Tag: Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)

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New collection features over 50 years of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and are now available freely online.

Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, over 3,000 pages of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and other Southeastern towns and cities are now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia and can be seen online here:

African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022

The collection of 637 individual programs dates between 1961-2022, with the birth dates of the people represented going back to 1870.

Pharris D. Johnson, former mayor of Bellville, Georgia, chairman of the Savannah College of Art and Design Board of Trustees, and Vice President of the Evans County Historical Society says:

“The Evans County Community Center and African American Archive Museum serves our community in an outstanding manner. They accomplish their mission with a small budget and through dedicated volunteers. As we know, funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information.  [These materials from] the Evans County Community Center Archives are an important resource for the residents of Evans and surrounding counties.”

Documenting an underrepresented region of Georgia, this collection provides important information for genealogical research and for understanding African American life during different time periods. 

Funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information and typically include a photograph of the deceased individual, an obituary, a list of surviving relatives, and information about the funeral service. Some programs provide more extensive genealogical information such as birth and death dates, maiden names, past residences, accomplishments, affiliations, and burial locations. For marginalized populations, this information can often be difficult to find, as the records of many in these communities were often either destroyed, kept privately, or never created in the first place.

The Evans County African American Archive Museum has collected funeral programs for over twenty years. Since then, residents have contributed to the collection. 

Darin McCoy of the Evans County Historical Society notes: 

“[Our] facility operates within an under-served rural county in terms of digitized African American history. However, the Evans County Historical Society alumni and the Evans County African American Archive Museum leadership team are well-known advocates for the preservation and collection of local African American history and artifacts. Our featured displays, public events, and family presentations are unique and emphasize the historical value of these entities. The vision, collections, and the preservation of artifacts, begun over twenty (20) years ago, have now come to fruition.”

Digitization and access have been made possible through the Digital Library of Georgia’s competitive digitization subgrant program and are displayed and searchable within their online portal. The Digital Library of Georgia has also partnered with local libraries and the Georgia Public Library Service to digitize African American funeral programs for people connected to the Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond County, and Thomas County areas. 

 

About the Evans County African American Archive Museum (Claxton, Ga.)

The mission of the Evans County African American Archive Museum is to provide means for all citizens of Evans County to obtain an excellent quality of life through programs and services. The Archive was the recipient of a 2021 GHRAC Award for History Advocacy. Their Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/Evans-County-Community-Center-343942125941003/ 

Selected images from the collection:

Title: Funeral program for Charles L. Bailey
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-470
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Charles L. Bailey. Date of funeral service: June 18, 2011. Location of funeral service: St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Claxton, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: November 19, 1916. Death date: June 12, 2011.
Title: Funeral program for Earlene Harris
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-632
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Earlene Harris. Date of funeral service: November 4, 2021. Location of funeral service: Beulah Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 11:00 a.m. Birth date: April 8, 1935. Death date: October 28, 2021.
Title: Funeral program for Reverend Lee Jones
URL: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/eccca_aafp-ec_ecaaam-402
Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022
Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, Ga.)
Description: Funeral program for Reverend Lee Jones. Date of funeral service: June 5, 2008. Location of funeral service: Pittman Park United Methodist Church, Statesboro, Georgia, 1:00 p.m. Birth date: October 6, 1926. Death date: June 02, 2008.
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Tags: African American history, African American men--History--20th century, African American men--History--21st century, African American women--History--20th century, African American women--History--21st century, African Americans--Funeral customs and rites--History--20th century, African Americans--Funeral customs and rites--History--21st century, African Americans--Genealogy, Antebellum Era (1800-1860), Civil Rights & Sunbelt Georgia (1945-1980s), Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877), Competitive Digitization Grant program, digitization, Evans County African American Archive Museum, funeral programs, Funeral rites and ceremonies--History--20th century, Funeral rites and ceremonies--History--21st century, Funeral service--History--20th century, Funeral service--History--21st century, Georgia, Late 19th Century (1877-1900), Mourning customs--History--20th century, Mourning customs--History--21st century, progressive era to World War II (1900-1945), subgrants
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19th and early 20th century collections from the Presbyterian Church are now available online without paywalls or passwords.

Page selected from a group of 19th-century handwritten letters.

Selected by Georgia stakeholders and funded by the DLG, these materials document the Church’s interaction with slavery, emancipation, and religion.

