| Beginning in the mid-1970s, employees of the
Georgia Archives traveled the state in a converted school bus in
an effort to save Georgia’s photographic history. They located,
selected and duplicated historically significant images held by
individuals and organizations across the state.
The “Vanishing Georgia” project resulted in a collection
of nearly 18,000 images. These images, spanning more than 100 years
of Georgia history, now are available electronically through the
Digital Library of Georgia, a unit of the UGA Libraries.
“Vanishing Georgia covers topics ranging from rural life to
railroads and industry. It includes family
 |
| Man on Tractor, Thebes community, Liberty
County, 1940s. The photo was purchased by the Farmer’s
Union. |
and business life, street scenes and architecture, school and civic
activities, landscapes, and important individuals and events in
Georgia history. There are nearly a thousand images documenting
African-American life and photos from Georgia’s Asian community
in the early 20th century,” says Toby Graham, DLG director.
“Vanishing Georgia is where you can go to find images of the
airships stationed in Glynn County during World War II or a large
likeness of Jimmy Carter’s face made entirely of camellia
blossoms. Visiting Vanishing Georgia is like viewing a giant photograph
album for the state. Visitors should be aware that the database
also includes historically significant images on some of the state’s
darker periods, but taken as a whole Vanishing Georgia is an engaging
and educational cross-section of Georgia history and life.”
Through a partnership among the Georgia Archives, Georgia Public
Library Service and GALILEO, the 18,000 photos have been digitized
and are accessible via the Internet as a part of the Digital Library
of Georgia. The DLG is a UGA-based initiative of GALILEO, Georgia’s
virtual library.
“With both documentary and artistic value, these photographs
are a testament to the hard work and the vision of the archivists
who sought to save them for posterity,” Graham says.
In 1982, selected photographs from the collection appeared in a
Vanishing Georgia book published by the University of Georgia Press.
There was a renewed emphasis on the Vanishing Georgia photographs
in 2001 when the Georgia Public Library Service (part of the University
System of Georgia), the Georgia Archives and the University System’s
GALILEO decided to combine their efforts in a new program called
Georgia HomePLACE (Providing Library and Archives Collections Electronically).
They selected Vanishing Georgia as the first major project and were
awarded a federal grant through the Library Services and Technology
Act to support the digitization of the photographs.
“Vanishing Georgia is an example of what can be achieved when
organizations and agencies combine their efforts and resources,”
says Thomas Meredith, University System chancellor. “Through
the window of GALILEO, Georgians now have an electronic view of
the state’s history.”
Visitors to Vanishing Georgia may search for images by topic, city,
county, date, by the descriptions provided by the donors and by
other characteristics of the photographs. They may browse through
a list of all of the images from a given county or city or on a
specific topic. There also are advanced viewing features, such as
the ability to enlarge portions of an image for close-in examination.
The Vanishing Georgia Web site includes links and suggested readings
on Georgia history, photography and other related sites, information
on how the collection was digitized and an essay on issues of cultural
sensitivity.
“Visitors should be aware that the images and even the descriptions
provided by the donors reflect the time in which they were created.
Some may contain outdated language, prejudice or stereotypes,”
says Graham.
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