Henry McKiven to present 4/23 Food For Thought lunchtime lecture at the Alabama Archives

Montgomery, AL (3/30/2026) - The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its monthly Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at 12:00pm CT. The program, previously scheduled for April 16, has been rescheduled to April 23, to accommodate a conflict in the speaker's schedule. Henry M. McKiven Jr. will present The Civil War Letters of Alabama's Pickens Family. The program will be held in the Archives' Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power Auditorium in Montgomery. It will also be livestreamed on the ADAH's Facebook page and YouTube channel. The program is FREE and open to the public.

McKiven's presentation explores a collection of letters written by Mary Gaillard Pickens, the third wife of Samuel Pickens Jr., and their children, offering a unique window into family life during the Civil War era. McKiven will trace Samuel Pickens's migration from North Carolina to St. Stephens, Alabama, alongside his brother Israel, and his eventual settlement in Greene County. McKiven's presentation will introduce the family's correspondence and highlight how these letters illuminate the personal, social, and historical dimensions of the Civil War.

Henry M. McKiven Jr. has served as a professor of history at the University of South Alabama since 1991. A Marine Corps veteran, McKiven holds an undergraduate degree from Auburn University at Montgomery, an M.A. from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. His publications include The Consequences of Confederate Citizenship: The Civil War Correspondence of Alabama's Pickens Family (University of North Carolina Press, 2025) and Iron and Steel: Race, Class and Community in Birmingham, Alabama, 1875-1920 (LSU Press, 1995).

For additional information, contact Alex Colvin at [email protected] or (334) 353-4689. A complete schedule of our 2026 lunchtime lecture series is available at archives.alabama.gov. Food for Thought 2026 is sponsored by the Friends of the Alabama Archives.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the state's government-records repository, a special-collections library and research facility, and home to the Museum of Alabama, the state history museum. It is located in downtown Montgomery, directly across Washington Avenue from the State Capitol. The Museum of Alabama is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. The EBSCO Research Room is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. To learn more, visit www.archives.alabama.gov or call (334) 242-4364.

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