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A series of images from the UAB Archives

Image of the Month (2015)

  • Nurses with a special visitor to University Hospital, 1967

    Two female nurses pose with Santa Claus
    December 2015 Image of the Month

    Primitiva Isar (left) and Leonides Bulawin (right), who were working in the hospital as Exchange Visitor Nurses, enjoy a visit with Santa Claus.

    Image ID: P16.1.2, #2368

  • Medical Center Dormitories and Apartments, November 1945

    Exterior of the Medical Center Dormitories and Apartments
    November 2015 Image of the Month

    When the medical school was established in Birmingham, the university acquired the former Cullom Apartments for use as faculty and student housing.  The 18 apartment buildings fronted South 20th Street and 8th Avenue South. The buildings later held various campus offices, such as the Urban Affairs Institute and offices for anthropology, art, chemistry, biology, and natural sciences. In 1962 some of the buildings were demolished to build the Engineering Building [Cudworth Education Center]. The remaining buildings were demolished in 1969 for the construction of the Kahler Plaza Hotel [Birmingham Hilton Hotel].

    Image ID: MC51, #152a

  • Blaze with UAB Cheerleaders at a basketball game, 1996

    Blaze stands with two male cheerleaders on a basketball court
    October 2015 Image of the Month

    The new UAB mascot was unveiled on October 18, 1995, and debuted to the public at a basketball game in Bartow Arena on January 6, 1996. The green dragon named Blaze is the university’s fourth mascot since 1978 when the athletic program was established. Student Wyndall Ivey was the first student to don the dragon costume.

    Image ID: P23.1

  • ROTC Color Guard, circa 1989

    Members of the ROTC Color Gaurd stand at attention
    September 2015 Image of the Month

    The Army ROTC program at UAB was established in September 1980 with 12 student cadets. In 1983 UAB was granted host institution status and became home to the newest battalion of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. UAB’s Army ROTC program is currently headquartered in the 501 Building on 12th Street South.

    Image ID: P7.2.6, #0021

  • UAB students, circa 1977

    Two female students walk across the pedestrian bridge
    August 2015 Image of the Month

    These students make good use of the new pedestrian bridge crossing University Boulevard at South 13th Street.  The bridge was completed in 1975 as UAB experienced dramatic growth in the student population. Total enrollment grew from 5,381 in 1969-70 — UAB's first year as an independent university — to 12,119 in 1975-76 the year the footbridge was completed on the western end of the UAB campus. The undergraduate enrollment grew 109% during that time period.

    Image ID: P7.2.7, #2065

  • Kracke Building, circa 1965

    Exterior of the Kracke Building
    July 2015 Image of the Month

    The Kracke Clinical Services Building on Seventh Avenue South was dedicated on July 18, 1965, and was named in honor of the late Dr. Roy R. Kracke, the first dean of the four-year medical school in Birmingham. The building had opened in 1929 as a dormitory for students of the nursing school at Hillman Hospital and it remained a nursing student residence until 1963.

    Image ID: P8.1.1, #0025

  • The Statue of Hippocrates, circa 1990

    Hippocrates statue dressed in a blue grass skirt with a Bermuda bound sign
    June 2015 Image of the Month

    Some UAB students, who were leaving campus for the summer, made known their travel plans by decorating Hippocrates for a beach holiday. The 5,000-pound marble sculpture by Greek artist Kostas Georgakas commemorated the Greek father of western medicine. The piece was presented to UAB in 1971 by Sam and Agatha Nakos, local Birmingham business owners, and originally stood in the courtyard in front of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences. In 1996 the sculpture was moved into the ground-floor lobby of the newly expanded library building.

    Image ID: P17.1.10, #0183

  • Kent State protest at UAB, May 8, 1970

    Protestors gather in front of the College of General Studies building
    May 2015 Image of the Month

    Several hundred students, faculty, and community members held a protest in front of the College of General Studies Building on South 20th Street. The protest was held in support of Kent State University following the deaths of four students who had been killed by the Ohio National Guard on May fourth.

    Image ID: P7.3.1, #1026
    #may4matters

  • At work in University Hospital, 1960s

    An African American hospital worker pulls a gurney into a room
    April 2015 Image of the Month

    By state law and local regulation, the hospital complex at UAB was segregated by race; a sign noting a white waiting room is visible in this image. This situation began to change in 1963 and effective on April 25, 1965, the hospital and the medical center were integrated. A few weeks later, Federal officials toured the UAB Medical Center and concluded that all policies and procedures of racial segregation had been eliminated and the university was in full compliance with federal law.

    Image ID: P16.1.2, #0577

  • Frederick W. Kraus at his desk, circa 1965

    Frederick W. Kraus sits at his desk
    March 2015 Image of the Month

    Dr. Kraus was a member of the dental school faculty and was chief of dental service at the Veterans Administration Hospital.  One of the founders of the Concerned White Citizens of Alabama, Kraus joined those marching in Selma, Alabama, in March of 1965. He later said he hoped the group's participation would give more Alabamians "the courage to stand up for equality."

    Image ID: P7.2.1, #0223

  • Candles in the Canebrake, February 1955

    Set of the Candles in the Cranebrake play
    February 2015 Image of the Month

    In 1955 the University’s five-year old Town and Gown Theatre program was moved into a new home, the Clark Memorial Theatre on Highland Avenue. The first production in this new location was Candles in the Canebrake, which opened on February 14, 1955, and told the story of the Vine and Olive Colony settlement near Demopolis, Alabama.

    Image ID: P45.2, #0741

    On the 60th anniversary of that inaugural performance, the UAB Archives announced the opening of a major collection of Town and Gown archival material, with over 5,000 photographs, hundreds of playbills and event programs, several scrapbooks, and administrative files. Click here to review Record Group 45 or here to contact the UAB Archives for additional information.

  • Hospital Computer Center, circa 1968

    Two male employees working in the Hospital Computer Center
    January 2015 Image of the Month

    Larry Davis (left) and Floyd Miller (right) operate the IBM computers located in the basement of University Hospital.  An automated accounting system for hospital billing and payroll was implemented in 1967.

    Image ID: P16.1.2, #2375

Mervyn H. Sterne Library

917 13th St S
Birmingham, AL

(205) 934-6364

Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences

1700 University Blvd
Birmingham, AL

(205) 975-4821

Reynolds-Finley Historical Library

1700 University Blvd - 3rd Floor
Birmingham, AL

(205) 934-4475

Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences

1700 University Blvd - 3rd Floor
Birmingham, AL

(205) 934-4475

Lister Hill Library at University Hospital

615 18th Street S - P235 West Pavilion
Birmingham, AL

(205) 934-2275

801 Building

801 5th Ave South
Room 1111
Birmingham, AL

(205) 934-5432

J. Ellis Sparks Medical Library

301 Governors Drive SE - 3rd Floor
Huntsville, AL 35801

(256) 551-4405

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