Issues of the Southern Cross, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah, are now available freely online on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website

In conjunction with our partners at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, the Southern Cross (1963-2000) is now available for viewing at the Georgia Historic Newspapers website at gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn22185748/. These newspapers will contribute to a broader scholarship about Catholicism in Savannah as well as in Georgia. The Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive web site provides access to these newspapers, enabling full-text searching and browsing by date and title. The site is compatible with all current browsers and the newspaper page images can be viewed without the use of plug-ins or additional software downloads. The archive is free and open for public use. 

About the Southern Cross

To fight Catholic prejudice and resist the spread of false information regarding Catholic beliefs and history, the Catholic Laymen’s Association (CLA) of Georgia was founded in 1916. The CLA published pamphlets that explained Catholic beliefs for several years and before establishing The Bulletin of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, in January of 1920. The Bulletin ran as a monthly newspaper out of Augusta until 1956 when the organization changed the name to The Bulletin of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Official Newspaper for the Diocese of Savannah & Atlanta; this change coming after the diocese divided into two regions, Atlanta and Savannah. For a few months in early 1958, the Diocese of Savannah published the Savannah Bulletin, before the Bulletin began circulating two editions for Savannah and Atlanta through 1962. In 1963, the publication split into two separate diocesan papers, The Bulletin (Archdiocese of Atlanta) and The Southern Cross (Diocese of Savannah). The CLA disbanded in 1962, but the paper continued and exists today as the bi-monthly Southern Cross.

Michael Johnson, editor of the Southern Cross, comments:

“The mission of the Southern Cross, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah, is to help carry out the mission of the diocese through the print medium. It does … in the form of news articles, feature stories, commentary on aspects of the Faith, and their application to daily life … Through the local stories and photographs carried in the Southern Cross, the bishop and pastoral staff can communicate with the diocesan family, and the parishes can share their activities with one another.”

About the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah Archives

The Diocese of Savannah Archives was established as a private, institutional collection in accordance with Canon 491 to store and provide access to the permanent records of the Diocese of Savannah. It primarily collects inactive original records created by the work of Diocesan administration, parishes, and schools. Visit them at diosav.org/archives 

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Issues of the Augusta Herald dating from 1898 to 1924 are now freely available at the Georgia Historic Newspapers website

Through a partnership with the Augusta-Richmond County Library System, the Digital Library of Georgia has completed the digitization of three Augusta Herald titles dating from 1898 to 1924, comprising 6,993 issues and 91,708 pages. The issues are now available online at the Georgia Historic Newspapers website at gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/.

The three titles digitized are:

The Augusta Herald, 1898-1908

The Augusta Daily Herald, 1908-1914

The Augusta Herald, 1914-1924

The project marks the first time twentieth century Augusta newspapers have been made freely available online to the public. The Augusta Herald was established in 1890 by former employees of the Augusta Chronicle and published daily in the afternoon to compete with the morning edition of the Chronicle. By 1915, the Augusta Herald had surpassed all competition and boasted the city’s largest circulation rate. William and Florence Morris of the Southeastern Newspapers Corporation acquired the Herald in 1955, putting the publication under the same parent company as the Augusta Chronicle. The Herald continued circulation through most of the twentieth century before ceasing publication in 1993.

$45,000 of funding for this project was provided by the Knox Foundation, and $5,000 was provided by the Friends of the Augusta Library. 

Tina Monaco,  the historian for the Georgia Heritage Room at the Augusta-Richmond County Library System, says:

This project has been in the works for several years, and the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System is thrilled to see it completed and to finally have a significant portion of the Herald freely accessible to the public. The lifespan of the Herald, Augusta, Georgia’s longtime evening newspaper, follows almost 100 hundred years of local history, and the nearly thirty years (1898 to 1924) the Digital Library of Georgia has digitized chronicles a remarkable time in the history of our city, our country, and the world. Researchers will have the opportunity to read about the changes wrought as the world moved through the turn-of-the-twentieth-century, World War I, the Spanish Influenza, the passing of the 19th Amendment, Prohibition, and many other landmark events. The Augusta Public Library is indebted to the Knox Foundation and the Friends of the Augusta Public Library for their generous financial support, without which this project would have never made it off the ground. 

Selected Images 

Augusta Herald, August 28, 1908

“Flood Damage Not Less Than $1,500,000”

Augusta Herald, September 28, 1924

“Bobby Jones Wins National Amateur Golf Title”

About Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System

The Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System (ARCPLS) is a public library system serving more than 250,000 county residents. As a member of Public Information Network for Electronic Services (PINES), a program of the Georgia Public Library Service covering 53 library systems in 143 Georgia counties, ARCPLS supports any resident in the PINES network and provides access to over 10 million books. ARCPLS has a collection size of over 316,000 with a circulation of more than 478,000 annually. ARCPLS facilitates programs and classes to educate and entertain all ages at no cost. In addition to being a vital meeting place where the community can gather, explore new worlds, and share ideas and values, ARCPLS is a community hub and a critical anchor for our residents and neighbors. With a committed and diverse staff, ARCPLS continues to bring innovative and adaptive information and technology to its patrons. Visit ARCPLS at arcpls.org/

About the Digital Library of Georgia 

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia’s libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources. DLG also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper microfilming project. Visit the DLG at dlg.usg.edu

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