Mastrovita, Mandy L

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DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University

Georgia Library Quarterly Volume 60 Issue 1 Winter 2023 Article 13 2-1-2023 Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022) Mandy L. Mastrovita University of Georgia, mastrovi@uga.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq  Part of the Archival Science Commons, Cataloging and Metadata Commons, and the Collection Development and Management Commons Recommended Citation Mastrovita, M. L. (2023). Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022). Georgia Library Quarterly, 60(1). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq/vol60/iss1/13 This News is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Georgia Library Quarterly by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@kennesaw.edu.  25 IN THE NEWS  Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)   premier online compilation of digital civil rights content is relaunching with a new look and thousands of additional pieces of history.  The milestone marks a new era for the Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL). This project brings together more than 200 libraries, archives, and museums to provide free online access to historical materials documenting the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. These collaborative partnerships are the bedrock of this national project.  Barbara McCaskill, an English professor at the University of Georgia who serves as director of the Civil Rights Digital Library and other projects, notes:  Since its launch in 2008, the Civil Rights Digital Library has played a meaningful role in advancing the understanding of America’s civil rights activism at a time when upticks in racially motivated violence and crime and the erosion of voting rights have attached more urgency than ever to issues of equality, equity, human dignity, and freedom.   The signal achievement of this resource is its varied and unique content about people, places, and events. But it also challenges users to expand their knowledge of civil rights studies beyond national icons such as Dr. King and Rosa Parks, cities such as Atlanta and Birmingham, and beyond the 50s, 60s, and 70s to the present day.   A	Newly-redesigned Civil Rights Digital Library homepage 1Mastrovita: Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)Published by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University, 2023 26 As a result, the Civil Rights Digital Library continues to demonstrate a transformative impact on scholarship and instruction, as well as on how we carry ourselves as citizens and come together in community.  First funded by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Civil Rights Digital Library launched in 2008 as part of the University System of Georgia’s GALILEO statewide virtual library initiative. Along with these continuing collaborations, the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), an initiative of GALILEO and the University of Georgia Libraries, administers the site.   In addition, support continues to be provided by the following partners:  • Georgia Humanities,  • the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection,  • the New Georgia Encyclopedia,  • and the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences, University of Georgia.  Since 2005, the portal has grown from about 100 collections to more than 350 collections of digitized content, including primary sources and educational resources.  The Civil Rights Digital Library contains contributions from statewide and national partners, documenting the civil rights era, including: • the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957), • the Atlanta Temple bombing (1958), • the Atlanta sit-ins (1960), • the Freedom Rides (1961), • the desegregation of the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech (1961), • the Albany Movement (1961–1962), • the desegregation of the University of Mississippi (1962), Clemson University (1962), and the University of Alabama (1963), • the Birmingham Demonstrations (1963), • and the Americus Movement (1963, 1965).  Researchers and visitors can search the content of the Civil Rights Digital Library in numerous ways, including geographic location browsing with an interactive map that identifies Civil Rights Movement–related resources in all 50 states.  The site also contains:  • Biographical information for more than 3,000 people active during the Civil Rights Era, which can be browsed alphabetically by surname. Many of these civil rights workers and foot soldiers may not be familiar, but their commitment to the movement formed the backbone of transformative civil rights campaigns and social reform. • New Georgia Encyclopedia (NGE) articles that cover events and individuals associated with the civil rights movement in Georgia. Images, multimedia files, and online exhibitions in the NGE further investigate civil rights figures and events in addition to the concise, authoritative articles. NGE’s content is made possible by Georgia Humanities in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia, GALILEO, the University of Georgia Libraries, and the Office of the Governor. • Raw newsfilm footage from Georgia television stations WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany) preserved through the University of Georgia Libraries’ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection. These stations covered civil rights events throughout the entire southeastern United States.  • Exhibits drawn from materials belonging to partner libraries, archives, and museums across Georgia, created by Georgia graduate students in collaboration with the DLG and NGE.  “By relaunching an expanded site on Sept. 9, 2022, the 65th anniversary of the 1957 Civil 2Georgia Library Quarterly, Vol. 60, Iss. 1 [2023], Art. 13https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq/vol60/iss1/13 27 Rights Act, the Digital Library of Georgia celebrates the first federal civil rights legislation of the 20th century,” adds Sheila McAlister, director of the Digital Library of Georgia. “The relaunch demonstrates the DLG’s commitment to reflecting and sharing the diversity of experiences in Georgia and nationwide.”  View the entire collection online at crdl.usg.edu.  