30 March 1909: Spring Cleaning the City

On this day, the following editorial ran in the Athens Banner:

In following years, with support from the Athens Women's Club and other civic organizations, an annual Clean Up Week was held in Athens. People were encouraged to clean around their homes and businesses, and the city would arrange to make sure all the trash was picked up the following week. 

Typically held in late March or early April, Clean Up Weeks were held around the nation, often in association with women's clubs, which were a growing force during the progressive era. A space that was visibly tidy and neat indicated that it was owned or occupied by people who were also tidy and neat, and therefore healthy, both physically and morally. 

Later Banner editorials advised not just straightening up any accumulated trash or unkempt bushes on one's property, but also clearing out closets, cleaning out cellars, adding fresh lime beneath houses, and painting or white washing fences, porches, or other outbuildings. 

Clean Up Weeks put "cleanliness is next to godliness" on a city-wide scale, with a great focus on insect eradication, especially flies, as part of a way to keep the city healthy and free of contagious disease as the city's population grew.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, January - December 1909 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs by J. A. Simpson in the Reference collection.
• A History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection.
• Everyday Life Through the Ages by Michael Worth Davison in the general collection.
• Clean It Fast, Clean It Right by Jeff Bredenberg in the general collection.
• The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters by Rose George in the general collection. 
• The Natural History of Flies by Harold Oldroyd via PINES.
• Cleaning Nature Naturally by Kathlyn Gay in the general collection. 
• The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink by Robert D. Morris in the general collection.
• How to Clean Practically Anything by Marjorie Florman and Monte Florman in the Reference collection.
• Plague: A Story of Science, Rivalry, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away by Edward Marriott in the general collection.
• Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical by Anthony Bourdain via PINES.
• Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan in the general collection.
• Complete Trash: The Best Way to Get Rid of Practically Everything Around the House by Norm Crampton in the general collection.

Fourth Heritage Room Genealogy Class at the Athens Community Council on Aging

On this day, we'd like you to know that the Heritage Room's fourth class at the Athens Community Council on Aging will be on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the Harris Room's ACCA Hoyt Street location. The title of the class is Finding Those Who Served: Military Records.

If you missed the first class, don't worry! Each class is independent, so if you are set on the basics, but want to know more about service records or using draft cards and pension records in your research, just sign up now for the April 4th class.  The class is free to members of the ACCA's Center for Active Living. Though free for members of CAL, pre-registration is required.

In our forth installment, we'll demonstrate the width and breadth of the war-related information available and useful for genealogical research. Our overview will cover what the records are, what sort of information they contain, and where they are located going back to Colonial times.

For more information about the classes, please call us at the library, (706) 613-3650, extension 356; to register, please call the Athens Council on Aging at (706) 549-4850 or consult their online program catalog, Senior Center Scene.

24 March 1904: "Corpse" Actually Just a Lady Who Fainted

On this day in 1904, the Athens Banner ran this sensational headline on their front page:

Consumption typically referred to pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that would cause severe weight loss, fatigue, and pallor on top of the obvious respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and chest pain.  


In 1904, there were no antibiotics or other anti-bacterial medications available to treat the disease, and the illness was understood to be fatal. Obviously, however, the woman had not yet succumbed to the disease, so she was not yet a "corpse."


Fear of being buried alive was given the label taphephobia in 1890. Though incidences of premature burial were rare, it was still a commonly used device in fiction of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, and so remedies were often sought to ease the concern that existed in the culture. 


In 1843, a patent was filed in Baltimore, Maryland for a "life-preserving coffin in case of doubtful death," where the coffin would pop open if any movement occurred inside. However, it only worked above ground. In 1896, the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial was formed in England to stop "premature burial generally, and especially amongst members." They managed to pass laws, such as requiring the corpse be held in a mortuary prior to burial, that are still observed today. 




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1904 - Nov. 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson via PINES.
• Buried Alive: The Gothic Awakening of Taphephobia by Andrew Mangham, Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.10-22. (pdf file)
• The Sky Is Falling: Understanding and Coping with Phobias, Panic, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders by Raeann Dumont in the general collection.
• Grave Matters: A Lively History of Death Around the World by Nigel Barley in the general collection.
• Buried by Bad Decisions by Daniel Gilbert, Nature, Vol. 474, No. 7351 via GALILEO. (abstract only)
• Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: The History of Burial by Penny Colman in the general collection.
• The Mourning Dance: What We Do When People Die by Katherine Ashenburg in the general collection.
• Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe in the fiction collection.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens in the fiction collection.
• Collected Short Stories by H. G. Wells in the fiction section.

