From the Dungeon
If you’ve ever spent a lot of time in Comer Hall, you’re probably in on a little secret…
It’s our affectionate name for our in-house archives. And truthfully, we’ve been sitting on a little historical gold mine down here. We have everything from old course catalogs (and we mean old; the oldest one we have dates to 1896) to boxes of pictures, rolls of film, and copies of our own previous Ag Illustrated publication.
Want a peek? We’re ready to share our treasures.
The Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Alabama Polytechnic Institute published a bulletin in June 1909 titled “Facing the Boll Weevil Problem in Alabama.” Written by entomologist W.E. Hinds, it was published by the Post Publishing Company in Opelika.
Inside are rather remarkable photos of egg, grub and adult boll weevils, as well as a map showing the advance of the boll weevil through the Southern U.S.
In total, the publication is more than 20 pages outlining how the boll weevil had become a problem up to that point in history, how to recognize a boll weevil, steps in the culture of cotton for the control of boll weevils, identification of the insects commonly mistaken for the boll weevil, and more.
Our copy has a faded stamp on the cover from the State Library of Massachusetts, State House, Boston, dated Dec. 5, 1917. Seems it’s been a piece of history worth saving for a long, long time.