Atlanta (Ga.)–History–20th century – Page 2

ATHENS, Ga. — In conjunction with our partners at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, the Georgia Bulletin (1963-1980) is now available for viewing at the Georgia Historic Newspapers website. These newspapers will contribute to a broader scholarship about Catholicism in Atlanta as well as in Georgia. The Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive website 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.

In the first issue of the Georgia Bulletin, published January 4, 1963, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan, the first archbishop for the newly elevated Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, remarked:

“The religious press is not intended to be a ‘house organ’ or a ‘trade sheet.’ Its whole reason for being is that it might enter the community bearing light and courage—light enough to expose society’s ills as well as its strengths; courage enough to inspire justice and charity in those who might falter along the path.”

Angelique M. Richardson, the director of archives and records for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta emphasizes: “By making these digitized issues of our diocesan newspaper available to the public through the Georgia Historic Newspapers Project, we greatly hope that these words inspire researchers to learn more about the history of Catholics in North Georgia.”

She adds: “We would never have been able to accomplish a project like this on our own.”

Featured images:

Title: *Georgia Bulletin* (Atlanta), June 27, 1963, Page 1
Description: This issue, dated June 27, 1963, commemorating the coronation of Pope Paul VI, who would be crowned three days later on June 30. Pope Paul VI served as the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from June 21, 1963, to his death on August 6, 1978. Pope Paul VI was the last pope to be crowned.

Title: Georgia Bulletin (Atlanta), May 28, 1964, Page 1
Description: Dated May 28, 1964, this issue of the Georgia Bulletin announces the establishment of three new parishes in the Atlanta area, which include the Parish of the Church of the Holy Spirit, the Parish of the Church of the Holy Cross, and the Parish of St. Mark’s.

About the Georgia Bulletin

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 Georgia Bulletin (Archdiocese of Atlanta) and the Southern Cross (Diocese of Savannah). The CLA disbanded in 1962, but the Georgia Bulletin continues publication as the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

About the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

The Archdiocese of Atlanta encompasses the northern half of Georgia covering 21,445 square miles. Specifically, it includes the 69 counties north of and including the following counties: Lincoln, McDuffie, Warren, Hancock, Baldwin, Putnam, Jasper, Monroe, Upson, Meriwether, and Troup. The Archdiocese of Atlanta is a vibrant, diverse, and rapidly growing Catholic community.

As of 2020, there are 102 parishes and missions, 293 diocesan and religious priests, 46 seminarians, 66 women religious, 18 archdiocesan Catholic schools, 1.2 million Catholics, and 7.5 million people in north-central Georgia.

The history of the Archdiocese goes back to the late 1700s. Originally part of the Diocese of Savannah, Atlanta was made a diocese in 1956 and made an archdiocese in 1962.

The Province of Atlanta is comprised of five dioceses. Visit archatl.com.

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.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/DigitalLibraryofGeorgia/

Twitter: @DigLibGA

In partnership with Kennesaw State University’s Department of Museums, Archives & Rare Books, the Digital Library of Georgia has just added a collection of oversized technical drawings from the Gregson and Ellis Architectural Drawings Collection that document the experiences of “living and receiving medical and mental health care in the mid-20th century segregated South,” according to Helen Thomas, the outreach archivist at Kennesaw State University Archives.

The collection, available at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gkj_gead, features facilities located across Baldwin, Richmond, Treutlen, Ware, and Wayne counties in Georgia. The digitized drawings will also be made available through KSU’s Scholarly Online Access Repository (SOAR) at https://soar.kennesaw.edu/handle/11360/5132.

Some images from the collection include:

Title: Treutlen County Hospital. Details of nurses station
Collection: Gregson and Ellis Architectural Drawings
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gkj_gead_treutlen-020

Title: Augusta State Hospital Complex. [Floor plan – first floor]
Collection: Gregson and Ellis Architectural Drawings
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gkj_gead_augusta-005

Thomas, who works regularly with these materials, adds: “Architectural records demonstrate not only trends in construction and design, but also reflect the society in which the buildings exist…The materials we proposed to digitize depict public facilities, from small rural hospitals to large medical complexes, representing the medical services available to all Georgians regardless of their level of income.”

She concludes: “Since each set of drawings shows public facilities built in Georgia before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these drawings demonstrate how buildings were constructed to segregate not only by the facility but also within facilities. While some of the drawings in this collection reveal separate buildings constructed for the same purpose, but each restricted to white or African-American citizens (such as separate psychiatric buildings in the Milledgeville complex for white and African-American patients), some show how individual buildings were segregated. An example of the latter is the Augusta State Hospital, which shows separate entrances, waiting areas, restrooms, cafeterias, pharmacies, pediatric wings, and locker rooms for white and African-American patients and employees.”

Barbara Berney, Ph.D., MPH, used the Gregson and Ellis materials in her documentary Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution, and says:

“This documentary examines the history of inequality in Americans’ access to health care, and specifically how Medicare was used to desegregate thousands of hospitals across the country. As a scholar of public health and the U. S. health care system, I was inspired to produce the film by hearing eyewitness accounts from physicians, nurses, and government staffers involved in the integration effort and those who struggled to provide health services in rural areas lacking the most basic medical care. The Gregson and Ellis collection provided context for these firsthand accounts by illustrating the physical space in which these health care professionals were working…In addition to providing multiple examples of public hospitals of this era, these drawings show that the public medical facilities available to African Americans were not only separate but could also be limited in size and capabilities.”

About the Kennesaw State University Archives

The Kennesaw State University Archives is a destination for university and community members to research the history of Kennesaw State University and people and organizations in north and northwest Georgia. The mission of the KSU Archives is to identify, collect and make accessible records of enduring value to preserve institutional and community memory into the future. For more information, visit archives.kennesaw.edu.

Tag: Atlanta (Ga.)–History–20th century

Issues of the Georgia Bulletin, the weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, are now available freely online on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website

Architectural records documenting segregated health care facilities in Baldwin, Richmond, Treutlen, Ware, and Wayne counties in Georgia now available online