19 March 1918: "Loaded With Southern History"

On this day in 1918, the Athens Banner reported that one of the city's most prominent citizens, Miss Mildred Lewis Rutherford, the principal of the Lucy Cobb Institute, was denied passage on a train to Richmond, Virginia, because the trunk of books she was carrying was "away over the weight allowed by the railroad." 

Mildred Rutherford devoted her life to the Lucy Cobb Institute and advocating for "the truth" about the Civil War and the South. Her historical writing, which featured a sentimental view of the Old South, plantation life, and slavery, would not be considered appropriate today, yet her belief that her female students could and should learn as much as male students, as well as be prepared to work in the real world, seem almost ahead of her time. 


Known around town as "Miss Millie," she was the daughter of Williams and Laura Cobb Rutherford, the niece of  Governor Howell Cobb and T.R.R. Cobb, who established the Lucy Cobb Institute in 1859. The school was named for Miss Millie's cousin, who died prior to the school's opening. The Rutherfords lived across the street from the school.


Mildred Rutherford graduated from Lucy Cobb in 1868, and a few years later moved to Atlanta to teach. She lived with another female cousin, and spent eight years there before returning to Athens at the request of her parents to take over the financially unstable Lucy Cobb Institute. When she took over the school in 1880, only 24 students were enrolled; by 1882, student population reached 104.


The curriculum under Rutherford was modelled on the traditional male course of study in preparation for college. Students were taught Latin, higher mathematics, logic, rhetoric, philosphy, science, literature, and history. For an extra charge, parents could have their daughters trained in traditionally female course work of French, art, and music. During this time, she was also actively writing textbooks about English, French, American, and Southern literature that she felt were more appropriate for female students. She often hired former students as teachers, and brought in more instructors with advanced degrees.


In 1895, she stepped down as principal of Lucy Cobb, while still continuing to teach Latin, history, literature, and the Bible. In 1896, she started the Laura Rutherford chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and served as its president until 1906. Mildred Rutherford was the state UDC Historian General for life, and from 1901-1903 was also the group's president. In 1911, she was appointed Historian General of the national UDC, and the organization twice made exceptions for term limits so she could continue to serve until 1916. 


The collection of books she had to repack are now part of the United Daughters of the Confederacy collection at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. The Banner published the list of titles in Rutherford's trunk on page 7:

(click to enlarge image)

Rutherford used her speeches, books, essays, and newsletters as a way of "righting the wrongs against the South," where she advanced her belief that secession had been legal, slavery was not the cause of the war, and that the plantation system was not merely just, but a gentle society. Despite her own career and the fact that she never married, Rutherford believed the proper place for women was the domestic sphere of her family, as wife and mother, and spoke out strongly against women's suffrage. 


From 1880 until 1928, Rutherford taught at Lucy Cobb. She returned to her role as the school's principal, and later, president, several times, from 1907-1908, 1917-1922, and 1925-1926. In her last year leading the school, Rutherford had tried to raise money to keep the school independent of the county school system and the University of Georgia, but was unsuccessful in her fundraising. The school closed in 1931, and is now the home of the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.


Her family felt the last year as Lucy Cobb president had compromised her health, but Rutherford taught at the school until her death. She had been a force at Lucy Cobb for nearly 50 years, and two thousand people, including many alumnae, attended Mildred Lewis Rutherford's funeral in August, 1928.  She is buried with her family in Oconee Hill Cemetery.  




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Higher Education for Women in the South: A History of the Lucy Cobb Institute, edited by Phinizy Spalding in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume I, edited by Ann Short Chirhart and Betty Wood in the Heritage collection.
• Case, Sarah H. "The Historical Ideology of Mildred Lewis Rutherford: A Confederate Historians New South Creed." The Journal of Southern History 68.3 (2002): 599-628. ProQuest Platinum; ProQuest Research Library. 17 Mar. 2012 . Via GALILEO.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I, by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Addresses Delivered by Mildred Lewis Rutherford in the Heritage collection.
• Miss Rutherford's Scrapbook: Valuable Information About the South by Mildred Lewis Rutherford in the Heritage collection.
• The South in History and Literature by Mildred Lewis Rutherford in the Heritage collection.

