pioneered the kind of coded racial politics that helped convert the solid Democratic South into a solid Republican South.

I live in Alabama, where we deal with his legacy every day — consciously or not.

My main concern about proposing this is that I don't want to open LT to charges of racism. Wallace publicly repented of his notorious racist deeds, and he eventually won the support of a majority of black Alabama voters. Still, he's a controversial figure whose true beliefs are open to debate.

Still, I suppose he's less inflammatory than the Unabomber, whose books are already cataloged.

On the plus side (IMO), his legacy library is likely to reach into areas that the existing ones don't touch — Red Scare conspiracy books, mid-century devotionals, and southern lawyer references.

Yeah, no problem, I'm a European and had never heard of him before - that's all.

I wouldn't worry too much - as far as I know legacy libraries are not about likeability. I remember Hitler came up as a possible candidate at some time too. And I for one would be excited to catalogue the library of Attila the Hun - if only we could ;-)

If you are an American of my generation or older (I am in my sixties) George Wallace is an iconic figure whether you are from the South or not.

I believe you. I'm in my later fifties, but not an American. It happens ;-)

Seriously though: just because I never heard of the guy doesn't mean I think he shouldn't get a Legacy Library. If he was iconic in your country - lets go for it.

It's a good list, so it folks want to have at it, by all means, go for it! Let me know if someone sets up an account and I can do the account setup, &c.

I'd be glad to help out, if someone wants to organize the list into bite-sized chunks.

I'm also not averse to including the phonograph records. I'm surprised Wallace listened to David Bowie and The Carpenters, among others.

I've started the library at the account "GovernorWallace." Message me (Muscogulus) if you want to participate.

I reduced the book list at the website to text, with phonograph records removed. I can send you about 100 in text format. (Request more or fewer if you like.)

The list includes notes about autographs or notes in the books. I am including these in "Comments." Also including the container no. and item no. of each book, but that may be a little obsessive. (I live within 90 minutes of the archive, so I can imagine those numbers actually being useful.)

I've done 20 books so far, of which four could not be identified.

• Mental Attitude Dynamics — I found author Robert B. Thieme but absolutely nothing resembling this title. It's likely to be a pamphlet.


• Rays of Glory (songbook) — Worldcat has absolutely nothing by this title.


• World Politics 84/85, by Susan P. Ogden — No hits.


• Outstanding Young Women of America, 1974 — possibly some local ephemera published by the Montgomery, Ala. Jaycees, as Worldcat actually has an "Outstanding Young Women of America" for 1965 published by them.

The archive list includes years. In some cases, LT has the book but not the year, so I checked Worldcat to make sure details are right.

If necessary I can visit the books themselves to straighten out any important issues with the catalog.

9 >

http://rbthieme.org/Publications/mentalattitudedynamics.html

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Attitude-Dynamics-R-B-Thieme/dp/1557640203

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-Attitude-Dynamics-R-Thieme/dp/B000ND3ENO

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-attitude-dynamics-R-Thieme/dp/B0007EYHY4

http://www.amazon.com/Mental-attitude-dynamics-Basics-Book/dp/B0006XCQ76

9 >

http://www.amazon.com/Outstanding-Young-Women-America-1974/dp/0871970821/ref=sr_...

Struck out on the other two. Sometimes Amazon has its uses. Also Google.

>9 Muscogulus:

It seems you have a slightly wrong name for the World Politics - her name is Suzanne rather than Susan:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18934899?selectedversion=NBD4664446

This is Governor Wallace's ghost, signing in so folks can more easily link to the library.

Thanks for the links to those difficult titles. There are other misspelled author names on that list, so beware. Bruce Catton was spelled "Caton," for instance. I expect the archivists scanned in a typescript, probably the three-ring binder listed as an index of the library.

I've added:

• Mental Attitude Dynamics
• Outstanding Young Women of America 1974
• World Politics 84/85 (but left out the publication details, as there is a regular edition and an "illustrated edition," each from a different publisher)

The first 200 or so books are spoken for.

If you've helped or are helping catalog, note your username here please so I can add you to the contributors section. Thanks!

I've signed on for 100.

The first batch of 100 is done.

Besides the previously mentioned Rays of Glory (songbook) entry (which might be Rays from the realms of glory by one Septimus Hebert), I have found only two other insoluble entries:

1. State Energy Data Report, U.S. Department of Energy, 1985
2. We Love The Children's Hospital of Alabama, Pamphlet, ca.1982

I have gone ahead and added Reader's Digest editions and will include any other periodicals, if there are no objections. (At the top of this thread I assumed that periodicals could be skipped.)

A number of books have been first-time entries in the LT catalog. I'm sure that's one of the uses of Legacy Libraries, but I didn't expect to find many unprecedented books in Wallace's collection, which is entirely from the mid- to late 20th century. The man was no antiquarian.

>19 Muscogulus: - Cool.

1. is probably http://www.worldcat.org/title/state-energy-data-report/oclc/6366728&referer=... (the 1985 edition)

I've organized the list by box rather than by groups of 100 books. There are 77 boxes, each containing 20 items on average (ranging from 6 to >30). Only six or seven boxes are finished.

As mentioned above, I'm including the archive's unique identifier for each item in "Comments." This is the 8-char box number ("SGO"+5 digits) followed by a three-digit number. So the first item in box SGO33721 is "SGO33721 no. 001". This should make the list more useful to researchers.

I've tagged my entries pretty extensively. In particular I'm using "signed" for books signed by the author, and "gift" for books with a note inside the front cover indicating that someone gave it to the governor.

Info about inside-cover notes is also in "Comments." Where the note includes a date, I've put that in "Date acquired."

I suppose I should be adding this info to a wiki page.

Message me if you want a box.

This LL is moving slowly. An update:

The library has about 1,500 items in 77 boxes. Of the boxes,

* 13 are finished
* 4 are under way
* 60 are available to work on.

A typical box has 20-30 items. The governor's tag clouds should give an idea of what the collection is like.

Wallace's name came up this month on Radio Diaries and This American Life. The story is about Wallace's crony Asa Carter who wrote inflammatory racist speeches that became too hot for even Wallace to handle. Later, as Forrest Carter, he wrote The Education of Little Tree, a touching but fake memoir of a Cherokee boyhood. Did Carter change his views, or did an unrepentant racist write Little Tree?

The TAL story is linked here.

Thanks for the reminder. I need to get back on the stick.

This LL sat still for about a year but is moving again. The books are just over 33% complete.

Since this project started LT has begun encouraging the inclusion of music, video, etc. So once the books are done I suppose we can tackle the governor's extensive LP collection preserved in the Alabama state archives.

I would not have picked him for a music lover. Interesting.