City records showing the 20th-century growth of Sugar Hill, Georgia now available online in the Digital Library of Georgia

ATHENS, Ga.,  June 13, 2023 Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, this collection is the City of Sugar Hill’s latest collaboration with the DLG and is available here: City Government Records.

The collection includes city council minutes, ordinances, resolutions, communications, economic studies, and other information ranging from the date the city was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly (March 24, 1939) through the year June 1992. 

The digitized collection was also funded in part by a 2022 Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC) grant award administered to local historical repositories to develop and/or implement projects that identify, preserve, and provide access to historical records. Funding was made possible thanks to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC).

These documents, which in their original form were stored in the City Archives room in file cabinets for years and with limited access, are now available for researchers interested in the diverse issues addressed through its many ordinances.  The information in the records ranges from what types of businesses were allowed to operate in the city limits to rules guiding the resident’s property rights.  It also includes records related to the city’s handling of property annexations, salary information for city government officials and staff, and rate/fee comparisons on utility rates (water, sewer, gas, sanitation) in the nearby localities.  In addition,  data that reflects the state’s cultural, political, social, geographic, and economic diversity provides a broader view of the community’s growth over the decades. 

Brandon S. Hembree, Mayor of the City of Sugar Hill, notes:

“The Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society was created by the City of Sugar Hill in 2015 with the mission of expanding the community’s awareness and appreciation for Sugar Hill’s past. The City celebrated its 84th birthday on March 24, 2023. We have a rich history and, as the current Mayor, I often view these City Council ledgers for information about our past and inspiration for our future as a community.”

[View the entire collection online]

 

###

 

About the City of Sugar Hill

The Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7 pm. All meetings are held in the History Museum Room at Sugar Hill City Hall. You can find out more at: https://cityofsugarhill.com/government/boards-commissions/historic-preservation-society/.

 

Selected images from the collection: 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society (Sugar Hill, Ga.)

Sugar Hill, Georgia city council minutes, December 22, 1948-December 3, 1964

Title : Sugar Hill, Georgia city council minutes, December 22, 1948-December 3, 1964.https://dlg.usg.edu/record/shgapc_cgr_144 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Sugar Hill Historic Preservation Society (Sugar Hill, Ga.)

Title : Sugar Hill, Georgia city council minutes, January 7, 1965-December 20, 1975

https://dlg.usg.edu/record/shgapc_cgr_145 

 

 

 

Share

Flannery O’Connor’s Appearances in the Georgia Catholic Diocesan Paper The Bulletin

by Daniel Britt, Mandy Mastrovita, and Donnie Summerlin

The Digital Library of Georgia, in conjunction with our partners at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, recently digitized the historic Bulletin newspaper (1920-1962) and made it publicly available on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website.

The Bulletin was first published in January 1920 as the official organ for the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia and shortly became Georgia’s leading Catholic newspaper.

In 1963, the publication split into two separate diocesan papers, the Bulletin (Archdiocese of Atlanta) and the Southern Cross (Diocese of Savannah). Among the paper’s vast array of content, it [still] includes reviews of Catholic written works.

From 1956 to 1964, Georgia writer Flannery O’Connor regularly contributed to the paper’s book reviews section. However, her first appearance in the publication was where she was credited as a budding cartoonist.

The Bulletin (Augusta, Ga.) 1920-1957, June 26, 1943, page 10

Stephanie Braddy, Director of Archives & Records Management, Catholic Diocese of Savannah, notes that for O’Connor researchers “the articles offer further insight into Ms. O’Connor’s wit and personality, as well as her firmly held beliefs related to writing, and Catholicism.”

Well-known as a devout Catholic, she reviewed 143 titles spanning genres in both nonfiction and fiction, but, more specifically, she almost always explored Christian subject matter.

As evidenced by her desire to review works by controversial figures such as the French Jesuit priest and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, O’Connor displayed a deep interest in increasing her intellectual engagement with Catholicism.

Matt Davis, Director of Historic Museums at Georgia College & State University, observes that : “Flannery O’Connor kept a very strict schedule during the last years of her life in Milledgeville.  “Rising early to attend mass, she would then spend the remainder of her morning writing as her health allowed. With easy online access to O’Connor’s work in The Bulletin, the public and scholars of all levels have been provided another window to show how her faith and writing intertwined.”

These reviews were intended for a Catholic audience and focused on religious topics. As a result, they provide insights into O’Connor’s writing process not readily found in her works of fiction.

In his introduction to Leo J. Zuber’s compilation of O’Connor book reviews The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O’Connor, Carter W. Martin remarks, “one of the pleasures. . . is to savor the quality of Flannery O’Connor’s mind at work on the serious intellectual content of her faith. Here is confirmation, if we need it, that her art arose from religious convictions that she subjected to intense scrutiny not only in her heart but in her mind as well.”

Below, we’ve curated select pages from the Bulletin featuring writing by and about Flannery O’Connor. The paper’s run is available on the Georgia Historic Newspapers website, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1449731/ , and O’Connor’s appearances have been gathered together here.

Selected images: 

O’Connor’s first book review appeared in the Bulletin’s March 3, 1956 issue, an issue in which her collection of short stories, entitled ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find,’ was also reviewed. Regarding her first book review, O’Connor noted to Notre Dame professor John Lynch, “As for fiction, the motto of the Catholic press should be: We guarantee to corrupt nothing but your taste.”

The Bulletin, March 3, 1956. https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1449731/1956-03-03/ed-1/seq-15/

In an unusually lengthy three-column Bulletin article, O’Connor reviewed Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s ‘The Phenomenon of Man.’

The Bulletin (Monroe, Ga.), February 20, 1960. https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1189460/1960-02-20/ed-1/seq-3/

A front-page editorial for The Georgia Bulletin’s book supplement section, by O’Connor, entitled “Fiction is Subject With A History – It Should Be Taught that Way.” She argues the importance of a firm understanding of the past, writing that “many students go to college unaware that the world was not made yesterday…”

The Georgia Bulletin (Atlanta, Ga.), March 21, 1963. https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn22193774/1963-03-21/ed-1/seq-8/
Share