New Collections from City of Savannah, Research Library and Municipal Archives

Resolution regarding civil rights marches in the city of Savannah recorded in the Mayor's Speeches File Books for Savannah, Georgia, 1963
Resolution regarding civil rights marches in the city of Savannah recorded in the Mayor’s Speeches File Books for Savannah, Georgia, 1963

 

We are pleased to announce new collections with lots of new content from the City of Savannah, Research Library and Municipal Archives.

These new collections include:

Luciana Spracher, the library and archives director for the City of Savannah, Research Library and Municipal Archives, comments on the breadth of resources available: “For a municipal government, we have a very robust archival program, probably very fitting for a city of Savannah’s historical nature, and I think a lot of people will generally be surprised by how much we have, whether it is records on individuals, businesses, properties, or government growth and activities, in general.”

She adds: “We are particularly excited to share the oral history collections digitally.  Prior to this we did not have a good way to allow individuals to listen to the audio recordings and I think this new access will increase their use and appreciation.  I am also excited that we are sharing twentieth century collections and history with our citizens and users.  We have previously had a strong focus on nineteenth century records, but we are increasingly seeing where we need to start addressing gaps in our twentieth century records, and researchers are increasingly interested in studying twentieth century events and issues.

Now that these collections are available in the Digital Library of Georgia and the Digital Public Library of America, Spracher is eager to reach new researchers: “Our greatest hope for our collections through DLG and DPLA is that this will increase access and awareness.  We hope that new audiences will be introduced to them that may never have considered the City of Savannah as a source on certain topics.  I’m always excited when our records are used in ways that we never could have anticipated or hoped for.”

We hope that you take the time to explore these new collections, and learn more about how the twentieth century has shaped Savannah’s modern history.

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Congratulations to Georgia State University on receiving NHPRC Grant

Congratulations to Georgia State University Library on receiving a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant in the amount of $121,418 to digitize and transcribe recorded interviews from the Uprising of ’34 Oral History collection in the Southern Labor Archives. The collection includes first-person accounts of the attempts of nearly half a million textile workers in Southern cotton mills to unionize.

The project is scheduled to last 18 months, and will begin on August 1.

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