DLG Subgrants – Page 2

The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) has just developed a new educator resource page about the Leo Frank case, one of Georgia’s most notorious and highly publicized legal cases that ended in Frank’s kidnapping and lynching on August 17, 1915.

These resources has been chosen as part of the Georgia K-12 social studies standard SS8H7d:
Identify the ways individuals, groups, and events attempted to shape the New South (d). Examine antisemitism and the resistance to racial equality exemplified in the Leo Frank case.

Leo Max Frank (1884-1915), supervisor at the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, was convicted for the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan, a thirteen-year-old child laborer who traveled into town from Marietta. Frank was sentenced to death after a highly sensationalized trial and appeals process that were gripped by mob violence in Georgia, much of which was heightened by sensational news coverage.

The Frank case and its extrajudicial aftermath led to both the twentieth-century reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan and the establishment of the Anti-Defamation League.

The landing page brings together:

Resources documenting one of Georgia’s most significant twentieth-century events marked by intense social, cultural, political, geographic, and economic tensions.
A broad range of archival materials, digitized historic newspapers, digital exhibits, and scholarship documenting one of Georgia’s most significant twentieth-century events marked by intense social, cultural, political, geographic, and economic tensions that highlight the injustices of the case and underscore the real-life impact of antisemitism, violence, and other forms of hatred.
- Digitized archival materials and family papers of Leo Frank and his attorneys document the persistent advocacy of the Atlanta and worldwide Jewish communities that supported Frank against the hatred he and his defenders faced, at significant personal risk, as well as the prevalent antisemitism in the legal system, law enforcement, popular culture, and the press.
The newest collection of digitized materials on Leo Frank comes from the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and documents the cultural, political, social, geographic, and economic diversity of Georgia and the cultural struggle between Jews and non-Jews, highlight the social tensions of the early 1900s in Georgia, and emphasize the political strife experienced by those who stood up for Leo Frank’s innocence.
A new article in the New Georgia Encyclopedia about the Atlanta Georgian illustrates how the Leo Frank case drew national attention, thanks in no small part to reporting in newspapers like the Hearst-owned Atlanta Georgian, which sensationalized the story daily with dramatic headlines and photos between 1913 and 1915, and Tom Watson’s newspaper the Jeffersonian, that polarized Americans, all the while producing controversial and historically significant examples of yellow journalism in United States history.
- All coverage of Leo Frank in The Atlanta Georgian from 1913-1915, and content from The Jeffersonian from 1913-1915 are available in our Georgia Historic Newspapers portal.
Educator resource poster SS8H7d, featuring:
- Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL.
- Rights: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/about/#rights
- Accessibility: This resource is in the public domain, designed to fit an 8.5” x 11” letter-sized sheet of paper. All content is in the public domain to ensure print accessibility for all students and educators.

#LeoFrank #EducatorsofGeorgia #GeorgiaSocialStudies #GeorgiaHistory

You can view the landing page at https://sites.google.com/view/dlg-educator-resources/home/special-events/leo-frank.

The educator resource poster for the GSE SSH87d New South/Leo Frank module is available here:

Educator resource pages for other Georgia social studies standards are available here: https://sites.google.com/view/dlg-educator-resources .

#LeoFrank #EducatorsofGeorgia #GeorgiaSocialStudies #GeorgiaHistory

Educator Resource poster SS8H7d, featuring:
Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL.
Rights: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/about/#rights
Accessibility: This resource is in the public domain, designed to fit an 8.5” x 11” letter-sized sheet of paper. All content is in the public domain to ensure print accessibility for all students and educators.

Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the Digital Library of Georgia’s competitive digitization grant program, a compelling collection of scrapbooks and photos spanning the years 1926 to 2000 now illuminates the rich history of Athens, Georgia’s Chase Street Elementary School. This newest collaboration between the DLG and Athens-Clarke County Library is accessible at the following link:

Chase Street Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Scrapbooks

The collection, consisting of seventeen meticulously crafted scrapbooks and a photo album, encapsulates the social tapestry of a small-town Georgia schoolhouse throughout the twentieth century. An invaluable historical resource that Chase Street Elementary school parents created, these materials showcase the school’s evolution and provide unique insights into the broader Southern community school movement, popular cultural expression, and the impact of world events on a small town.

Ashley Shull, Archives & Special Collections Coordinator at the Athens Regional Library System and Jessica Varsa, Community Archivist and Chase Street PTO board member, emphasize the significance of these scrapbooks:

“The Chase Street School scrapbooks are an intact historical depiction of a neighborhood school in a rapidly changing Athens-Clarke County, Georgia community. They are a valuable resource for researchers and community members chronicling race, education governance, cultural traditions, and community relations in the south.”

Of particular note is the appearance of Johnnie Lay Burks, the pioneering first African-American teacher at Chase Street Elementary. She commenced her tenure in 1966 and appeared in the 1965-1966 scrapbook in a group faculty photo. African American students can be seen through candid class photos at the same time when Chase Street School became accessible to its first African American students during that school year. These records support research on school desegregation, offering a distinct perspective absent from traditional sources such as newspaper articles and school board minutes. On November 3, 2023, Chase Street Elementary School was renamed Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary School, honoring the legacy of its trailblazing educator.

The scrapbooks not only capture dramatic student plays, exhibits, holidays, handiwork, and special programs but also shed light on the school’s social culture, detailing PTO meetings, the responsibilities of early officers, and the structure of these unique gatherings. Due to their nomadic existence over the past 70 years, the degradation of these records has underscored the urgency of digitization to ensure their access and preservation for future generations.

The digitized images are freely available to the public. They are a valuable resource for researchers outside of Athens exploring organizational architecture, early 20th-century education in Georgia and the Southeast, and the often-overlooked contributions of parent-teacher organizations.

The scrapbooks serve as a testament to the enduring legacy of Chase Street School, reflecting the community’s resilience and commitment to education.

About the Athens-Clarke County Library

The Athens Clarke County Library creates a welcoming and inclusive environment that empowers individuals and communities by providing resources that encourage discovery, imagination, and life-long learning. The Heritage Room, the headquarters of the Archives and Special Collections Department, is located on the 2nd floor of the Athens-Clarke County Library, 2025 Baxter St., Athens, Georgia, 30605. It houses a non-circulating collection of local history, genealogy, and southern history books, microfilm, and archival materials. Visit the Athens-Clarke County Library at: https://athenslibrary.org/location/athens-clarke

About the Digital Library of Georgia

The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is Georgia’s statewide cultural heritage digitization initiative. It is a joint project between the University of Georgia Libraries and GALILEO. The DLG collaborates with Georgia’s cultural heritage and educational institutions to provide free online access to historic resources in Georgia. The DLG develops, maintains, and preserves digital collections and online resources and partners to build digitization capacity and technical infrastructure. It acts as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and facilitates cooperative digitization initiatives. The DLG serves as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia’s print journalism preservation project.

Selected images from the collection: