1st issue of Talk of the Town publication

The collection consists of subject files that Henry J. Stern kept as Opelika's unofficial historian, gathered over decades of civic work and local research. Materials are mixed media and include clippings, photographs, correspondence, printed ephemera, and Stern's own writings and notes.

The files fall into several broad areas. The largest concerns Pepperell Manufacturing Company and the mill village that grew around it, covering the company itself, village housing, officials' houses, sports teams, World War I service, and a labor dispute. A second group documents Opelika institutions and civic life, including the Chamber of Commerce, public schools, service clubs, manufacturing, local homes, and the World War II prisoner of war camp. A third group covers churches and social organizations, among them Salem Baptist Church, White Street Missionary Baptist Church, and the Saugahatchee Country Club. Remaining files address Lee County and neighboring jurisdictions, Auburn and Auburn University, the Creek Confederacy, regional historical and genealogical organizations, the Stern family, and two individual newspaper issues.

Description is at the folder level. Folder titles preserve Stern's original vertical file headings. Item counts recorded on the original folder tabs appear in the physical description note for each folder where Stern supplied them.