Download the Civil Rights Digital Library 2022 Press Kit here.    aterials from the Augusta Jewish Museum documenting more than two centuries of Jewish life, culture, foodways, and tradition are now available online.  Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, this collection is the Augusta Jewish Museum’s first collaboration with the DLG and is available here: Augusta Jewish Museum Collection  The collection contains historical materials dating from 1850 to 2022 that come from a diverse group of Jewish creators, including youth, women, clergy, fraternities, and congregations that offer unique insights into the greater Augusta, Georgia, region's Jewish life, philanthropy, foodways, and experiences.  Rabbi David Sirull of the Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Augusta emphasizes the importance of making this work accessible freely online: It is important that we remember our place in history as we move to the future. The Augusta Jewish Museum allows for valuable content to be procured, preserved, and disseminated that tells the story of Jewish heritage in the Central Savannah River Area that encompasses the Augusta, Georgia, area… This content is invaluable to researchers in defining the ways of Jewish life in the Southeast.  About the Augusta Jewish Museum   The Augusta Jewish Museum and its programming chronicle the life, history, and contributions of the Jewish community in the Central Savannah River Area. The museum also educates about Jewish traditions, remembering the Holocaust, and Israel—the land and its people. Their website is: https://www.augusta jewishmuseum.org/M	Book of Handwritten Poetry, Rosina Hendricks Levy.  Courtesy of the Augusta Jewish Museum. 3Mastrovita: Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)Published by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University, 2023 28 ew collection features more than 50 years of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and are now available freely online.  Selected by statewide cultural heritage stakeholders and funded by the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, over 3,000 pages of digitized African American funeral programs from Evans County, Georgia, and other Southeastern towns and cities are now freely available in the Digital Library of Georgia, and can be seen online here: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022  The collection of 637 individual programs dates between 1961–2022, with the birth dates of the people represented going back to 1870.  Pharris D. Johnson, former mayor of Bellville, Georgia, chairman of the Savannah College of Art and Design board of trustees, and vice president of the Evans County historical society says: The Evans County Community Center and African American Archive Museum serves our community in an outstanding manner. They accomplish their mission with a small budget and through dedicated volunteers. As we know, funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information. [These materials from] the Evans County Community Center Archives are an important resource for the residents of Evans and surrounding counties.  Documenting an underrepresented region of Georgia, this collection provides important information for genealogical research and for understanding African American life during different time periods.   Funeral programs provide valuable social and genealogical information, and typically include a photograph of the deceased individual, an obituary, a list of surviving relatives, and information about the funeral service. Some programs provide more extensive genealogical information such as birth and death dates, maiden names, past residences, accomplishments, affiliations, and burial locations. For marginalized populations, this N	Funeral program for Earlene Harris Collection: African American Funeral Programs, 1960-2022. Courtesy of the Evans County Community Center (Claxton, GA) 4Georgia Library Quarterly, Vol. 60, Iss. 1 [2023], Art. 13https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/glq/vol60/iss1/13 29 information can often be difficult to find, as the records of many in these communities were often either destroyed, kept privately, or never created in the first place.  The Evans County African American Archive Museum has collected funeral programs for over 20 years. Since then, residents have contributed to the collection.   Darin McCoy of the Evans County Historical Society notes: [Our] facility operates within an underserved rural county in terms of digitized African American history. However, the Evans County Historical Society alumni and the Evans County African American Archive Museum leadership team are well known advocates for the preservation and collection of local African American history and artifacts. Our featured displays, public events, and family presentations are unique and emphasize the historical value of these entities. The vision, collections, and the preservation of artifacts, begun over 20 years ago, have now come to fruition.  Digitization and access have been made possible through the Digital Library of Georgia's competitive digitization subgrant program and are displayed and searchable within their online portal. The Digital Library of Georgia has also partnered with local libraries and the Georgia Public Library Service to digitize African American funeral programs for people connected to the Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond County, and Thomas County areas.   About the Evans County African American Archive Museum (Claxton, GA)  The mission of the Evans County African American Archive Museum is to provide means for all citizens of Evans County to obtain an excellent quality of life through programs and services. The archive was the recipient of a 2021 GHRAC Award for History Advocacy. Their Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/ Evans-County-Community-Center-34394212 5941003/    Mandy L. Mastrovita is a digital projects librarian  and archivist with the University of Georgia Libraries  5Mastrovita: Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)Published by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University, 2023

Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)

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Digital Library of Georgia (December 2022)

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