This private or personal library manuscript inventory includes approximately 800 titles. The first section is a list of titles or authors on each of three bookshelves, while the second section contains lists organized by subject. The manuscript came from the estate of Belzora Baker Kemp (1901-1988), a wealthy Selma, Alabama, woman whose library occupied two houses. The inventory pre-dates Belzora's birth, thus could not be her own inventory, but it is currently unknown as to whether or not it represents titles or authors in her own collection.
The volume is held together at the top of the pages by metal binder clips. The genres and subjects include novels and works of fiction (Dickens, Thackery, Twain, Jules Verne, etc.), memoirs and biographies (W. T. Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, etc.), classics, history, travel, poetry, humorous works, scientific works, "farmer's works," politics, medicine, "housewifery," and "Miscellaneous."
Belzora Miner Baker Kemp was born on November 20, 1901, to parents Lillian Hall Baker and Joseph Miner Baker. They descended from prominent mining engineer, cotton merchant, and oil manufacturer George Oscar Baker, whose wealth passed down through the family. Belzora's mother worked in the household. The family lived in Selma, Alabama, and held an extensive and well-known library. Belzora Kemp completed three years of higher education and eventually took over the library, which occupied two houses. In 1930, she lived with her mother in Selma on Dallas Avenue, and on January 15, 1936, she married Floyd S. Kemp (a local agent for Electrolux refrigerators). Belzora Baker Kemp died on January 9, 1988, at the age of 86.
This manuscript inventory was sold as part of Belzora's estate in 1988, which also included large quantities of books from her collection. The inventory pre-dates Belzora Baker Kemp's birth, and it is currently unknown as to whether or not it represents titles and authors in her own library.
