Showing posts with label archives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label archives. Show all posts

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Georgia Closes State Archives to the Public?

The sounds of "With a rebel yell, she cried more, more, more" are resounding in the streets and mailboxes of genealogists and family history seekers everywhere. Without our past, we have no future.  Step up and save the Georgia Archives for the public.  Don't let Georgia be the ONLY state in the union with no public access and extremely limited private access!

How can the Secretary of State Brian Kemp close the Georgia State Archives to the public?  And this is in the same week that Governor Nathan Deal proclaimed October as Georgia Archives Month.

There is much to read on this subject.  The best way to do so is to follow along with the Friends of the Georgia Archives as they spearhead the fight to save the archives.



Below is the call to battle from the Friends of Georgia Archives and History:

ACTION ALERT: SAVE THE GEORGIA ARCHIVES!
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has announced that the Georgia Archives will be CLOSED to all public access beginning November 1, 2012. He cites as reason the requirement for a 3 % budget reduction for all state agencies. Secretary Kemp has chosen to take the required cut of $750,000 entirely and only from the State Archives. In addition to the elimination of public access, staff reductions concerning the ten remaining staff are planned and will also be announced soon.

This action further cripples an institution that was among the first state archives established (1918), has won many awards for its programs and state-of-the-art archival facility, and has been a respected leader in archives, government records programs, and research use. Over the past decade, however, the Georgia Archives has been eviscerated by regular budget cuts, reductions in staff and reductions in public hours to 2 days a week. Now Secretary Kemp wants to eliminate even those few hours of access for Georgia’s citizens, making Georgia Archives the only state archives without public access hours.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Tell the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Georgia Legislature to reverse this devastating decision. Write, call or visit and ask them to:

Restore a minimum of $1 million to the Georgia Archives budget to return its operations to 5 days a week of public access hours and eliminate projected staff reductions.

Reverse the Secretary of State’s proposed budget cuts to the Archives by November 1 to ensure uninterrupted service to the public.

When you write/call or visit, focus on a few of the points below. Put this in your own words, and use your own examples, particularly if you are a citizen of Georgia:

WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY?
Points to make in letters/phone calls or visits:

1. The Secretary of State was directed to reduce his budget expenditures by 3%. The entire sum needed to accomplish that has been taken from the Archives budget alone and will result in the termination of all public hours. The proposed “access by appointment…limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees” effectively denies access based on “reasonable time and place” for inspection of public records as required by Georgia law.

2. Points to make regarding the importance of access to government records for accountability and legal purposes:
• This deprives citizens of regular and predictable access, as mandated in the Georgia Records Act, Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4, section 70(b) of the Georgia Annotated Code that all public records “shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.”
• It is contrary to the practice of government transparency by depriving citizens of predictable and ready access to the records that are essential to providing evidence of government accountability.
• It deprives citizens, as well as Georgia’s own government, of access to records needed to support due process of law. The Georgia Archives holdings have been used for a range of court cases including land claims, boundary disputes, utility right-of-way, and claims against state agencies.
• Access to records is essential to avoid costly litigation that will result if records cannot be located or accessed.

3. Points to make regarding the importance of access to government records for research
purposes:
• As the Civil War Sesquicentennial begins, researchers need access to the historical record in the Georgia Archives to provide accurate, factual evidence of that experience. Many of Georgia’s governmental records were destroyed during Sherman’s March; closing the Archives similarly deprives Georgians of access to their heritage—but this time the fault does not lie with an invading army, but with Georgia officials themselves.
• The Georgia Archives holds records actively sought by genealogists and family historians; in particular, they provide essential evidence for African-American history and genealogical research not available in many private historical collections.
• The Georgia Archives has been an essential resource for environmental research and activities including efforts to reintroduce the American chestnut tree in the state and issues relating to pollution.
• The Georgia Archives has been the site of research for television and films, including the popular NBC series “Who Do You Think You Are” segments with Paula Deen and Spike Lee, as well as Emmy award-winner Ben Loeterman’s documentary “People v. Leo Frank.”

Governor Nathan Deal
206 Washington Street Suite 203, State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: 404-656-1776

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle
240 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 TEL: 404-656-5030 FAX: 404-656-6739

Secretary of State Brian Kemp
214 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 Phone: 404-656-2881 Fax: 404-656-0513

Individual Georgia legislators: find specific legislators via Society of Georgia Archivists site: http://soga.org/involvement/legislative

If you’ve signed an online petition, that’s helpful, but direct contact is even more effective. For Georgians, a visit to your local legislator will have even more impact. There has been a great deal of attention on radio, newspapers, television and the Internet. In a democracy, however, nothing speaks to the governor or elected officials like direct contact from individuals. Speak up for the Georgia Archives.

Write, call or plan a visit today!
Please send copies of your letter, information on contacts, or any questions to:
Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives Co-Chair Kaye L. Minchew: kaye@trouparchives.org

THE COALITION TO PRESERVE THE GEORGIA ARCHIVES
Includes representatives of:
Friends of the Georgia Archives; Association of County Commissioners of Georgia; Georgia Salzburger Society, Greater Atlanta Chapter; Society of Georgia Archivists; Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board; Georgia Genealogical Society; Georgia Professional Genealogists; Association of Professional Genealogists, Georgia Chapter; Cobb County Genealogical Society; Troup County Historical Society; Georgia State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution

For updated information go to: www.FOGAH.org

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Georgia State Archives Threatened with Closure

Editor Note:  Oh my! So many genealogists and lovers of history visit the Georgia Archives each day to further their research.  Please let your legislative representative hear from you about keeping the doors open.


The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

The following is an open letter from the Friends of the Georgia Archives and History Chair, Virginia Shadron, concerning legislation currently being debated in the Georgia Legislature. Please forward this to anyone you think would be interested in supporting the Archives.

The Fiscal Year 2012 budget that passed the Georgia House of Representatives on March 11 as HB 78 includes budget reductions that could result in the State Archives closing its doors to the public.

The budget contains two items that together would reduce the Archives’ budget by at least $300,000.

The Archives’ base budget, after preceding budget cuts, is $4,643,588. Over 65% of that goes to pay fixed costs (such as rent) that cannot be reduced. The current bill proposes an additional cut in “personal services and … savings from reduced hours …” in the amount of $260,458. The second way in which the Archives’ budget is eroded is that the House budget does not fund the annual increase in the Archives’ rent, an amount of more than $40,000 for FY12.

Altogether, the additional cuts to personal services and the failure to fund the rent increase means that the Archives’ sustains a critical $300,000 in cuts. You might wonder, “What is the fuss about?” That shortfall can come from one place only—and that is staff.

Without intervention the Archives will almost certainly be forced to close its doors to the public, reduce scanning operations and preservation activities, and eliminate most transfers of records from state agencies—the records that protect Georgia financially and legally.

The House version of the budget now goes to the Senate for adjustment and passage. Call and write your state senator immediately and ask that a minimum of $300,000 be restored to the Archives budget! Go to http://www.legis.ga.gov and click on "Find Your Legislator" to find your senator.

- Virginia Shadron

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Friday, February 25, 2011

National Archives at Atlanta Presents Day-Long Civil War Program April 16, 2011

/PRNewswire/ -- The National Archives at Atlanta will present The Civil War: America's Long Struggle on April 16, 2011, at its Morrow, GA, facility, located at 5780 Jonesboro Road. The program, which costs $20.00, including lunch, is open to the public, pre-registration required.

This day-long program commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, features lectures from leading Civil War scholars and archivists, an exhibition of original 19th century newspapers chronicling the African-American experience, and an opportunity for attendees to learn more about their own Civil War heirlooms.

"The symposium will attract Civil War historians, as well as members of the general public whose lives were forever impacted by this great conflict," said Jim McSweeney, Regional Administrator, National Archives at Atlanta.

"It's one thing to hear about the Civil War in a lecture or read about it in books. It's another to dig through your attic and find your family's place in the greater narrative."

Speakers include:

* David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
* Trevor Plante, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
* Shane Bell, National Archives at Atlanta
* Daniel Stowell, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
* Eric Leonard, Andersonville National Historic Site
* Kenneth Noe, author of Reluctant Rebels and Auburn University professor


Slavery and Freedom in Black and White: The African American Experience in 19th Century Newspapers, an exhibition of original newspapers, features articles on African American history, including editions of Harper's Weekly, The Globe, The Liberator, and Savannah Daily Herald, drawn from the private collection of Christine Mitchell. The exhibit will remain on display through September 2011.

One hundred registrants will have the opportunity to display their Civil War artifacts and heirlooms and learn more about the significance of the objects from experts in an afternoon program entitled "Civil War Treasures in Your Nation's Attic." Georgia Public Broadcasting will film some of these objects for a program by the same name to air on a future date. This portion of the program is sponsored by the Foundation for the National Archives, Scott Antique Markets, the National Archives at Atlanta, and Georgia Public Broadcasting. Objects must be pre-approved. See the registration form for more details.

Registration begins today and is $20 per person, which includes a catered lunch. For more program information and to register, go to www.archives.gov/southeast.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Rare Books Valued at More Than $1 Million Donated to MARBL at Emory

A collection of rare books valued at more than $1 million has been donated to Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL). The 22-title assortment, which includes one of the first books printed in the English language, was given by Ohio book collector and business leader Stuart Rose, an Emory alumnus.

“These extraordinary books will, without a doubt, enhance the prestige and scope of Emory’s collections,” says Richard Luce, provost and director of Emory Libraries. “Mr. Rose’s generosity and his dedication to strengthening MARBL are deeply appreciated.”

The Rose gift to Emory includes in its original binding a first edition of “Poems,” the first book published by English Romantic poet John Keats; a theological study by St. Thomas Aquinas that is now MARBL’s oldest book; and a 15th century volume of universal history, the “Polychronicon,” one of the first books published in the English language.

Among the other books in the collection are rare editions of works by:

Emily Brontë
Rudyard Kipling
Giacomo Casanova
L. Frank Baum
Victor Hugo
John Maynard Keynes and
Charles Dickens
Rose’s 1653 first edition of Izaak Walton’s “The Compleat Angler” is held by fewer than 20 libraries in the United States.

Rose, a 1976 graduate of Emory’s Goizueta Business School and a longtime MARBL patron and friend, is chairman and chief executive officer of REX American Resources Corp., a large public alternative energy company in Dayton, Ohio. In the last two decades he has built a remarkable rare book collection, including a signed presentation copy of a first edition of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” which he loaned to Emory for a special exhibition in 2009.

Spanning more than 800 years of human history, the holdings of Emory’s MARBL have particular strengths in literature and the arts, African American history and culture, religious expression and the freedom struggle. MARBL is one of North America’s major literary archives.

Rose’s gift to the library is part of Campaign Emory, a $1.6 billion fundraising endeavor that combines private support and Emory’s people, places, and programs to make a powerful contribution to the world. Investments through Campaign Emory fuel efforts to address fundamental challenges: transforming health and healing, gaining ground in science and technology, resolving conflict, harnessing the power of the arts, and educating the heart and mind.


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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Historic Athens newspapers now available online via digital library

An archive of historic Athens newspapers is now available online via the Digital Library of Georgia at the University of Georgia.

The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive provides online access to five newspaper titles published in Athens from 1827 to 1922. Consisting of more than 57,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date. The site provides users with a view into the history of Athens in its early years as the home to the first state-chartered university in the nation and its eventual growth into the largest city in northeast Georgia.

The archive includes the following Athens newspaper titles: Athenian (1827-1832), Southern Banner (1832-1882), Southern Watchman (1855-1882), Daily/Weekly Banner-Watchman (1882-1889), Daily/Weekly Athens Banner (1889-1922).

The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative. The project is supported with federal Library Service and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Digitization also was made possible through a grant provided by the Francis Wood Wilson Foundation, Inc. The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive is available at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/athnewspapers.

Other newspaper archives available through the Digital Library of Georgia include the Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (1847-1922), the Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908), the Columbus Enquirer Archive (1828-1890), the Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive (1808-1920), the Southern Israelite Archive (1929-1986), and the Red and Black Archive (1893-2006). These archives can be accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html

“Georgia HomePLACE is very pleased to support digitizing and presenting online content for the Athens Historic Newspapers Archive, a project of the Digital Library of Georgia, which is an initiative of GALILEO (Georgia’s Virtual Library),” said Ed Johnson, director of Georgia HomePLACE.

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

GSU Library awarded grant to digitize PATCO records

The decertification of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) stands as a watershed in American labor history, continuing to inform labor-management relations in the United States to this day. Researchers interested in studying PATCO’s records will soon have access to them online.

