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Writing Shelby County’s history

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Photo by Sydney Cromwell.

When Bobby Joe Seales was handed the keys to the Shelby County Museum and Archives, he was just supposed to keep it running while the caretakers went on vacation. Instead, he became the museum’s director for 16 years.

Seales said he came into the role by chance. While researching his family genealogy at the archives in 1999, he befriended caretakers Earl and Maydine Evans. He gave back the museum’s keys after the Evans’ vacation and expected to return to his research, but Maydine became very ill and the Evans decided to step back from their role. 

At the next meeting of the Shelby County Historical Society, Seales was nominated for president. He won and then stepped into the position of director of the museum and archives. It was the first time the museum, built inside Columbiana’s original courthouse, had an official director.

It was the first time Seales, who had retired from an internal auditing and credit management career, had worked for a museum or archive. The job was a natural fit, though. His wife, Diane, said their early dates were spent looking at files in the Birmingham Public Library or visiting area cemeteries.

“[He] never took me out to dinner, never took me to a movie,” she laughed.

The Seales have a long history in Shelby County, too. Bobby Joe is a lifelong Alabaster resident, from a family that settled in Alabama before its statehood, and Diane was part of the last graduating class of Alabama College before it changed its name to University of Montevallo. They live in the Thompson Place, one of the oldest estates in the county, which Diane inherited.

“Our roots are deep here,” Seales said.

Those who have visited the museum recently would not recognize it from 1999, Seales said. There were few display cases with no organization and few permanent items. There were no digital or microfilm copies of records, and the courthouse windows didn’t have protective film or even blinds to shield fragile antiques. Seales said the Evans had worked hard on the museum, but it had a long way to go.

“The museum was nothing. I mean it was there and that was it,” Seales said.

Over the next 16 years, Seales said he slowly worked to build the museum into the destination for county records and history that it is today. He expanded its collections, digitized records and newspapers and collected records from surrounding counties. At the same time, the historical society grew from less than 200 members to over 900.

“People started paying attention to the museum as well as the archives,” Seales said.

The Shelby County Museum now holds everything from coal carts abandoned in a Confederate mine during the Civil War to the bell from the first locomotive in the county to a football jersey from the early years of Thompson High School. There are newspapers and court, marriage and death records from before Alabama became a state. Different displays include clothes, toys, pictures, tools and Native American artifacts dating back to the late 1700s.

“I watch after all this stuff as if it’s my very own,” Seales said. “Every piece that’s in those display cases, I put them there myself.”

After so long on the job, Seales has an expansive knowledge of the history of Shelby County, from the former wagon trail that became Cahaba Valley Road to area cemeteries and Native American burial grounds. Seales has helped other communities, including Gardendale, set up historical societies and regularly speaks about history to groups around the county. He said his favorite part of the job is helping people uncover the lost history of their families or towns. 

“You’d be surprised at the information you can find from people doing genealogy,” Seales said.

Throughout 16 years of work, Seales said it was his passion for the people and places in Shelby County that made him love being at the museum. In October, Alabaster is recognizing him with a proclamation and key to the city.

“I never dreamed I’d get to do stuff like this,” Seales said. “[People] have just been great to me here. Everywhere in Shelby County, everywhere I go.”

However, Seales has decided that this will be his last month on the job. On Nov. 1, he will retire from the director position and will not seek re-election as the historical society’s president. He said he’s accomplished his goal of improving the museum and leaving it in good financial shape for the future.

“I just think it’s time for somebody else to come in with new ideas,” he said.

He will be replaced by new director Jennifer Maier and new president Dr. Fred Olive. Seales said he is impressed with both of them and excited to see what they do. He will still serve on the museum’s board for several more years.

“It’s going to take both of them working together,” Seales said of his successors. “I feel so assured these are the right choices to fill my shoes.”

There will be a formal ceremony on Nov. 1 to end Seales’ term and welcome the new faces. At this event, Seales will dedicate a reproduction oil painting of Isaac Shelby, the county’s namesake, which he has donated to the museum.

After that, he’ll be staying busy. His next project is a pictorial history of Alabaster, to publish in 2017. Seales is on the planning committee for the state’s bicentennial celebration, which will include events from 2017 to 2019. He also plans to publish a second version of his family history and write history books of Pelham in 2018 and Columbiana in 2019.

One of Seales’ favorite phrases is “history never written is soon forgotten.” He hopes his legacy at the museum and archives will be the way he preserved and increased the county’s written history.

“My passion is for all the county, not just a particular district or city or town… I try to educate myself on all parts,” Seales said. “I hope what I’ve done, they’re pleased with it.”

Retirement Ceremony

Nov. 1, 2 p.m.

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