BPL Archivist Speaks at Auburn and Beyond

Jim Baggett speaks at the B.B. Comer Memorial Library in Sylacauga on
October 24, 2018

This past week Birmingham Public Library Archivist Jim Baggett delivered an invited lecture at the Auburn University School of Nursing and spoke at the H. Grady Bradshaw Library in Valley and the B. B. Comer Memorial Library in Sylacauga. Baggett’s series of talks, “’It Came Like a Cyclone’: Alabama and the 1918 Influenza,” was sponsored by Auburn University’s Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities.

The 1918 influenza killed more than 50,000,000 people worldwide and sickened 145,000 in Alabama. Baggett’s talk explored the social, political, and economic impact of the pandemic on our state.

In addition to this series of talks, Baggett has spoken at three scholarly conferences in 2018: the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators southeastern meeting, the Alabama Historical Association Annual Meeting, and the Plastic Surgery Research Council Annual Meeting.

Besides the invited lecture at Auburn last week, Jim Baggett has delivered invited lectures at several educational institutions in recent years, including The University of Alabama, Birmingham-Southern College, Samford University, and Middle Georgia State University.