By Carmen Rodgers
Elmore/Autauga News
Prattville will be the center of attention this year as the Alabama Historical Association will hold the 75th Annual Meeting beginning Thursday, April 13 through Saturday, April 15. The event will be held at the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Conference Center. Participants can expect presentations from historians, tours of historic sites, keynote presentations and an awards banquet.
“This is a big deal for Prattville,” Laura Bonner Director of the Prattaugan Museum said. “Twice a year the Alabama Historical Association takes a pilgrimage to a different area of Alabama. They go to different historical areas of the state. In the fall they went up to Mentone and this spring they are coming to Prattville.”
According to Bonner, this event will bring between 200-300 visitors to Prattville for this three-day event. Most of the presenters will be professors from universities across the state. Their presentations will focus on history across Alabama.
“The presentations are not necessarily on Prattville’s history, but they will focus on Alabama’s history. There could be a presentation about women’s suffrage in Chambers County, or what the archives can do for you, something about the Trail of Tears, the Wright brothers in Alabama, all kinds of historical things like that,” Bonner said.
Beginning on Thursday there will be pre-meeting tours that will include two historic churches and a school in Autauga County. There will also be a kayak tour of Autauga Creek available that same day. An opening reception will be held at Buena Vista Mansion Thursday evening.
On Friday, there will be a number of events scheduled. Ann Boutwell of the Autauga County Heritage Association will open the keynote presentation. Historians from around the state and region will give several paper presentations, and there are tours of historical sites in Prattville scheduled for that day.
Boutwell will give a presentation on the history of Prattville.
“I will be welcoming them to Prattville and I will be giving them some background history on what they will be seeing during that afternoon on the tours,” Boutwell said. “I will be talking about the history of Prattville and Daniel Pratt.”
Boutwell plans to show how much Prattville has evolved over the years.
“We are creating a PowerPoint that we can show how Prattville came to be and the evolution of how we have arrived where we are today,” Boutwell said. “We’re going to show photographs of how Prattville has changed over time and at one time the northside of the creek, which is the town’s side. That’s where Pratt started his business and industry and town actually on the southside. Most people aren’t aware of that,” she said.
An award banquet is scheduled for Friday evening that will feature award-winning authors Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker. The authors will discuss their new book, “The Southernization of America: A Story of Democracy in the Balance.”
During Saturday’s session, there will be panels on public history, paper presentations on a variety of topics, and an address by AHA President Jim Baggett, director of the archives at the Birmingham Public Library. He is also an author of several books and articles on Alabama history.
This event is geared toward members of the Autauga County Heritage Association. Membership in the association is $100. Tickets for this upcoming event are $50.
The general public can join in the tours, however, due to limited space anyone outside of the Autauga County Heritage Association should call and reserve a spot ahead of time, according to Bonner.
Sponsors for this event include the Autauga County Heritage Association, Old Autauga Historical Society, Baldwin County Department of Archives and History, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama Humanities Alliance, University of Montevallo Department of History, Alabama Heritage Magazine, Alabama Folklife Association, and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Auburn University.
Alabama Historical Association was founded in 1947 and is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. The AHA is a volunteer-led and membership-supported organization.
For more information, registration, or to join the AHA, visit www.alabamahistory.net
