Past and Present

While the name of the city New Orleans itself implies reinvention, among its traits most beloved by residents and visitors alike in the 21st century are the things that have not changed much over time. Jazz, flavor, celebration, and a warm welcome are always on the menu.  Lifelong resident and author Troy Broussard recounts the more than three-century story of a city as familiar with rebuilding and rebirth after tragedy as it is with revelry.

Brunswick, Georgia, was laid out from a plan by Gen. James Oglethorpe in 1771. Growing quickly after the Civil War, Brunswick became a thriving Gilded Age port for naval industries and shipping as well as a stop off for the wealthiest northern industrialists escaping to the Golden Isles.

Today’s vibrant Old Town Historic District still boasts eye-catching examples of days gone by. Suzanne Hurley is coauthor of The Great Houses of Brunswick and a former communications manager at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Joshua Dukes is a digital photograph restoration artist and Brunswick historian.

Montevallo, a charming city located near the geographic center of Alabama, has a rich historic legacy spanning 200 years. /

The city has been home to the University of Montevallo, Alabama’s public liberal arts college, and its predecessors since 1896. Located close to Birmingham, Montevallo has maintained its vibrancy as it has transitioned away from agriculture and mining. /For this volume, authors and university professors Carey W. Heatherly and Clark Hultquist have selected images from the university’s Anna Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections.

Pulaski County, one of Arkansas’s original five counties, has been a political and cultural center for the state since 1819, being the home of the state’s capitol and the seat of the state’s economic power.  Located in the Arkansas River valley, Pulaski County is marked by bustling communities and has been home to colorful Arkansas characters, such as Chester Ashley and William Woodruff, and civil rights pioneers, such as Scipio Jones and Daisy Bates. These luminaries left traces and trails in the architecture throughout the county that attest to their cultural and economic world. This book serves as a document to the buildings they left behind and how the county has changed in the last 200 years. /Author Brian David Irby dives into the Arkansas State Archives’ photograph collection to tell the story of Pulaski County’s development.