Mardi Gras in Mobile: The First American Carnival: Primary Sources

Contains black & white and color negatives made by the Palmer Studio. The images were taken in Mobile, Alabama. Subjects include individual and group portraits, weddings and dances, the Greater Gulf States Fair, organizations, and local buildings and Mardi Gras balls. Some of the photos were used to illustrate articles in the local Catholic periodical Catholic Week.

Contains black and white negatives made primarily in and around Mobile, Alabama, by S. Blake McNeely ca. 1933-1951. Subjects include African Americans, historic homes, Mardi Gras parades and balls, school and recreational activities, rural and waterfront scenes, weddings, and World War II ship launchings. The collection also contains 216 negatives acquired by McNeely and taken by an unknown amateur photographer in Mobile and Baldwin counties during the 1890s and 1900s. These negatives include images of Mardi Gras parades, riverboats, and recreational activities.

Contains black & white negatives made by Erik Overbey, 1903-ca. 1960, and William A. Reed, ca. 1880-1906. The images were made primarily in and around Mobile and Baldwin counties, Alabama. Subjects include individual and group portraits, African Americans, architecture, street scenes, businesses, Mardi Gras parades and royalty, waterfront activities and ships, religion, recreation, education, transportation, and construction. The collection also contains six small record books kept by Overbey. The collection documents the social, technological, and architectural changes occurring in Mobile over a span of eighty years.

Diaries (1904-1921) contain brief notations of daily activities of John Hines including remarks about construction of Mardi Gras floats, theatrical sets, and other projects. Pencil and pen drawings (1877-1920) by Hines of Mardi Gras floats for various organizations including Order of Myths, Infant Mystics, and Knights of Revelry.