Beth Spivey never knows what she is going to find while plundering through a filing cabinet or box at the Old Depot Museum.

Last year she found a journal that is believed to be of Selma native James Swann, and Tuesday night Kim Jones, who transcribed the journal, will share it with members of the museum.

“It’s something different. It’s something that we’ve had and nobody knows anything about it,” Spivey said.

“I wanted it to be something different. There needs to be a surprise for people that have supported this museum all year long just for them.”

When Spivey found the book she wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“It looked like a receipt book or something, and then when I opened it up, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Spivey said.

Jones, who now teaches at Morgan Academy, was volunteering around the time Spivey found the journal and became fascinated with it.

“I came along probably a day or two after she found that book, and I just happened to be going to the museum. I was really enamored at the fact that I was a total guest in the museum, and I just agreed to help volunteer there and she said to take a look at this book,” Jones said.

“I read the first page, and I was hooked. I wanted to know everything else that happened to this soldier.”

With anxiousness to see what stories were told in the journal, Jones took it home with her and started to read it page after page.

“I have taken this journal, and I have read it from cover to cover. It starts at the very beginning of the Civil War and it goes all the way to the end,” Jones said.

“For the most part it is kept up to date, so you get to hear all of these fantastic stories about camp life. This person was a witness to certain battles, some of them being major battles. It travels from Tennessee into the Carolinas and Virginia.”

Jones will share the details of what are believed to be Swann’s journal entries Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

Writing inside the cover says the book belonged to Swann, but Spivey and Jones still aren’t sure if the entries were written by Swann or not.

“The most interesting thing is that I still haven’t been able to confirm that it is James Swann’s book. Somehow or another his neighbor got a hold of the book, and she wrote in there Brother James Swann’s book,” Jones said. “Never in the book does it have a name on it, so to me part of the fun in this is trying to figure out if this is his book.”

Whether it is Swann’s journal or not, Jones said the journal contains stories that will interest people.

“I’m really excited to share the stories because I don’t think there are many people that knew it was there,” Jones said. “I think a lot of Selmians are going to be interested to hear, if it is brother Jim Swann’s book, his account of being a Selma man far from home experiencing a lot.”

Spivey said the reading is only open to members, but memberships are available. For more information on becoming an Old Depot Museum member call 874-2197.