Digital Library of Georgia

Over 11,500 pages of digitized African American funeral programs from Atlanta and the Southeast are now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia. The digital collection of 3,348 individual programs dates between 1886-2019 and contains contributions from the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, a special library of the Fulton County Library System; the Wesley Chapel Genealogy Group; and the Atlanta Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. Digitization was funded by Georgia HomePLACE, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service.

The Digital Library of Georgia has just made Sanborn fire insurance maps produced between 1923-1941 for 39 Georgia towns and cities in 35 counties freely available online. The maps, which are now in the public domain, can be retrieved at dlg.usg.edu/collection/dlg_sanb, and complement the DLG’s existing collection of the University of Georgia Map and Government Information Library’s 539 Sanborn maps dating from 1884-1922 that have been available since 2005. The DLG has also upgraded its image viewer, which will allow better access and improved navigation to the new and older Sanborn images from this collection.

Three map and plat collections featuring historical maps, plats, deeds, records, and correspondence pertaining to South Georgia land holdings dating from 1767 to 1899 are now available in the Digital Library of Georgia.

These resources belong to Valdosta State University Archives. They 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.

The three digital collections are:

As part of a $27,405.00 grant from the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, the Digital Library of Georgia has digitized over 100,000 pages of Georgia newspaper titles published from 1861 to 1877 from microfilm held by the Georgia Newspaper Project (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 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 loc.gov/ndnp/).

The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is pleased to announce the availability of the Bartow History Museum vertical file record collection at dlg.usg.edu/collection/barhm_bhmvf. The collection, which belongs to the Bartow History Museum, is 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.

The digital collection consists of a portion of a compilation of county documents that include topics such as guardianship (1850-1929), indentures (1860-1929), lunacy (1866-1929), pauperism (1866-1879), land grants/deeds (1866-1929), and other records. The records were created by court officials to document legal proceedings and transactions.

Congratulations to our folks who recently received National Endowment for the Humanities grants.

We were delighted to learn that the UGA Press and its partners (including Hargrett and DLG) will receive an NEH/Mellon Open Book Grant for the Georgia Open History Library. This project, in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the United States, will allow for the digitization and creation of freely-accessible ebooks for 50 titles on the history of Georgia.

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies will receive funds for the exhibit "NEH on the Road: Power of Children."

A 19th-century ledger and scrapbook from  the Coastal Heritage Society features entries from the the Civil War period recorded by employees of the Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. Now digitized, the items can be found at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/chso_cgrc.

The ledger was digitized and described as part of the Digital Library of Georgia's 2018 Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects. 

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to share the fourth in a series of printable posters and postcards for K-12 educators and students, based upon the Georgia 8th Grade Social Studies Standards of Excellence (GSE). These resources provide high quality, standards-aligned materials that help teachers meet the varying academic interests and needs of their students. 

The latest poster is for the SS8H5 module, Analyze the impact of the Civil War on Georgia, which includes Document, State of Georgia, appointment of Henry L. Benning to rank of Colonel of the 19th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers, August 17, 1861, courtesy of the Columbus State University Archives. 

The poster and postcard, as well as previous releases, are downloadable at:

The Teacher’s Monthly Reports Collection, monthly teacher reports from African-American rural and city schools operating from 1930 to 1939 in Laurens County, Georgia, is now available online, thanks in part to the DLG's 2018 Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects.

 The link is: https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/zhe_tmr.

These monthly reports were created by individual teachers to be submitted to the Laurens County Superintendent. The reports list student names, age, grade and attendance for the month. Many of these records also show teacher salaries, addresses, and other information. The DLG has digitized 126 folders with reports for 58 schools. 

 The Pinebranch, the first student publication of South Georgia State Normal College and Georgia State Woman's College (both earlier names for Valdosta State University) is now available online.

The Pinebranch was a literary magazine published from September or October of 1917 to May of 1934. In addition to stories and poetry, the magazine included editorials, and news from campus and alumni. The digitized issues are available at https://vtext.valdosta.edu/xmlui/handle/10428/720/discover thanks in part to the DLG's 2017 Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects.