Berry College’s Southern Highlander now freely available online

ATHENS, Ga. — The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is pleased to announce the digitization of 3,124 pages from Berry College’s Southern Highlander covering the period of 1907 to 1942. The Southern Highlander, the official magazine of and published by the Berry Schools in Mount Berry, Ga., documents the early history of the schools founded by philanthropist Martha Berry in 1902 to serve the rural poor. The magazine also details social conditions and the importance of community-based education. 

The Southern Highlander is a unique publication that raised money while promoting the mission of the Berry Schools worldwide. The Southern Highlander offers firsthand knowledge of social and historical topics of the day, including agriculture, the influenza epidemic of 1918, World War I, educational philosophy, and religious work on campus and in north Georgia. 

The digitization of the Southern Highlander will provide access to some of the oldest and most frequently requested Berry Schools materials, a boon for scholars, students, historians, alumni, and community members interested in studying the rich, early history and cultural heritage of the Berry Schools, Martha Berry, and early 20th-century culture and history in rural, north Georgia. 

While the Southern Highlander is rich in history, it is also an excellent representation of Berry’s focus on a comprehensive education of the head, heart, and hands,” said Jessica Hornbuckle, digital initiatives librarian. “Working with the Digital Library of Georgia to digitize the Southern Highlander is the perfect opportunity to share Berry’s oldest publication and the school’s legacy beyond the campus gates.” 

The digitized materials are available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/gbc_berry-193.

About the Berry College Archives 

The Berry College Archives was established in 1986 and serves as the primary repository for materials pertaining to the Berry Schools, Berry College, and founder, Martha Berry. The principal purpose of the archives is to appraise, collect, preserve, maintain, and make accessible records of historical value. In addition, the archives seeks to educate its constituents about its holdings, policies, and procedures through outreach and instructional activities. 

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DLG provides back-to-school educator resources for the 2019-2020 school year

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The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) welcomes this year’s back-to-school season by making new educator resources based on the Georgia third, fourth, and fifth grade Georgia Social Studies Standards of Excellence (GSE) available at sites.google.com/view/dlg-educator-resources.

New items include:

  • A frameable poster and printable postcard featuring Georgia third, fourth, and fifth grade GSE themes, released monthly
  • “Link lists” to DLG and Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) resources, organized by Georgia third, fourth, and fifth grade GSE themes and topics

These new items accompany our existing resources:

  • A quick-start guide that supports educators and students in their research of original materials
  • A sample slide deck for educators
  • A guide on using DLG materials
  • A postcard of DLG portals with features available for educators
  • National History Day resources that connect K-12 history researchers to primary source documents in the DLG
  • A customized National History Day GALILEO portal, designed to simplify access to primary documents, articles, and more for K-12 history researchers (available via GALILEO affiliated K-12 schools. Contact GALILEO at www.galileo.usg.edu/contact/ for details)

In a joint statement, Joy Hatcher, social studies program manager, and JoAnn Wood, social studies program specialist, both with the Georgia Department of Education, said:

“The primary sources from GALILEO and DLG provide Georgia’s teachers with a wealth of excellent teaching materials. It is clear that they are working diligently to see that sources are teacher-friendly and aligned to the Georgia Standards of Excellence. We are fortunate to have such a collection and experts determined to make them usable.”

These items provide high-quality, standards-aligned materials that help teachers meet the diverse academic interests and needs of students. 

Topics include: 

  • Early Native American cultures
  • European exploration in North America
  • British colonial America
  • The American Revolution
  • The creation of the Constitution
  • American westward expansion
  • The abolitionist and suffrage movements
  • The Civil War and Reconstruction
  • The turn of the twentieth century
  • American involvement in World War I and  World War II
  • The Great Depression and New Deal
  • The Cold War
  • Historical developments between 1950-1975
  • Important events from 1975-2001 

Materials come from museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, and other cultural heritage organizations that have contributed more than 800 collections to DLG’s website, and all provide insight into the state’s diverse population and geography.

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