16 March 1919: "Save miles of needless steps, hours of wasted time and energy"

On this day in 1919, Bernstein Brothers furniture store ran this ad for the popular Hoosier Kitchen Cabinet:

(click to enlarge image)

Kitchen cabinets of this type were made by more than just the Hoosier Manufacturing company of New Castle, Indiana, but any cabinets that acted as pantry/workstations for the kitchen were often referred to generically as "hoosier cabinets."

These new cabinets typically had a cupboard set back from a work service, sometimes metal-covered or marble, with shelves and designated spaces for dishes, bowls, and pantry goods all within easy reach. The work service could pull out to provide more space for working or even to act as a kitchen table for meals.

The cabinet displayed in the Bernstein Brothers ad included built-in flour sifters, sugar dispenser, spice rack, and even a cookbook holder. Some drawers were lined with metal and intended to keep cakes or bread fresh. 

The cabinets are considered "scientific" in their ability to create "household efficiency," both important sales words in a time when Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were studying and developing more efficient ways to do a variety of work, including home management.

The ad promotes the payment options for the cabinet as well as their usefulness. Hoosier Manufacturing Company was one of the earliest adopters of the payment plan to move their goods into more homes, with the $1 down, $1 per week promotions. This allowed their dealers to sell the item as an affordable luxury for most any family.

Today, hoosier cabinets are considered antiques, with websites devoted to their care and collection, and spare parts available on eBay. Cabinets sell between $2,200-900, depending upon their condition.

Learn More: 

• Athens Banner, Dec. 1918 - Jul. 1919 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Period Kitchens: A Practical Guide to Period-Style Decorating by Judith Miller in the general collection.
• Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson in the general collection.
• The Pantry: Its History and Modern Uses by Catherine Seiberling Pond in the general collection.
• Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth by Jane Lancaster in the biography collection.
• 1001 Ideas for Kitchen Organization by Joe Provey in the general collection.
• Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Cary in the general collection.
• Kitchen Ideas that Work: Creative Design Solutions for Your Home by Beth Veillette in the general collection.
• Southeby's Guide to American Furniture by Patricia Petraglia in the Reference collection.
• Photograph of cabinet similar to the one drawn in the ad.

Third Heritage Room Genealogy Class at the Athens Community Council on Aging

On this day, we'd like you to know that the Heritage Room's third class at the Athens Community Council on Aging will be on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the Harris Room's ACCA Hoyt Street location. The title of the class is The Genealogical Benefits of Bureaucracy: Government Records.

If you missed the earlier classes, don't worry! Each class is independent, so if you want to know more about court records or using wills in research, just sign up now for the March 21st class.  The class is free to members of the ACCA's Center for Active Living. Though free for members of CAL, pre-registration is required.

In our third installment, we'll discuss how to use for our own research needs the records created by local, state, and federal levels of government. We will cover the types of records available, how to use them, and where to find them, including tax records, deeds and land records, wills and estate records, other court records, and much more. 

For more information about the classes, please call us at the library, (706) 613-3650, extension 356; to register, please call the Athens Council on Aging at (706) 549-4850 or consult their online program catalog, Senior Center Scene.

9 March 1847: Free Lecture on the New and Extraordinary Art of Phreno-Mnemotechny!

On this day in 1847, this exciting advertisement was read by subscribers to the Southern Banner:

The lecturer was Pliny Miles, a writer from Watertown, New York, who was known for his "remarkable talents as a school-teacher." Two years later, he would author American Mnemnotechny, or Art of Memory: Theoretical and Practical, with a Mnemotechnic Dictionary to impart his theories and systems of memory to a wider audience. 

Mr. Miles book defines his subject on page six of his book:

Memnotechny, rightly considered, comprises all those aids to the natural mind that go by the name of association, combination, and comparison. When a person wishes to remember a name that is difficult to retain in the mind, he naturally seeks some fanciful association or other, perhaps compares the name to something that sounds like it, and thus will recall it when required. This is Mnemnotechny; though it is only the commencement of the beginning.

