PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Mary Amelia Taylor

maryamelia.taylor@archives.alabama.gov

Montgomery, AL (10/06/2026) – The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its monthly Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 12:00pm CT. Auburn University Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Dr. Gerald Johnson, will present Polling Alabama: The AEA Capital Survey Research Center, 1996-2014. 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.

Dr. Gerald Johnson will present the story of the Alabama Education Association’s Capital Survey Research Center, which Johnson directed from 1996-2014. Polling Alabama describes the data and reports from more than 1,000 education, public policy, and political surveys conducted during that period, when Alabama’s politics transitioned from supermajority Democratic to supermajority Republican control. Johnson will discuss the process of transferring these records to the ADAH, where they are now available for public access and use.

For additional information, contact Savannah Gunther at savannah.gunther@archives.alabama.gov or (334) 353-1881. 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.