Leah Rawls Atkins Papers

Collection

Identifier: 1102

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a letter from Erskine Russell, a then assistant football coach at the University of Georgia, to Leah Atkins with a brief discussion of Auburn's attempts to hire Georgia's then head coach, Vince Dooley; also included is a working copy of "The Cary Legacy: The Lives and Accomplishments of Dr. Charles Allen Cary and Emma Heck Cary" by Sam Hendrix with Atkins's handwritten, suggested edits.

Dates

Creation: 1981
Creation: 2017

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Biographical / Historical

Leah Rawls Atkins is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. A competitive water skier in her early years, she won the women's world water skiing championship in 1953. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Auburn University before earning the first history Ph.D. awarded by Auburn in 1974. She taught history at Auburn, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Samford University before becoming the first director of the Auburn University Center for the Arts and Humanities. She is also the author or co-author of numerous books on Alabama history, including "Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham and Jefferson County"; "Blossoms amid the Deep Verdure, 1892-1992: A Century of Women at Auburn"; and "Alabama: The History of a Deep South State."

Full Extent

0.5 Cubic Feet (Two 1/2-doc boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This finding aid is organized by accessions. Each accession represents an addition to the collection. Each accession also represents a transfer of physical and legal custody of archival materials from the donor(s) to Auburn University Special Collections and Archives.

Processing Information

Accession 11-010 processed by David McRae, 02/01/2011; finding aid digitized by Noah Biblis, 01/16/2020; finding aid modified by Joanna Ashley, 9/2026; Accession 25-041 processed by Joanna Ashley, 10/2026.