28 November 1916: See Georgia Play Alabama!

On this day in 1916, the Seaboard Railroad advertised this round-trip deal to see the University of Georgia football team take on the University of Alabama football team in their last game of the season on Thanksgiving Day: 

(click to enlarge image)

Georgia won 3-0 in a game that ended on a last-minute turnover when a Georgia player scooped up an Alabama fumble from inside the 5-yard line. Alabama had won its first six games of the season, but ended 6-3 after the loss to Georgia, who also ended the 1916 season at 6-3.

By the time the next season would have begun, most of the Georgia football players, as well as Coach Cunningham and Assistant Coach Dave Paddock, were engaged in World War I; five would not survive the war, and only two of the lettermen, Owen Gaston Reynolds and Arthur Pew, Jr., would return to the gridiron.

The 1917 and 1918 seasons were cancelled, and Georgia did not play football again until October 4, 1919, in a win over the Citadel. Coach Cunningham returned in 1919 to coach Georgia to a 4-2-3 season, but then left college athletics to pursue a career in the United States Army, where he reached the rank of General.

When Memorial Hall was opened in 1929, it was dedicated to the 47 University of Georgia men who died in the Great War.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Nov. 1916 - Mar. 1917 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage collection.
• The Red & Black Historic Newspaper Archive collection on the University of Georgia Libraries website.
• The Atlanta Constitution in the Fold3 database via GALILEO.
• A Walking Tour of the University of Georgia by F. N. Boney in the general collection.
• The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History by Thomas Dyer in the general collection.
• Between the Hedges: 100 Years of Georgia Football by Loran Smith in the general collection.
• University of Georgia Football History web pages on the UGA Athletic Association website.
• University of Alabama Football Archives web pages on the UA Athletic Department website.

14 November 1911: Ty Cobb at the Colonial Theatre

On this day in 1911, the Athens Banner published an overview of the previous night's performance of The College Widow at the Colonial Theatre downtown, starring baseball great Ty Cobb.

Many baseball players took work as actors in the off-season, some appearing in serious plays, others in vaudeville theater acts, and still others in goofy silent films. Cobb, however, believed acting would not fit him, turning down the original offer to do the play by saying, "I'd go out there and make a horse's ass of myself."

Eventually, playwright George Ade and vaudevillian Eddie Foy, both friends of Cobb, convinced him to take the part of Billy Bolton, an All-American halfback. He had a three-month contract worth $10,000.00. 

Large crowds turned out to see Cobb more than the play itself, which was a romantic comedy about an attractive young widow luring athletes to her school to play for the football team. The College Widow was made into a silent film in 1927, and later a talkie in 1930 with the title Eleven Men and a Girl and featuring actual members of 1929 All-American football team.

When The College Widow came to the south, Cobb was honored with dinners and presentations in every town. In Athens, "a Dutch dinner" was given at the Elks Club after his performance, and during the repeated encores after the second act of the play, Cobb was presented with a football sweater emblazoned with a Georgia "G" by the Georgia football team captain, "Kid" Woodruff; Cobb wore the sweater during the third act of the play. Cobb's mother and sister were in the audience at the Colonial, travelling from Royston to see him in the performance.

However, Cobb was right that he did not have the temperament for acting. He would drink between acts, and argued with Ade about how few of the comedy's jokes were his lines, causing rewrites as the play toured. After six weeks, Cobb quit the play in Cleveland, and returned to his home in Detroit. 

1911 was one of Ty Cobb's most successful years as a ball player: he hit .420, had 248 hits, scored 147 runs, had 144 runs batted in, stole 83 bases, and lead the league in doubles and triples. Of his brief foray into acting, Cobb later said, "I looked silly as an actor, but the money was right."

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jul. 1911 - Nov. 1911 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Ty Cobb by Charles C. Alexander in the biography collection.
• My Life in Baseball: The True Record by Ty Cobb, with Al Stump in the biography collection.
• Cobb: The  Life and Times of the Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball by Al Stump in the biography collection.
• Cooperstown Confidential by Ze'ev Chafets in the general collection.
• 100 Years of Major League Baseball by David Nemec in the general collection.
• Baseball: An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward in the general collection. 

3 November 1915: "At Once Delightful and Unique"

On this day in 1915, the Tuskegee Singers performed at the private Moss High School auditorium at 450 Prince Avenue.

 (click to enlarge image to read program)

According to the Athens Banner, the quartet had been brought to town by "leading educators of the city, University professors, public school teachers, and some of the leading citizens." The event was a fundraiser for the Model and Training School in Clarke County, started in 1903 by Judia Jackson Harris.

