MOBILE, Alabama -- A extraordinary trove of more than 1 million documents, newly donated to the University of South Alabama, open a window into Alabama's distant history, from early statehood through the Civil War and into the early 1900s.

The Doy Leale McCall Collection is valued at an estimated $3.1 million.

The McCall family has “given the university a wonderful treasure that underscores the institution’s role as an interpreter an preserver of our history and culture,” said USA President Gordon Moulton.

USA is renaming its archives as The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and Moulton said that the new donation would eventually be housed on the main campus rather than at the present archives space on Springhill Avenue.

'One of the finest' Southern history archives

Michael Parrish, a Baylor University history professor who has appraised the collection, called it “one of the finest archives of Southern history ever discovered.”

McCall’s three grandchildren, John McCall, Doy Leale McCall III and Margaret McCall Rolfsen, were responsible for the donation.

John McCall, who lives in Mobile, said the collection was so large it had been spread out to storage locations in Mobile, Monroeville, Selma and Montgomery.

He said the family wanted it to be centered in Mobile and USA seemed a perfect fit.

McCall recalled that when he was a youngster he played with some of the old trunks that are part of the collection.

Several pieces of the collection were on display Friday at USA.

USA Archives McCall Collection 2011 9 Gallery: USA Archives McCall Collection 2011

Among the documents were Civil War diaries, presidential land grants signed by James Monroe and James Buchanan, and letters from Jefferson Davis, Henry Clay and Raphael Semmes.

There were also papers related to the 1825 visit to Alabama by Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette.

A rare and heart-rending item was a catalog listing of slaves who were being sold.

One listing was for a man named “Yellow Henry.” He was described as being about 29 years old, was a “1st rate man, good driver” and “very trusting and reliable.”

Said Parrish: “This library will be a frequent stopping point for historians.”

Carol Ellis, director of the Doy Leale McCall Collection, said the donation “puts the spotlight on us for now and the future.”

David Alsobrook, director of the Museum of Mobile who previously worked at several presidential libraries, said that the McCall collection “cuts a wide swath through U.S. and Southern history — from the antebellum era through the early 20th century.”