Macon (Ga.) – the DLG B

My interest in Georgia photographers and visiting photographers who worked in Georgia, as well as their associates, began in the late 1970s. Throughout my career as an archivist and librarian I built upon this interest when time allowed. When I retired, this became a full-time pursuit, and since 2013, I have worked on researching and writing about these photographers in my blog Hunting and Gathering.

For my Georgia Photographers Documentation Project, I use many research sources, and my database now has close to 3,700 records, documenting about 2,200 photographers. One of my all-time favorite sources, the DLG’s Georgia Historic Newspapers collection allows me to search for advertisements, notices of formed or dissolved partnerships, and personal information, including obituaries on these photographers and their associates. I also find some wonderful articles about photography itself.

The addition of so many smaller town and city newspapers to this collection of historic newspapers has proven to be great fun! In the last week alone, I turned up four more women who worked in the profession just after the turn-of-the century–Amanda Cain in north Georgia, Mrs. Clark (possibly Mrs. H.S.) in east Georgia, Mrs. W. B. Standifer in southwest Georgia, and Effie West in southeast Georgia. Mrs. Standifer set aside Wednesday and Saturday especially for her African American customers, which is not as uncommon as it sounds, and I have written and spoken on this topic. Now I will pursue these women’s names both in and out of the DLG’s Georgia Historic Newspapers collection to flesh out each record in my database which now documents over 260 women.

The other excitement for me these past few weeks has been the exploration of the added Columbus and Macon city directories which were made available this spring via the DLG in partnership with the Georgia Public Library Service City directories are another “must-have” in my research. I already had a lot of the directory information from these two cities, but I lacked the earlier years, and that is exactly what I found in this new resource–Columbus city directories beginning in 1859, and Macon’s beginning in 1860. It took me about a week to finish that task, but I was able to find new advertisements, and add or correct work years and work addresses for photographers and their associates working in those two cities.

I have used the resources of the Digital Library of Georgia so often the last ten years, I know I have a stake in it, and all Georgians do. The fact that all this information is available to those in and out of state for free is wonderful. In my blog posts I try to remember to thank the DLG when I use any of the excellent data that they make available to us. I look forward to the upcoming new additions!

—E. Lee Eltzroth, independent scholar

https://georgia-photographers.com/,

and president / CEO, Friends of the Peachtree City Library

As part of a $14,495 grant from the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, the Digital Library of Georgia has digitized approximately 53,930 pages of Georgia newspaper titles published prior to 1861 from microfilm held by the Georgia Newspaper Project (http://www.libs.uga.edu/gnp/). The project creates full-text searchable versions of the newspapers and presents them online for free in its Georgia Historic Newspapers database at http://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu in accordance with technical guidelines developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress for the National Digital Newspaper Program (see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/ . The Georgia Historic Newspapers database will utilize the Library of Congress’ open source tool, Chronicling America, for the online delivery of the full-text newspapers.Users will be able to search the database for geographic, corporate, family, and personal names.

138 pre-Civil War titles have been digitized from the following Georgia cities: Albany, Americus, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Auraria, Calhoun, Carrollton, Cartersville, Cassville, Clarkesville, Columbus, Covington, Cuthbert, Darien, Forsyth, Ft. Hawkins, Greensboro, Griffin, Hamilton, Louisville, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Mount Zion, Newnan, Oglethorpe, Penfield, Petersburg, Rome, Savannah, Sparta, Thomaston, Thomasville, Warrenton, and Washington.

Vivian Price Saffold, chairman of the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Advisory Committee, states: “Since 1971 genealogy researchers have depended on publications funded by grants from the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation. The Foundation has funded the printing of thousands of books in traditional format. More recently the addition of digital projects, such as the Digital Library of Georgia’s newspaper project, have made possible free online access to tens of thousands of Georgia newspaper pages that previously were difficult to research. The DLG project is a great example of the kind of grant request the Foundation is proud to fund. Georgia newspapers are a valuable resource. On the technical side, the online newspaper images are sharp and clear, and the functionality of the indexing is excellent.”

About the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation

The purpose of the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation Trust is to promote genealogical research and study in Georgia in conjunction with the Georgia Genealogical Society and the Georgia Archives. Grants are made to individuals and organizations to defray the expense of publishing (print or digital) records of a genealogical nature from public and private sources. The primary emphasis is on preserving and making available to the public genealogical data concerning citizens of Georgia who were residents prior to 1851. Visit the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation at http://taylorfoundation.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.

Tag: Macon (Ga.)

Filling in the Blanks — Researching Georgia Photographers

Georgia antebellum newspapers now freely available online