Georgia has numerous archival collections, located around the state at historical societies, university special collection libraries and at the Georgia Archives.
Some collect specific areas, either geographical in nature like the DeKalb History Center, or specific topics such as the Georgia Baptist materials at Mercer’s Jack Tarver Library in Macon. Others have a wider scope, like the Georgia Historical Society, the Hargrett Library at the University of Georgia, the Atlanta History Center or Emory University.
If you have historical materials or papers you think need to be donated somewhere, get advice from your nearest archival institution as to the best place to offer the material.
Also consider what an archive defines as historical materials. The Georgia Historical Society recently summed this up in a flier for potential donors, defining “papers” as: personal and professional letters, other types of correspondence, family papers, letters and Bibles, genealogical records, photographs and scrapbooks, postcards, artifacts and portraits, business and organizational records, journals and diaries, rare books and pamphlets, prints, maps and architectural drawings, research materials, newspaper clippings, digital records, and audio and video tapes.
To find an archival institution near you, ask the reference staff at your public library or check the Society of Georgia Archivists website, www.soga.org (look under “resources” for a list of places).
Summerville Cemetery in Augusta
The Augusta Genealogical Society just published “Summerville Cemetery of Augusta, Georgia, 2012 Edition,” an updated version of their 1990 book.
Members of the cemetery’s trustees and the genealogical society worked together to update the original information. The new book incorporates the original work with an additional 40 pages plus a completely revised index. Two short appendices list military burials by wars, and there’s a cemetery art and symbolism glossary. This is a good example of a cemetery publication that can be extremely helpful to researchers.
The book is available for $35 plus $5 postage from the Augusta Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 3743, Augusta, GA 30914-3743.
Andersonville records online
Andersonville prison records can be viewed at Familysearch.org in the Georgia section. These are digitized from National Archives microfilm, but there is no index. Anyone interested in original materials from the Civil War should find these well worth studying.