Mr. Miles used a system of mapping letters and words to figures, and claimed that any student using his method would reduce his study time by 75%. Within the book, he listed historic events, people, facts, and provided formulas for remembering them in his system. He also devoted a chapter in his book to creating and using one's own formulas.

Pliny Miles is described in his New York Times obituary as "a striking figure--tall, thin, of nervous-sanguine temperament, wearing a beard that never scraped acquaintance with a razor; a rapid walker, keen observer, talking with wonderful volubility, always cordial, open-hearted, and everywhere welcome for his agreeable social qualities."

In 1854, he would write a travel book about Iceland, described by the New York Times as "a pleasant book of the gossipy sort." By the time of his death in 1865, he was best known for his strong advocacy for changes in the postal system, pushing for a flat price on letters by weight regardless of the distance to reach their destination. This method, still used today, was adopted by the U.S. Postal Service in 1863.

Learn More:

• Southern Banner, Mar. 13, 1845 - Nov. 1848 on Microfilm in the  Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• National Postal Museum website.
• Mnemotechnics.org blog, forum, and wiki about memory techniques.
• Moonwalking with Einstein: the Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer in the New Books collection.
• Committed to Memory: How We Remember and Why We Forget by Rebecca Rupp in the general collection.
• Ageless Memory: Simple Secrets for Keeping Your Brain Young by Harry Lorayne in the general collection.
• Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind by Daniel Tammet via PINES.
• Improving Your Memory: How to Remember What You're Starting to Forget by Janet Fogler and Lynn Stern in the general collection.
• 101 Theory Drive: A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory by Terry McDermott in the general collection.
• In the Places of Memory: How We Build the Worlds Inside our Head by George Johnson in the general collection.

5 March 1904: Late Notice of First Marconigram to Athens

On this day in 1904, the Athens Banner announced that unbeknownst to anyone, the first wireless Marconigram was sent to Athens several days earlier by Miss Mildred Rutherford, who did not want her relatives to worry that her ship was running late. 


Alas, the headline was misplaced, so while the story appeared in the first column of the front page on March 5th, the headline was placed over the obituary of Presbyterian minister and 1851 University of Georgia graduate Dr. R. Q. Mallard in New Orleans.

Miss Mildred Lewis Rutherford, aka "Miss Mille," taught literature, history, and Bible studies at the Lucy Cobb Institute from 1880 to 1928, serving as principal from 1880 to 1895, and as president from 1917-1922.  

Guglielmo Marconi would share the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 with German scientist Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy."


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1904 - Nov. 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen in the general collection.
• Marconi and Tesla: Pioneers of Radio Communication by Tim O'Shei via PINES.
• Guglielmo Marconi biography on the Nobel Prize website.
• Physics in the Twentieth Century by Curt Suplee in the general collection.
• A Century of Radio website by the BBC.
• The Marconi Centre website.
• My Father Marconi by Degna Marconi via PINES.
• Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, edited by Ann Short Chirhart and Betty Wood in the Heritage collection.
• Higher Education for Women in the South: A History of Lucy Cobb Institute, 1858-1994 by Phinizy Spalding.

Second Heritage Room Genealogy Class at the Athens Community Council on Aging

On this day, we'd like you to know that the Heritage Room's second class at the Athens Community Council on Aging will be on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the Harris Room's ACCA Hoyt Street location. The title of the class is Searching for Your Family Members: A Surprising Genealogical Treasure Trove.


If you missed the first class, don't worry! Each class is independent, so if you are set on the basics, but want to know more about tax records or using city directories in research, just sign up now for the March 7th class.  The class is free to members of the ACCA's Center for Active Living. Though free for members of CAL, pre-registration is required.


In our second installment, we'll explore every day records and sources that are often overlooked, discuss how to identify locations to find ancestors, and learn how to understand the place and time they lived. Some sources to be covered include non-population census schedules, special or local censuses, church records, cemetery records, school records, and substitutes for vital records.


For more information about the classes, please call us at the library, (706) 613-3650, extension 356; to register, please call the Athens Council on Aging at (706) 549-4850 or consult their online program catalog, Senior Center Scene.