The National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has awarded a grant in the amount of $90,000 to Georgia State University Library to digitize portions of this controversial union’s records and make them available online. The PATCO records are already part of Georgia State’s Southern Labor Archives. Work on the project is expected to take approximately 20 months; at its completion, all scanned documentation (about 179,000 pages of text) will be searchable, for free. The project will begin in April 2011.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) spent the 1970s struggling to improve the American air traffic control system and the working conditions of its members. When numerous bruising negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration could not provide an adequate response to their needs, the union, under more aggressive leadership, went on strike Aug. 3, 1981. Despite receiving PATCO’s support during his election bid, President Ronald Reagan responded to the strike by firing more than 11,000 air traffic controllers and decertifying the union.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration, supports a wide range of activities to preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, created in every medium ranging from quill pen to computer, relating to the history of the United States.

Digitizing the PATCO records is part of Georgia State University Library’s ongoing effort to redefine itself, providing numerous resources, quality assistance, modern technology and a welcoming setting.

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Monday, September 27, 2010

Researchers at Georgia Archives Soon to Have Limited Hours

Recently, the Georgia Archives announced on their website the reduction of hours due to budget concerns.  While this is disappointing to the many researchers who spend the day gleefully digging up family history buried deep in the vaults there, it is good the Archives will remain open on Saturdays.


Here is the announcement from the Georgia Archives:

Effective October 1, 2010 the hours available for public visitation to the Georgia Archives will change to Thursday through Saturday 8:30am to 5:00pm.  This is an unfortunate action we must take to meet the difficult budget environment facing all State Agencies.

With the reduction in public hours the Archives staff will now be deployed to fulfill different functions on different days.  When the Archives is open to the public, most or all employees will serve the public in the Reference Room.  When the Archives is closed to the public, most or all of the employees will work with state agencies to bring records into the Archives, catalog them, and shelve them.  To provide better and timelier service for research requests outside the core duties of the State Archives, i.e. genealogy requests, a list of other sources of information can be provided.  In this way the Archives will maintain its critical functions with reduced staffing.

Lunch and Learn lectures, normally held on the second Tuesday of each month, have been rescheduled (where possible) for the second Thursday of each month.  Please see the website for a revised schedule.

Source:  http://www.sos.ga.gov/archives/?utm_source=Georgia+Historic+Preservation+Division+e-newsletters&utm_campaign=809271607f-Preservation+Georgia+Online+-+Sept+18-24%2C+2010&utm_medium=email


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Ancestry Day in Atlanta Scheduled for September 18 at National Archives

Saturday, September 18, 2010
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA South East Region),
5780 Jonesboro Road; Morrow, GA 30260

9:00am–4:00pm (doors open 8:30)
$10.00 Registration includes a box lunch at noon.


Free parking, seating is limited.

Presentations:    - Getting the Most from your Ancestry.com Membership
- Online Member Trees: Ancestry's Powerful Tool Keeps Getting Better
- Ancestry World Archives Project and You
- African American Collection at Ancestry
- Southern Claims Commission Records (Presented by Reginald Washington from the National Archives - Washington, DC)

Have you seen recent TV shows focusing on family history? If so, you may be wondering how you can get started on your own family history. Or you may be a long time user of Ancestry.com and are wondering how to get more from your membership. Register today to attend our Ancestry Day in Atlanta and learn about the premier family history website from a true insider.

Sponsored by: The Afro-American Genealogical Society Inc., Metro Atlanta Chapter (www.rootsweb.com/~gaaahgs) in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) South East Region (www.archives.gov/southeast/) are excited to host Ancestry.com at this event!

Your presenter, Lisa Arnold is a content manager for Ancestry.com and has been involved in genealogical research, teaching, and lecturing for more than 15 years. She holds a B.S. in Family History from Brigham Young University and is currently a Master's Degree candidate at the University of Limerick. From the Philadelphia area originally, she is the former Director of the Family History Center in Valley Forge, PA, and author of "Finding Your Quaker Ancestors". Lisa is the Chapter Coordinator for her local chapter for the Association of Professional Genealogists and is the proud grandmother of 5 (and counting!).



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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Global Health Chronicles Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Smallpox Eradication

Historic video and audio interviews, photos, presentations and government papers that document the intense battle to eradicate smallpox are now available online to researchers and the public alike.

