DMC Participates in the Alabama Historical Association Conference

The DMC was a proud sponsor of the seventy-eighth annual meeting of the Alabama Historical Association (AHA) in Fairhope earlier this month. Founded in 1947, it 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 DMC’s ties to this volunteer-led historical group are deep. DMC founder Bob McKenzie served as its twenty-seventh president, 1974-75. Dorothy Walker—newly appointed to the DMC Board—serves in the same capacity with the Association as well, and several other Board members are active members. The DMC’s executive director Scotty Kirkland has been a member of AHA for more then two decades and has served as volunteer chair of the group’s historical marker committee since 2015.

Over the course of the three-day meeting, DMC staff had the opportunity to share literature and information on the work of civic engagement and deliberative dialogue with attendees. Several of Dr. Mathews’ books were available at the meeting as well. During a Friday-morning poster session, three students from the DMC’s Jean O’Connor-Snyder Internship Program at the University of South Alabama shared some of their research.

“Dr. Mathews is an historian by training and at heart,” said DMC executive director Scotty Kirkland. “His research and understanding of nineteenth-century Alabama politics and policy informed much of his work in Tuscaloosa and Washington, and during his long tenure at the Kettering Foundation. I am glad that our staff and interns were able to participate in this annual meeting of a meaningful organization I have supported personally and professionally for many years. Through the research and publication of historic issue guides on Alabamians’ roles in the Creek War, Reconstruction, Women’s Suffrage Movement, and beyond, it’s clear that the DMC believes in the power of history to guide our steps. On multiple occasions, civically engaged Alabamians helped change the world. They can do it again.”