'Honest assessment of the past': Community Hero Steve Murray, keeper of Alabama's true history
It serves as Alabama’s attic.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History, established in 1901, was the first state archives in the nation. The big building, catty corner from the state Capitol, serves as the repository of public records in the state, from governors’ correspondence to town clerk documents.
For the first several decades of its operation, the archives focused on preserving relics of the Confederacy, often turning a blind eye to the history of other eras and communities. That began to change under the tenure of former director Ed Bridges, who began making the shift to more inclusive exhibits, including contributions of Black and Native Americans.
Then came Steve Murray, who gained national attention in the summer of 2020 when he wrote about the archives’ efforts to tell the more complete story of Alabama. Today the Department of Archives houses artifacts from the pre-colonial period through the Civil War and civil rights era to modern times.
“For well over a half-century, the agency committed extensive resources to the acquisition of Confederate records and artifacts while declining to acquire and preserve materials documenting the lives and contributions of African Americans in Alabama,” Murray said in a statement that the trustees approved and the Associated Press wrote about in 2020. “If history is to serve the present, it must offer an honest assessment of the past.”
For these contributions, Murray is the Montgomery Advertiser’s Community Hero for August, an honor sponsored by South University.
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For Murray, history is not a collection of dry, dusty facts presented in textbooks, or items placed for show on museum shelves.
“Well, in my mind, history is not the past,” he said. “I think very often people think that history is just what happened at some point and that as long as we know dates and names and places, then we have a good grasp of what history is, and I don’t think that’s true.
“History is our understanding of those events and how we make sense of decisions that were made and events that happened and how we put that into context. And so, history is very much a living thing.”
Born in Louisiana, Murray came to Alabama in 1993 for graduate school at Auburn University. He had designs on teaching at the college level after grad school, but he started working in the field of public history. He came to the Alabama archives in 2006 as assistant director for administration. (That’s a fancy title for wearing a bunch of hats including finance and overseeing facilities as well as shepherding the Museum of Alabama project.)
The effort opened in two phases in 2011 and 2014. He continued his education during that time, taking graduate courses and archival studies.
When Bridges retired in 2012, after about 30 years as director, Murray was appointed to the top slot and became director on Oct. 1 of that year.
“I think the value of history lies in our ability to understand who we are and where we come from,” he said. “There is a human yearning that many people have at some point in their lives. To know, 'Where do I come from? And, 'What were my ancestors like at a personal level?'”
The Draw
Generations of Alabama elementary-aged school children have made the sojourn to Montgomery to walk the marbled halls of the archives. Usually, the trips included eating sack lunches on the expansive grounds surrounding the building.
That’s just what drew Olivia Tayler and her 8-year-old son, Madison, to the archives recently from their home in Lee County. Madison is home schooled.
“I remember coming here when I was in the fourth grade,” Tayler said. “It really sparked an interest in history for me, an interest that has followed me my whole life. So when the opportunity came up to have the same trip for Madison, it was really a no-brainer.”
For his part, Madison enjoyed the pre-colonial exhibits because he has an interest in the first Alabamians.
“We just got through studying the battle of Horseshoe Bend and how that opened up the territory for settlement before Alabama became a state,” he said. “So I was very interested in that period.”
The battle was fought on March 27, 1814. Gen. Andrew Jackson, commanding a mixed force of soldiers, militia and native American allies, defeated a force of Creek Indians, effectively ending the tribe’s opposition to white settlement in the Southeast in what was then the Mississippi territory.
Along with exhibits, real work goes on in the back shop where records that are key to research for everything from Legislative actions to genealogy are safeguarded. The public has access to those records.
That’s the key to the archives, giving the public “invaluable” access to the history of Alabama, said Richard Bailey, a Montgomery historian, and past Community Hero. He first came to the archives in August of 1979 while working on his doctorate in history.
“The archives is key to any research of and any understanding of Alabama history,” he said. “There has been a shift to include the contributions of women, minorities, African Americans, and I am so proud those histories have been included.
“There was a time when African Americans did not feel welcome there. I grew up in Montgomery and we used to walk past that building on the way downtown and not even glance that way. That has all changed, and the effort has been going on for years.
“The archives serves as a primary source for African Americans who are interested in their genealogy. Or to conduct research on any topic. I can honestly say there hasn’t been a single day I haven’t felt welcome when I’ve gone into the archives.”
The summer of 2020, and the call for racial reckoning around the nation, proved the time was right to admit the past wrongs of the archives, Murray said.
“In 2020, we issued a statement that, in the context of everything that was happening that summer, was intended to say we have resources that are available to people who are trying to understand,” he said. It was "the first time I’d ever seen white Americans trying to understand the roots of racial injustice and concerns about police violence. And that’s rooted in history.
“That’s where the value of history comes in and can help us to understand how this came about. It can help people whose frame of mind and experience are not attuned to the perspectives of minorities.”
It was important to get the word out.
“It can help us build that sensitivity, so we wanted to make sure the public knew that we had those resources available and that if we were going to promote those as a resource, we also knew it was important to be very clear and honest about our own contributions as an organization and building up this long legacy of systemic racism that was on everyone’s minds,” he said.
The Impact
Preserving history makes sense, because in a big way it makes cents.
Montgomery stands at the crossroads of two epochs of American history: the Civil War and the civil rights movement. Just a few feet from the building where the telegram was sent in 1861 to call for the bombardment of Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War, stands a statue of Rosa Parks at Court Square. Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in 1955 helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott is considered by many historians as the birth of the modern American civil rights movement.
Montgomery has made great strides in capitalizing on its history in the form of tourism. Hotel stays are up. Tourism dollars are rolling in.
“I always say, 'Come for the history, leave with the truth,” said Ashley Jernigan, a hospitality and tourism consultant for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. “The work at the archives to be more inclusive in storytelling can be an example to other cities and states. We have seen an increase in our tourism related to history over the past several years.
“Montgomery is becoming a bucket list destination. That’s amazing for a city this size. We tell people that you need to come to Montgomery as one of your stops, and a wonderful way to start is at the archives.”
The archives is the cornerstone for the preservation of history in the city and state, she said.
“Look at Central Alabama,” she said. “You have Montgomery, Selma, other cities involved in the struggle for Civil Rights. A good place to start any visit is the Voices of Alabama exhibit at the archives.
“You get the background, the real story, of what happened. It’s an amazing resource.”
Advocates say a tourism dollar turns over seven times in the local economy.
“So we know people want to have fun on vacation,” she said. “So when you come to Montgomery, visit the safari, the zoo, the whitewater park when it opens.
“But also carve out some time to visit our historic sites, especially if you are vacationing with children or young people. And visitors eat in our restaurants, they go to our stores, buy gas. Tourism impacts the economy for everyone.”
Back at the archives, efforts are going on to digitize the records safeguarded there. There are about 750,000 items that have been put on the agency’s website. Some of those items are a single postcard and others may be a 400-page book, Murray said.
“So you’ve got millions of pages available to people,” he said. “And you can jump in and explore whatever topic you’re interested in.”
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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Community Hero Steve Murray: Keeper of the Alabama's true history