The Global Health Chronicles (www.globalhealthchronicles.org), an online archive hosted by Emory University Libraries, publicly launched on Oct. 26, the 30th anniversary of worldwide smallpox eradication. Emory President James Wagner attended the launch event at the university's Robert W. Woodruff Library, along with three former CDC directors and many retired CDC employees featured in the archives. The disease experts present at the event led the fight against smallpox in the 1960s, says former CDC director David Sencer.

"Eradicating a disease is the ultimate in disease prevention; as smallpox is the one human infectious disease that has been completely eradicated there's much to celebrate here," Sencer says. "The Global Health Chronicles site features oral histories of individuals who played a crucial role in that accomplishment. Today's health professionals and students can hear and read of the passion these women and men brought to their work. This site also will be a valuable source of previously unknown material for historians."

Institutions participating in the massive effort to collect and preserve the data in the Global Health Chronicles archive include not only Emory Libraries staff, but also Emory's Global Health Institute and its Rollins School of Public Health, as well as colleagues at the CDC, says Rick Luce, vice provost and director of Emory Libraries.

"The Global Health Chronicles project is another important facet of Emory's continuing mission to create, preserve, teach and apply knowledge in the service of humanity," Luce says. "It's also a great example of Emory collaboration across the campus and with partner institutions."

Materials collected in the Global Health Chronicles archive include:

Oral histories of epidemiologists, operations officers, their spouses and children who worked in 22 countries in Africa as well as in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, to stop the spread of smallpox.
Previously unpublished field reports and pictures.
Digitized books on the history of smallpox eradication.
Seminars by the leaders of the global program to eradicate smallpox.
Creation of the Global Health Chronicles was funded with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Google.org Fund of Tides Foundation and Emory's Global Health Institute, with in-kind support from the CDC, Rollins School of Public Health and the Emory Libraries.

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Monday, July 14, 2008

NARA Records Administration Conference, Sept. 9

The Southeast Region of the National Archives and Records Administration Director of Records Management is developing a regional version of NARA's national Records Administration Conference (RACO), which is held annually in Washington, DC.

The Southeast region event will take place at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008, and will consist of a keynote address by the Archivist's (of the United States) lawyer on challenges associated with the management of ephemeral electronic records, plus several sessions relating to disaster preparedness and response, collaborative records management tools such as Web 2.0, records management training, and implementation of Records Management Applications.

A buffet lunch and docent-conducted tours will round out the event. All interested faculty and students within Atlanta's academic community are invited. More information will be forthcoming in Campus Review and Laker Lines.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

State’s Statistical Register Goes Online

Curious about how many votes George Busbee received when he ran for governor in 1974? Wondering how many times Mickey Mouse has been written in as a candidate for office? Answers to those questions and a plethora of others are available via computer now that the Georgia Official and Statistical Register is available online. It contains a wealth of information not easily accessible elsewhere for today’s historians.

The register is the main source of election statistics for the state. Its content and length have varied over the years of its publication (1923 -1990), though in general the register has provided information on categories such as:

- state executive offices, boards and commissions

- the state legislature and legislators, including short biographies with photos

- elections

- the state judiciary

- Georgia's federal representation

- the University System of Georgia

- county officers and data

- miscellaneous (e.g. flag, song, state symbols, poets laureate)

The electronic version was digitized by the Digital Library of Georgia from the print volumes, which are available in the UGA main library Georgia government documents collection. Users are able to search across the text of all the volumes (about 28,000 pages). The register can be accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/statregister.

“The register has become an historical resource of particular interest to genealogists, but it also lists, for example, all the banks, public libraries and newspapers in each county and the poets laureates for the state,” said Susan Tuggle, a reference librarian who coordinates the Georgia government publications site in the Digital Library of Georgia. “It cumulates elected officials so you can see who was in office at a given time.”

Compiled every two years by the Georgia Archives (formerly the Department of Archives and History), it was not a handbook that explained the workings of the state government for the uninitiated, but rather a kind of directory or state of the state with a concentration on the officials who guided it.

Legislator and other official biographies included photos beginning in 1951. The amount of information was reducing starting with the 1979-1980 volume and the projected ended with the 1989-1990 volume.

“I’ve wanted to digitize it for years – it is the biggest project yet in the Georgia Government Publications Program, and it took more than a year to produce because we are offering it in three formats (JPG, PDF and DjVu),” Tuggle said.

Post-1990 information is best obtained from state government web sites and the Georgia Government Publications database at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ggp.
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