These collections are: 

Lexington Presbyterian Church (Lexington, Ga.) records, 1822-1916. 

The names of enslaved church members may be found inside this collection. It’s possible that these are the sole documents proving that some of these people actually existed. There are also records of famous academics and politicians who lived in Oglethorpe County, Georgia.

Henry Newton papers, 1842-1900. 

Henry Newton grew up in Athens, Georgia, as a Presbyterian preacher. In 1841, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, and in 1845, he received his master’s degree from Columbia Theological Seminary. Newton preached to both enslaved and liberated African Americans throughout the state from 1845 to 1897 in several northeast Georgian churches.

These projects are the Columbia Theological Seminary’s second collaboration with the DLG. 

Ashley Simpson, former president of the Athens Historical Society and Georgia historical marker researcher, describes the importance of having these materials available for research freely online:

“Digitization has allowed historians, genealogists, family researchers, and the merely curious to see and use records without harming the originals. 

During COVID, we discovered that we could all work with the digitized manuscript simultaneously by working remotely.  

Access to digital copies of original documents permits some claims to be verified and some misinformation to be disproven. 

Granting digital access to the Henry Newton papers and the Lexington Presbyterian Church records facilitates a greater understanding of daily life and the rich historical background of northeast Georgia. ”

View these collections online

About Columbia Theological Seminary 

Columbia Theological Seminary exists to educate and nurture faithful, imaginative, and effective leaders for the sake of the church and the world. It is an educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a community of theological inquiry, leadership development, and formation for ministry in the service of the church of Jesus Christ. Visit ctsnet.edu for more information. 

Selected images:

Christian Observer, May 6, 1886. Courtesy of Columbia Theological Seminary. Three letters written by Reverend Henry Newton to the editors of the Christian Observer regarding the controversy surrounding James Woodrow and the theory of evolution. In the first letter, Newton clarifies the nature of the investigation into accusations against Woodrow. In the second letter, Newton describes the evolution debate happening in the Presbyterian church, claiming that the church has no say in scientific theories and vice versa. In the third letter, Newton admonishes the false persecution being advanced against Woodrow by enemies within the church. From notes: Contains three letters to the editors of the Christian Observer regarding the deposition of James Woodrow in the evolution controversy in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.
Page of 19th-century ledger featuring lists of hand-recorded financial transactions
Accounts and expenses, 1853-1870, page 39 of 166.
Account book of reverend Reverend Henry Newton. This account book features lists of transactions, family expenses, monies paid out, and produce received from churches, all dating from 1853 to 1870. In addition, there is a list of sermons performed by Newton organized by the book of the Bible from which they came. Also included are notes on a contract for building additions to Newton’s home and a list of sermons ‘Preached to Negroes at Thyatira at Jefferson at Concord.’
Page of 19th century church record book/ledger with handwritten accounts of church-related events.
Book “A” Record of Presbyterian Church at Lexington, 1822-1874. Courtesy of Columbia Theological Seminary. Page 24 of record book of the Presbyterian Church at Lexington, Georgia covering the years 1822 to 1874. This book covers various happenings pertaining to church events, polity, and membership. It lists baptisms and sacraments performed, changes in church leadership, including ministers and elders, changes in congregants, including those joining and those leaving the church, and news of major events in nearby Presbyteries. The Lexington Presbyterian Church records document the names of enslaved members of the church, and it is not unlikely that for some of the names provided it is the only existing record that these people ever lived.
Page of 19th century ledger featuring lists of hand-recorded financial transactions "Family Expenses."
Title: Accounts and expenses, 1853-1870, page 110 of 166. Courtesy of Columbia Theological Seminary Description: Account book of reverend Reverend Henry Newton featuring lists of transactions, family expenses, monies paid out, and produce received from churches, all dating from 1853 to 1870. Includes a list of sermons performed by Newton organized by the book of the Bible from which they came. There are also notes on a contract for building additions to Newton’s home and a list of sermons that includes those preached to African Americans.
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Tags: african american genealogy, African Americans--Social conditions, Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877), Clarke County (Ga.), Columbia Theological Seminary, enslaved people, Genealogy, Georgia history, Oglethorpe County (Ga.), Presbyterian Church, progressive era to World War II (1900-1945), subgrants