DAPHNE, Ala.—Alan Samry will be the featured speaker for this month’s History Lecture Series at the Daphne Public Library. His presentation on Wednesday at 10 a.m. is titled, “Lydia Newcomb Comings: Baldwin County Educator, Librarian, Historian and Author.”

Comings, who arrived in Fairhope in 1904, co-founded the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education, was instrumental in expanding and organizing women’s clubs throughout Baldwin County, and worked hard for the Fairhope library. Comings also founded the Baldwin County Historical Society in 1923. 

“I was truly amazed at how little had been gathered up about this teetotaler and suffragette,” Samry stated. She was born in the era of horse and buggy in 1850 and lived until 1946 having earned the vote when she was 70 years old. In a pamphlet honoring her club work in 1939 she is described as the “Mother of Clubs.” Her obituary in the Fairhope Courier said that her accomplishments “will go down in history.”

The book she co-edited with Martha Albers, “A Brief History of Baldwin County,” was published by the historical society in 1928 to document the area’s rich history. Albers uses the quote, “there is properly no history, only biography,” in outlining the role Comings played in founding the historical society.

“She’s quoting from an Emerson essay, and I think it still resonates today. Lydia’s life is Baldwin County history,” Samry said. His presentation will include photographs and other slides documenting her life. He will cover her early years as a teacher, her club involvement, her role at the Organic School and her 40-year involvement with the Fairhope library and founding of the historical society.

Samry serves as vice president of the historical society and works part-time as a reference clerk at the Fairhope Library. He’s also a student in the low residency master’s of fine arts program in creative writing at Spalding University.