By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

You’ve got to hand it to him, his timing was impeccable. Former Mobilian David Alsobrook returned to town just in time to lend his hefty credentials to a local institution on the upswing.

When Museum of Mobile Director George Ewert suddenly announced his departure in July 2006, a scramble ensued. Shelia Flanagan was appointed interim director of the history museum and the search for Ewert’s successor reached national proportions.

Luckily for Mobile, Alsobrook was reaching the end of a heady road.

The Davidson High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University in 1968 and moved into a teaching position at Theodore High School. He filled the summers of 1969 through 1972 with graduate work before eventually deciding to seek a doctorate in history.

That doctoral load led to a course in archival work where Alsobrook heard a calling. He joined the state archives staff and then proceeded to the federal National Archives and Records Administration in the late ‘70s. He helped set up the Jimmy Carter presidential library in Atlanta as their supervisory archivist for a decade, leaving that post in 1991.

In 1993, Alsobrook began a stint at the George H. W. Bush library in College Station, Texas, then left to become director of the Bill Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark., in 2000.

Alsobrook retired from that post earlier this year to return to the Azalea City when he apparently edged out interim director Flanagan and one other finalist for the director’s position.

Gregarious and upbeat, the new supervisor is quick to list the museum’s assets.

“Though I’ve only been here three weeks, I can tell you the strongest part of this museum is the veteran staff,” Alsobrook said. “We’ve got very talented people here and Sheila (Flanagan) is outstanding. We’ve had some really unique public events and outreach.”

The material itself impresses the director.

“The actual exhibits themselves are strong here,” Alsobrook said. “The exhibits on African-American history and on trade and transportation are all noteworthy. The World War II section is very good and I’m also really impressed with the range of exhibits we have behind closed doors. Plus, the fact that the building itself is a historical site also makes an impact.”

Alsobrook’s experience with exhibits is lengthy. Contrary to the title’s implication, presidential libraries exercise archival dominion over more than documentation. “That word, ‘library,’ is the biggest misnomer,” he said. “FDR insisted on that term though there’s a museum attached to it. Research, the museum and the educational component are the three areas of emphasis at each site and, of course, primary sourcing is a big function.”

On reflection, Alsobrook’s experiences from the libraries move beyond the professional.

“What I learned most from working there are that presidents are human too just like the rest of us,” the director said. “We tend to look at them more in the abstract while underestimating the sacrifices they make for their nation.”

The new and former Mobilian also shares the iconic “sense of place” noted among his native brethren. “There was a particular pride in being a Southerner at the libraries of two native Southern presidents,” Alsobrook said.

Other emergences from the South also come into play at Alsobrook’s new operation near the foot of Government Street.

“One of the very first things I was handed here was a hurricane recovery notebook,” he recalled wryly. “We’re well aware of that presence.”

The book will come in handy. Tours around the facility invariably led to illustrations of high water marks in recent storms, when the bay flooded the museum with feet of water.

However, storm preparation doesn’t stop at the Museum of Mobile’s doors. “We have other facilities we have to look after, too,” Alsobrook said. “The Phoenix Firehouse and Fort Conde are also our responsibility. That’s why we have three warehouses for storage.”

For the future, the director sees no reason to insert his hand into things. “We have a pretty good five-year plan in place,” Alsobrook said. “In November, we have a traveling exhibit that will arrive,” he said. “It features photos from World War II and some other things on loan from the World War II museum in New Orleans. It ought to make a great complement to our present exhibits from that era. We’re going to bring that in for Veteran’s Day and run it through Memorial Day of 2008.”

More notorious area denizens will come into focus, too. “We’ve got one exhibit coming in which will feature pirates of the Gulf Coast,” Alsobrook said. He said it will stretch beyond Jean Lafitte, the infamous “gentleman pirate of New Orleans” to include buccaneers from points eastward into Florida.

Speaking of New Orleans, a future show might temporarily usurp an impromptu title given the Crescent City by Mayor Ray Nagin. “The History of Chocolate is another exhibit on its way,” Alsobrook noted. “We’re going to tie it in with stories of local confectioners from Mobile history.”

Though he has ostensibly reached a “retirement” of sorts, Alsobrook’s attitude reflects no rest. “In this business,” he said, “you never get finished collecting.” And that matches him up with our museum like a hand in a glove.

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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