DLG awards four Competitive Digitization service grants to Georgia cultural heritage institutions across the state

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Four institutions are recipients of the sixth set of service grants awarded in a program intended to broaden partner participation in the DLG. The DLG solicited proposals for historic digitization projects in a statewide call, and applicants submitted proposals for projects with a cost of up to $7,500.00 The projects will be administered by DLG staff who will perform digitization and descriptive services on textual (not including newspapers), graphic, and audio-visual materials. This subgranting program was presented the 2018 Award for Excellence in Archival Program Development by a State Institution by the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC).

The recipients and their projects include:

Chipley Historical Center of Pine Mountain (Pine Mountain, Ga.)

  • Digitization of the record book of the Sardis Church of Christ, dated 1828-1915. The Sardis Church of Christ was associated with the Primitive Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia.

Kennesaw State University Archives (Kennesaw, Ga.)

  • Digitization of drawings created and produced by the architectural firm Gregson and Ellis and its predecessor, Gregson and Associates. These materials include a selection of architectural drawings of facilities that provided public medical and mental health care in various counties in the State of Georgia, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.

Peachtree City Library (Peachtree City, Ga.)

  • Digitization of materials documenting the conceptual beginnings and history of Peachtree City, Georgia, one of the country’s most successful post-World War II “new towns.”

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection (Athens, Ga.)

  • Description of 250 episodes of the Parade of Quartets, the longest continuous-running gospel program on television in the United States, which has aired on WJBF in Augusta, Georgia since 1953, and has featured African American gospel groups.

Preference in the selection process was given to proposals from institutions that had not yet collaborated with the DLG. Chipley Historical Center of Pine Mountain and the Peachtree City Library are both new partners for the DLG. Sheila McAlister, director of the Digital Library of Georgia notes: “This newest set of subgrant awards represents the rich cultural diversity of the state. The projects document early Primitive Baptist life; the interplay between architecture and public health; the development of planned communities; and religious musical heritage. We’re happy to add two new partners.”

About the Chipley Historical Center of Pine Mountain

The Chipley Historical Center is located in Pine Mountain, Georgia next to City Hall in the original city hall building, built just after the turn of the twentieth century, and still contains the original jail cells. Learn more at the Chipley Historical Center’s web site at chipleyhistoriccenter.org.

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. Our professional archivists provide a range of services, including collection description and organization, reference consultations, reproduction requests, record transfers and donations, and training opportunities, as well as guidance on the preservation and maintenance of paper, audio-visual, and digital materials. Visit their web site at archives.kennesaw.edu.

About the Peachtree City Library

The Peachtree City Library serves the residents of Peachtree City, Georgia with adult programs, children’s programs, and is a proud member of the PINES Library Consortium. Learn more at their web site, peachtree-city.org/125/Library.

About the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection is home to more than 90,000 titles and 5,000,000 feet of newsfilm, making it the third-largest broadcasting archive in the country, behind only the Library of Congress and UCLA. The Archives comprise moving image and sound collections that focus on American television and radio broadcasting, and the music, folklore, and history of Georgia. There are more than 50,000 television programs and more than 39,500 radio programs in the Archives, in addition to audio folk music field tapes and home movies from rural Georgia. Their mission is to preserve, protect, and provide access to the moving image and sound materials that reflect the collective memory of broadcasting and the history of the state of Georgia and its people. Learn more at libs.uga.edu/media/index.html.

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.

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Even Santa Claus Eats Here: The Southern Israelite and the Marketing of Chinese Food

Southern Israelite, December 24, 1948
Southern Israelite, December 12, 1947
Southern Israelite, December 12, 1947

Newspapers have always been one of my favorite sources of work, and the DLG Georgia Historic Newspapers collection is one of my favorite sources of full-text searchable newspapers to use for this type of research. There are many different approaches to examining newspapers, but one that you may find useful is finding global connections in local sources. One global thread that interests me is how diverse foodways are introduced to new communities. Marketing methods tell us how customers were enticed to try food that may be new to them.

Southern Israelite, December 24, 1948
Southern Israelite, December 24, 1948

This marketing idea led to thinking about the special connection of the Jewish community to the  Chinese culinary scene. The relationship between Jewish communities and Chinese food is particularly evident around the Christmas holidays. Yong Chen’s Chop Suey, USA, explores the topic of Chinese food in the United States and pays some attention to cultural connection centered around food between Jewish and Chinese communities. The Southern Israelite proved to be an excellent source to ask questions about how the Jewish community in Atlanta was sold on Chinese food.

While this project is still in its early stages, I have discovered a few interesting facets of the marketing of Chinese food to the Atlanta Jewish community. A few quick facts:

  • From the 1930s to 1960s, I found twelve restaurants serving Chinese cuisine concentrated mostly in downtown Atlanta.
  • During the early twentieth century, there was an attempt to market Chinese food as “authentic” either by highlighting the origins of the chefs or the type of food served.
  • Many restaurants, as late as the 1960s, advertised both American and Chinese dishes. During the 1950s many restaurants began to emphasize their Chinese dishes over their American dishes.
  • The first true “take-away” Chinese restaurant, Young China, did not appear in the Southern Israelite until the 1950s.
  • The most prolific advertiser in the Southern Israelite was the restaurant Ding Ho which was open by Chinese-American Veteran Tom P. Wong in 1948.
Southern Israelite, January 11, 1952
Southern Israelite, January 11, 1952

There’s more research to be done, but thanks to the Georgia Historic Newspaper Project at the DLG, the ease of accessing resources like the Southern Israelite will allow for deeper discoveries that allow us to make global connections with a local context.

This project originated as a class project during this past semester in Dr. Ian Fletcher’s History 8490 at Georgia State University. In this course, we spent the term coming to an understanding of the importance of global history and how each student in the class might use elements of global history in their research and teaching. Students in this course decided to conduct a research project on food and global context in Atlanta.

The final map for the class was created by Curt Jackson and is available here:

https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=2fd02952e89c457bb4701816b2b7d9de&extent=-84.3652,33.8704,-84.163,33.9553

–Joshua Kitchens
Director, Archival Studies Program
Clayton State University

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