New Collections – Page 29

June 12, 2019June 10, 2019

Carroll County, Georgia genealogical resources now freely available online

The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is pleased to announce the availability of volumes 1 and 2 of Carroll County Georgia Cemeteries at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/uwg_ccgc and 53 issues of the Carroll County Genealogical Quarterly published from 1980 to 1994 at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/uwg_ccgq. These resources belong to the University of West Georgia Special Collections and 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.

Carroll County Georgia Cemeteries is a guide to cemeteries in the western (volume 1) and eastern (volume 2) parts of the county published by the Carroll County Genealogical Society. Together they provide transcriptions of names as they appear on tombstones within the 292 cemeteries located in Carroll County. The digitization of these volumes makes family names keyword searchable, which greatly aids researchers’ ability to perform genealogical research in their own homes and other settings.

The Carroll County Genealogical Quarterly (1980-present) is another publication of the Carroll County Genealogical Society that compiles, collects, and creates genealogical information for Carroll County, Georgia. The University of West Georgia’s Ingram Library’s Special Collections has a complete set of these newsletters in which members have written articles on their research into various aspects of the county’s history, which includes information on the land lottery of 1827, Carroll County’s old militia districts, early post offices and postmasters, early settlers and marriages, rural churches and cemeteries, family histories and genealogies, wills and family records transcribed from bibles, census records, ownership of enslaved people of African descent, military history, tax digests, and more. The Carroll County Genealogical Quarterly is an invaluable resource that can be used in learning, teaching, and research of Carroll County history by students, genealogists, local historians, and descendants of Carroll County who live outside of the area.

Keith Bohannan, a professor in the department of history at the University of West Georgia notes:

“The books and periodicals being digitized were only published in small numbers and are not easily available to the public outside of the county library or Georgia State Archives. The resources being digitized will be very helpful to people both inside and outside of the community doing genealogical or historical research.”

About the University of West Georgia Special Collections

University of West Georgia Special Collections serves as the repository for rare materials in the Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, housing manuscripts, books, films, photographs, sound recordings, and other formats in a number of specialized areas. Special Collections also holds the University Archives. Through these collections, the department supports the research, teaching, and service mission of the university and its constituents. Visit University of West Georgia Special Collections at https://www.westga.edu/library/special-collections/index.php

About the Carroll County Genealogical Society

The mission of the Carroll County Genealogical Society is to promote genealogical research among members of our society and the Carroll County Georgia community. Visit the Carroll County Genealogical Society at http://www.ccgsga.org/

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.

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019

16th-century liturgical codex now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia

WRITER/CONTACT: Deborah Hakes, dhakes@georgialibraries.org

Watch a video travelogue of the codex’s digitization journey.

ATLANTA — A 16th-century precursor to the modern book has been digitized and made freely available online through the Digital Library of Georgia. The project was a partnership between Georgia HomePLACE, the digitization unit of the Georgia Public Library Service; the Brunswick Library, part of the Marshes of Glynn Libraries; and the Auburn Avenue Research Library for African American Culture and History, a special library of the Fulton County Library System.

The book, or codex, is a leather and metal-bound liturgical volume of hand-lettered manuscript pages written in Latin and estimated to have been created around 1580. It contains text from the Catholic Tridentine Mass, adopted at the Council of Trent a decade earlier, and includes excerpts from the book of Matthew and musical notation for hymns.

“The codex is an especially treasured part of our collection at the Brunswick-Glynn County Library,” says Ben Bryson, Assistant Director of the Marshes of Glynn Libraries. “During student tours, it creates more excitement than any other part of the library when students see its size and learn how old it is. Thanks to the assistance of Georgia HomePLACE and the Auburn Avenue Research Library, we can now share this treasure with people around the world through the Digital Library of Georgia. One wonders if James Robeson could have imagined what the future held for his gift to the Brunswick Library when he donated it more than forty years ago.”

The codex is believed to be Spanish in origin and was moved to an English monastery where it remained until the reign of King Henry VIII. When Henry VIII dissolved the Catholic Church in England he distributed the property of the Church to his supporters. This manuscript fell into private hands at that time. Francis L. Abreu of Sea Island acquired the manuscript in New York City. It was given to the Brunswick Library in 1975 by James L. Robeson of Brunswick. Mr. Abreu and Mr. Robeson were partners in the architectural firm Abreu and Robeson.

Measuring at over 4’ by 2.5’ when open, the codex presented a digitization challenge, outpacing the size of nearly all flatbed and overhead scanning equipment in the area.

“The cost to crate, ship, and scan the codex with a private vendor would have been astronomical,” says HomePLACE director Angela Stanley. “Thankfully, our friends at the Auburn Avenue Research Library came to the rescue with their state-of-the-art scanning lab. When Archivist Derek Mosely confirmed that their Zeutschel A0 planetary scanner was up to the task, we were thrilled.”

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Georgia HomePLACE encourages public libraries and related institutions across the state to participate in the Digital Library of Georgia. HomePLACE offers a highly collaborative model for digitizing primary source collections related to local history and genealogy. HomePLACE is a project of the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. HomePLACE is supported with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service.

Located in Georgia’s Golden Isles, the Marshes of Glynn Libraries serve the residents and visitors of Glynn County from two locations: the Brunswick-Glynn County Library in Historic Downtown Brunswick, and the St. Simons Island Public Library at the Old Casino in the Pier Village.

Fulton County Library System is the largest in the state, with 34 libraries, including the Auburn Avenue Research Library, and a collection of more than 3 million items. It offers innovative programs, services and virtual resources tailored to meet the needs of each branch’s community. Children, teens and adults may choose from a variety of classes, visit exhibitions, listen to authors discuss their work, check out videos, DVDs and CDs, attend book club discussions, get homework help, hear music and see live performances. For more information about the system, visit www.afpls.org.