Author: Mandy Mastrovita

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Digital Library of Georgia announces subgrants to support projects up to $7500: applications due October 15, 2018

To broaden partner participation in the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), DLG is soliciting proposals for historic digitization projects costing up to $7500 from non-profit Georgia cultural heritage institutions. Applicant organizations must be open to the public, and their collections must be available for public research either by appointment or through regular hours. Project metadata will be included in the DLG portal and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Projects may include the reformatting of textual materials (not including newspapers), graphic materials, or audio-visual materials. Applicants should have materials prepared for a project start date of January 1, 2019.

Selection of materials or collections to digitize will be made in accordance with the DLG’s Collection Development Policy and will depend on the availability of resources and funding. Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

  • Clarity of proposal–Project scope and responsibilities should be well-defined.
  • Diversity–Materials that represent the cultural, political, social, geographic, and/or economic diversity of the state of Georgia will be given priority.
  • Reusability–Materials should be free of legal restrictions or have permissions granted by the copyright holder. Preference is given to materials that are freely available or available for free reuse for either educational or non-commercial uses.
  • Historic value–Materials should have high research, artifactual, or evidential value and/or be of particular interest to multiple audiences.
  • Added value through digitization–Materials for which access will be substantially improved by digitization or which have a high potential for added value in the digital environment through linkages to existing digitized content will be given priority.
  • Capacity building–Preference will be given to organizations who have not yet collaborated with the DLG and/or those with limited digitization resources or experience.

A committee consisting of DLG, Georgia HomePLACE, Georgia Humanities Council, and Georgia Council for the Arts staff and representatives of GHRAC and the DLG partner community will determine awards. Awards committee members will recuse themselves from review of a proposal should a conflict of interest exist.

For textual and graphic materials, digitization and descriptive services will be performed by DLG staff. In the case of audio-visual collections, digitization will be outsourced to a vendor. Partners are responsible for transporting materials to and from the DLG or for costs associated with shipping to and from vendors.

Nominated materials must have clear rights statements and documentation. Any metadata created will be shared under a Creative Commons License Public Domain License (CC0), through the DLG’s portal and the DPLA.

To apply, submit a 2 MB or smaller zip file of the following to our proposal submission form (you will need a gmail account) by October 15, 2018:

  • Application form;
  • One letter of reference from a previous user of the materials describing their historic value and potential for reuse by multiple audiences;
  • Five samples of selected content;
  • A budget that includes conversion costs, metadata services, and hosting fees based on the DLG Digital Services Cost Recovery for Proposal Development and using the application budget form; and
  • If requesting DLG hosting, proof of rights status for materials (e.g., letter of permissions from copyright holder, donor’s agreement, orphan works status assessment, release form, etc.).

Important dates

  • September 13, 2018, 1 pm, Webinar (optional)
  • September 18, 19, 2018,  1-4 pm, Phone office hours with DLG staff (optional)
  • October 15, 2018, Proposals due
  • November 7, 2018, Committee reviews proposals
  • November 14, 2018, Recipients notified
  • December 14, 2018, Service agreements signed (Sample MOU available here) and project schedules agreed
  • January 1, 2019, Program start date
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Historical Savannah city maps available online

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce the availability of three new historical map collections from the City of Savannah Municipal Archives:

  •     Record Series 3121-007, Engineering Department – General Maps, 1798-1961, no date,

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_edgm, which contains maps from 1798 to 1961 that illustrate Savannah property holdings, as well as land subdivision for City and private development. The maps also record property lines, right-of-ways, water and sewer lines, and street openings. Many maps include the names of property owners.

  •     Record Series 3121-019, Savannah Cadastral Survey – Ward Survey Maps, 1939-1940,

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_scswsm. This collection includes survey maps of Savannah’s wards prepared in 1939 and 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of the three-year, $65,000 WPA Savannah Cadastral Survey project. The city of Savannah is laid out in a system of wards, or blocks of land. The Cadastral Survey included all wards within the City’s corporate limits at the time. On May 9, 1940, Major H. U. Wallace, District WPA Engineer, presented Mayor Thomas Gamble with the Ward Survey Maps at City Hall. The survey was originally intended for use of the local tax assessors, but it has also proved useful for planning public utilities and improvements, determining property lines, and tracing the history of buildings and properties.

  •     Record Series 3121-020, Engineering Department – Major Subdivision Maps, 1871-1972, no date, https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_edmsm, which includes 249 maps of Savannah neighborhoods and subdivisions submitted to the City of Savannah Engineering Department for review and approval. The maps were prepared by a variety of surveyors and engineers, representing the City of Savannah, Chatham County, and private engineering and architectural firms. Many of the maps are copies or tracings submitted to the Engineering Department. Some of the maps include approval information by the City Engineer, County Engineer, Chatham-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission and/or the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah.

These historical maps are a rich resource documenting the development of Savannah’s town plan, wards, and neighborhoods through the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Within the General Maps collection, the City of Savannah Municipal Archives has included a very early 1798 township map that documents the extension of the “Oglethorpe Plan” outside of the town limits to encompass the garden and farm lots. This, along with the progression of maps throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, show how Savannah’s unique plan was executed and evolved. The maps can be studied by urban planners, historians, and preservationists, and provide important insight for people making planning decisions today. The City of Savannah Municipal Archives has seen a dramatic increase in researcher interest in Savannah’s 20th century development, including citizens and community groups trying to document their neighborhoods, as well as historians researching the loss and preservation of Savannah’s infrastructure and built environment and how that fits in to a national context. The inclusion of the mid-20th century Ward Survey Maps provides a valuable point-in-time snapshot of Savannah before the preservation movement began.

Luciana Spracher, director of the City of Savannah Municipal Archives, notes: “The maps are regularly used by students (K-12 and college), historians, homeowners, citizens/residents, City staff, etc., and online access will surely increase this use and expand our geographical reach to those outside of Savannah who cannot physically come in to City Hall. We’ve also recently seen an increase in the ways in which people are using historical records, not just for traditional academic works, but for art applications and digital humanities projects. We hope that greater access to our records, and to a younger audience that may not access them through traditional onsite visits, will encourage new interactions with archives and new innovative projects.”

About the City of Savannah Municipal Archives

The City of Savannah Municipal Archives collects, manages, preserves, and makes accessible records documenting the City of Savannah’s history; administers the records management program and the City Records Center to increase the efficiency of City agencies; and shares the City’s history with City employees, citizens and visitors through outreach activities. The Municipal Archives services reference requests from researchers and the general public which relate to archival and historical City records under its administration in the City Records Center, and shares the City’s history through a variety of public outreach activities, including tours of City Hall, permanent and rotating exhibits, and special programs.

About the Digital Library of Georgia

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia https://dlg.usg.edu 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.

Featured image:  Boundaries of Brownsville, south of and adjoining the City of Savannah Geo. [Bounded on the] east by land of G. M. Willis; west by Bulloch Street; north by land of Minis; south by land of G. W. Anderson. Included Garden Lots 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 subdivided to 136 building lots.

Record Series 3121-020, Engineering Department – Major Subdivision Maps, 1871-1972, no date

City of Savannah Municipal Archives

http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:gsg_edmsm_edmsm-015-a

This project was made possible through DLG’s Subgranting Program

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