South Georgia – Page 2

The Friends of the Rylander Theatre, winners of a 2021 Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC) grant, have partnered with the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) to make materials documenting the Americus, Georgia theater’s history from 1921 to 1957 available freely online.

Rylander Theatre Special Collections was digitized and described as part of the DLG’s competitive digitization subgrant program, broadening partner participation amongst nonprofit cultural heritage institutions across the state.

The items in this collection show the “first life” (1921- c. 1951) of the Rylander Theatre and the various types of entertainment the establishment hosted, including live musicals, vaudeville shows, and movies (both silent and “talkies”). In addition, a 1929 school club card and a 1930 theater coupon book show a detailed picture of Depression-era Americus, the popular tastes of this South Georgia town, and details of how local businesses sought to incentivize commerce in their communities during dire times.

Other materials, like photographs, programs, and fliers, provide factual information like names and dates on programs, visual and aesthetic information such as the design of movie advertisement floats in the lobby of the Rylander. The interior design and decoration of the soda shop owned by local businessman George Saliba attached to the Rylander Theatre (and identified in the 1937 Americus city directory as “George’s Place”) are essential to researchers who wish to fill in details related to life in south Georgia. There are also key examples of rural southern movie theater culture within the Jim Crow era, where establishments like the Rylander accommodated segregated audiences and the impact of the Hays Code (the motion picture industry’s self-imposed production code implemented between 1934 and 1968).

Researchers interested in the early life of young Jimmy Carter (the Rylander Theatre’s most famous local patron) would also find the materials in this collection enlightening. Those researchers can dig even deeper into advertisements for Rylander Theatre programming that appear in issues of the Americus Times-Recorder digitized for presentation in Georgia Historic Newspapers. And Carter researchers will be able to connect his lifelong enthusiasm in movies to his presidential daily diary.

Jacob A. Ross, Park Ranger at the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park in Plains, Georgia, describes the importance of this collection:

“As a park ranger for the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, I consider the Rylander Theatre’s history of being part of President Carter’s history, as the young Carter would often attend shows at the Theatre during the same era these items were created. As a historian interested in southern American culture, this collection has been an enlightening and revealing addition to the unique entertainment and racial histories of theater venues in southwest Georgia…These items also appeal to communities looking to perform a similar restoration of their local theater.”

[View the entire collection online]

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About the Friends of the Rylander Theatre (Americus, Ga.)

The Rylander Theater in Americus, Georgia, provides community and area visitors a theater and meeting hall for dramatic and musical stage performances, motion pictures, and lectures, with its unique architecture, artistic legacy, and social history to be interpreted through tours and other educational presentations. Read more at rylander.org

Selected images from the collection:

A black-and-white photo of the facade of the Rylander Theatre in Americus, Georgia. The marquee reads "Mon Tue Bette Davis Edw[ard] G. Robinson in Kid Galahad." A young man sits on top of a motorcycle as he looks back at the theater, and pedestrians walk along the sidewalk in front of the theater. — **Title:** Mon Tue Bette Davis Rylander Theatre street view. **Credit:** Image courtesy of the Rylander Theatre. **Description:** A photo of the front of the Rylander Theatre when it was owned by the Martin Theatre Company, a chain of more than sixty-five theaters owned by R. E. Martin of Columbus, Georgia. The marquee reads “Mon Tue Bette Davis Edw[ard] G. Robinson in Kid Galahad.”

Black-and-white photograph of man standing in front of a theatre placard. The movies on display include The Thin Man (1934), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy; and The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The display also announces that the "Imperial Hawaiians," a group of male musicians, were scheduled to perform onstage. The "R" at the top of the display as well as the architectural details at the top of the photograph point to the location of this photo as the Rylander Theatre, in Americus Georgia. — **Title:** Parade of spring attractions. **Credit:** Image courtesy of the Rylander Theatre. **Description:** Original photo of movie display in the entryway of the Rylander Theatre when it was under Martin Theatre management. The Martin Theatre chain was comprised of more than sixty-five theaters in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida owned by R. E. Martin of Columbus, Georgia. The movies on display include After The Thin Man (1936), starring William Powell and Myrna Loy; and The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The display also announces that the “Imperial Hawaiians,” a group of male musicians, were scheduled to perform onstage. The “R” at the top of the display as well as the architectural details at the top of the photograph point to the location of this photo as the Rylander Theatre, as opposed to the Martin Theatre that opened up across town in 1957.

Three map and plat collections featuring historical maps, plats, deeds, records, and correspondence pertaining to South Georgia land holdings dating from 1767 to 1899 are now available in the Digital Library of Georgia.

These resources belong to Valdosta State University Archives. They have been made available online thanks in part to the DLG’s Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects.

The three digital collections are:

Deeds and Plats, Georgia, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms18, consisting of residential and commercial deeds, plats, maps, and other documents from counties and towns, mostly in southeast Georgia, dating from 1767 to 1899.
Deeds, Camden County, Georgia, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms21, which includes deeds, plats, land grants, and legal documents dating from 1833 to 1899 regarding land in Camden County, Georgia, and northern Florida.
John Adam Treutlen, June 1767, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms165, a land grant dated June 1767 assigned by King George III of England conveying four hundred acres of land in the parish of Saint Matthew, Georgia to John Adam Treutlen, Georgia’s first elected governor.

Digitization, description, and online access to these collections provide historical value to Georgia genealogists, and researchers of South Georgia and its development.

John G. Crowley, associate professor in the department of history at Valdosta State University notes: “Materials such as these are invaluable to genealogists and historians. They reveal patterns of land use, settlement, industrial development, and those involved in such enterprises. For the genealogist, land records are a source of general background information on individuals and families, establish patterns of movement and employment, and often reveal family relationships otherwise unknown or unproven. Southern historians, local historians, and genealogists both amateur and professional will profit enormously from improved access to this material.”

Chris Meyers, professor of history at Valdosta State University states: “The collections to be digitized represent what a genealogist would consider a prized find. Deed records fill significant gaps in genealogical research and making these records available to all, through digitization, represents a significant service to all genealogists.”

Link to featured image:

Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed

hdl.handle.net/10428/3946

Land grant dated June 1767 assigned by King George III of England conveying four hundred acres of land in the parish of Saint Matthew, Georgia to John Adam Treutlen. Treutlen became Georgia’s first governor in 1777.

Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed, page 1

Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed, page 2

About Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections

The VSU Archives and Special Collections supports the University’s commitment to scholarly and creative work, enhances instructional effectiveness, encourages faculty scholarly pursuits, and supports research in selective areas of institutional strength focused on regional need by collecting, preserving, and providing access to records of enduring historical value documenting the history and development of VSU and the surrounding South Georgia region and in support of VSU curriculum. Visit valdosta.edu/academics/library/depts/archives-and-special-collections/

Tag: South Georgia

Historic Materials from the Rylander Theatre, President Jimmy Carter’s Childhood Theatre in Rural Americus, Georgia, Now Available Online

Valdosta State University Archives map and plat collections now available online