Georgia Magazine - August 2018 - 18

When you go to the Georgia Archives

records to the facility also are required to store them
in special acid-neutral boxes to ensure their long-term
preservation. And to reduce the possibility of theft of
these documents, many of which are one of a kind, visitors are required to register.
The archives' conservation staff also provides emergency advice for damaged materials and disaster-preparedness planning. In addition, the Georgia Archives'
records-management staffers work with managing both
paper and electronic records at the county and state
levels.
"County line disputes may sound routine. But they
can involve millions of dollars in tax payments, [determine] who is responsible for road and other infrastructure maintenance or even [decide] which county
will have to pay for a trial of a defendant suspected of
committing a murder near the county line," says Steven
W. Engerrand, deputy state archivist.
These cases can turn based on records from the
state archives. But archivists "seldom learn how these
records affected the outcome of the dispute," he says.

Brush up on history

Documents at the archives contain a wealth of littleknown facts about the Peach State. For instance, visitors
can access information about the state-owned Western &
Atlantic Railroad. The train, which runs from Atlanta to
Chattanooga, Tenn., was founded in 1836 and has been
leased to private companies since the Civil War.
The archives itself has a storied history. Safeguarding
state records was a concern for decades.
In August 1918, The Atlanta Journal reported that
testimony at a committee meeting showed "Georgia's
official records for many years have been exposed to
great peril." Many of the records had been fed into the
basement furnace at the state Capitol, the newspaper
reported.
That same month, the Georgia Department of
Archives and History was established at the state
Capitol. Lucian Lamar Knight, the archives' founder and
first director, led the fight to preserve Georgia's historic
documents.
In 1930, the Georgia Archives moved to Rhodes
Hall, a mansion on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, where it
stayed for more than 30 years. Over time, the mansion
fell into disrepair.
Mary Givens Bryan, then-director of the state Department of Archives and History, raised her concerns
with then-Secretary of State Ben W. Fortson Jr. In a letter
18

from October
1958 to Fortson,
Bryant describes
windows being broken out on the fourth
floor of Rhodes Hall. "And
many a time, I found birds'
nests in the stack rooms on the
fourth floor and attic," she wrote.
In 1965, the archives moved to a state-of-the-art
facility just down from the Capitol; that building, nicknamed the "White Ice Cube," was considered a downtown landmark.
About three decades after that building opened, engineers determined that it was sinking because of rising
groundwater levels and nearby interstate construction;
repair and refurbishment could cost $40 million.
Instead of spending the money, the state built the
Georgia Archives' current facility near Clayton State University, where it moved in 2003. The old White Ice Cube
building was used mostly as a movie set until last year,
when it was imploded to make way for a new, multimillion-dollar courts building.
"Visiting the Georgia Archives for the first time may
seem a little daunting," Davidson says. A trip to the
"visit" section of the archives' website, georgiaarchives.
org, will prepare patrons for what they need to bring
and what they can expect, he says.
Nancy Badertscher is a veteran Georgia journalist
who retired from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. An
award-winning writer and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize,
she now freelances in Atlanta.

Lunch-and-learn lectures
* Aug. 10: History of the Braves, with Carolyn Serra, senior director
of ballpark tours, Braves Heritage and Hall of Fame.
* Sept. 14: Folk Art in a Larger Historical Perspective, with Katherine Jentleson, curator of folk and self-taught art at the High Museum.
* Oct. 12: Southeastern Railway Museum: Programs and Family
Fun!, with the museum's education coordinator, Jim Polihronakis.
* Nov. 9: The Veterans History Project at the Atlanta History Center,
with Sue VerHoef, AHC director of oral history and genealogy.
* Dec. 14: Five Generations: From Enslavement to Public Service
in Atlanta, with Laurel Wilson, Georgia Historical Records Advisory
Council 2017 award winner.
These free, one-hour lectures begin at noon and do not require a
reservation. Learn more at georgiaarchives.org.

More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

PHIL SKINNER / PHILSKINNERPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

5800 Jonesboro Rd., Morrow; (678) 364-3710; georgiaarchives.org
Open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed for
most state and federal holidays.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2018