The Alabama Historical Association will hold its 78th annual meeting April 9-11, at Coastal Alabama Community College.

The three-day event will feature presentations by historians, tours of historic sites, keynote addresses and an awards banquet. The college is located at 450 Fairhope Ave.

Pre-meeting tours on Thursday, April 9, include the Baldwin County Training School, Daphne History Museum, Douglasville High School Museum, and Fairhope Storybook Castles. A panel on “Writing and Publishing Local History” will be held at 5 p.m. in the Fairhope Public Library Auditorium, followed by a reception at Coastal Alabama Community College from 6 to 8 p.m.

Friday’s program will open with a panel discussion on Fairhope’s African American history. After lunch, attendees can participate in self-guided tours of the Colony Cemetery, Fairhope Friends Meeting House, Fairhope Hotel/Summit Street Inn, Fairhope Museum of History, Fairhope United Methodist Church, the Marietta Johnson Museum and the Henry Stuart Round House. Historians, both professional and avocational, will present on topics ranging from maritime and naval history in South Alabama to genealogical studies of Alabama families and organizations. Friday evening’s awards banquet at Fairhope United Methodist Church will feature a keynote address by Sonny Brewer, author of “The Poet of Tolstoy Park.”

Saturday’s session will include panels on public history, paper presentations on a variety of topics, and an address by AHA president Dr. Matthew Downs.

Sponsors for the meeting include the Baldwin County Department of Archives and History, University of Mobile, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama Humanities Alliance, Alabama Heritage Magazine, Alabama Folklife Association, University of South Alabama Department of History and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities at Auburn University.

Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. A volunteer-led, membership-supported organization, it offers opportunities for public engagement through publications, meetings, historical markers and other programs.

For more information, registration or membership, visit www.alabamahistory.net.