Booker T. Washington organized the Tuskegee Singers quartet in 1884 "to 'promote interest in the Tuskegee Institute' by acquainting benevolent audiences to the Tuskegee name and Washington philosophy. " Washington believed African-Americans should be self-sufficient, and philosophy shared by the Model and Training School, which taught basic academic subjects, but also offered vocational education. 

The Tuskegee Singers were reorganized in 1909, and actually involved seven or eight young men at a time. They recorded albums of their music, mostly spirituals. The Banner noted, in their story anticipating the November 3rd program, that "every store handling first class victrola records has selections from the very quartet to be here tomorrow night."

The program was reviewed in the paper the next morning as "excellent" and "a real treat."  To hear the songs sung by this particular group of singers in 1915, click here.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Sep. 1915 - Nov. 1915 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Digital recordings of the Tuskegee Singers from 1914 to 1916.
• A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens, Georgia by Michael Thurmond in the Heritage and general collection.
• Crossroads: Southern Routes: Music of the American South, compiled by the Smithsonian Institution in the AV collection.
• Gospel Music Encyclopedia by Robert Anderson in the Reference collection.
• The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Culture by Henry Louis Gates in the general collection.
• Up From History: The Life of Booker T. Washington by Robert J. Norrell in the biography collection.
• Tuskegee Institute Choir website.

Are You Reading Our Heritage Room Newsletters?

On this day we'd like to remind you to subscribe to our two fantastic Heritage Room newsletters. They will be delivered to your email Inbox, and are a great way to keep up with all that is going on in genealogy and history throughout the year, and especially during the busy holiday season.

Our Genealogy and History Events newsletter covers everything from Haunted History tours in Athens and Macon to free webinars about Irish ancestor brick walls and getting started with Native American genealogy. Find out where to hear historians talking about their latest books, or when the dedication ceremony for a new historical marker will be held. Autumn is a busy time for cemetery tours, and with the newsletter, you can take your pick of tours in Athens, Cartersville, Atlanta, and McDonough. The commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War continues apace, with a variety of symposia, lectures, programs, and book-related events. Don't regret not doing something because you didn't find out in time--just read our newsletter!

Our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter makes sure you will not miss out on the information you need for your research, even as everyone's schedule speeds up this autumn. We cover practical information, such as the increase in copying fees at all National Archives locations and updates about the status of the Georgia Archives, to new resources online such as Mercer campus newspapers from 1920-1970 and Scottish post office directories. We even include information on how to fit your research into a busy schedule, such as Family Tree magazine's list of "Weekend Warrior" genealogy projects.

Click here (or either newsletter link above) to subscribe. It couldn't be easier, so sign up today!

17 October 1914: Georgia Tech Band Plays for Georgia Game

On this day in 1914, Georgia Tech provided both a marching band and the location of Grant Field for Georgia football game with North Carolina in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets, as they were already known, were playing Alabama in Birmingham, and did not need the field.

Kickoff was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and admission cost $1. At the time, Grant Field seated approximately 800 people with no seats in the endzones. Both teams had won the previous week, and in their meeting in 1913, Georgia had won, 19-6.

However, it was not to be Georgia's day, losing 41-6 to the Tar Heels; Georgia even lost the coin toss. The Atlanta Constitution noted that North Carolina "have a 'real' football team. There is no getting away from that fact. They have a machine that looks far superior to any football team that has performed in Atlanta in the past six or seven years." 

In the Athens newspaper, it was noted that while Georgia fans appreciated the efforts of the Georgia Tech band, and therefore sympathized with them for their 13-0 loss to Alabama, their rendition of "Glory" wasn't so much a fight song as "a dirge." And that from now on, maybe going without a band at all is a better option than using Georgia Tech's.

Georgia would not win another game that year, losing their next four games (including to Tech) before tying Auburn 0-0 in the season closer, to end 3-5-1. Tech ended the season 6-2. North Carolina went 10-1, losing to Virginia by 17 points in their last game.


Learn More:

• Athens Daily Herald, Jun. 1914 - Nov. 1914 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Atlanta Constitution, 1868 - 1923 in the Fold3 History and Genealogy Archives via GALILEO.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: A Gridiron Grudge Since 1893 by John Chandler Griffin via PINES.
• Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate by Bill Cromartie via PINES.
• Schedules Archive on the Georgia Tech Official Athletic Department website.
• Georgia Football History page on the University of Georgia Athletic Association website.

7 October 1898: "Hansomest Coroner in Georgia...to Indulge in the Luxury of a Kiss."

On this day in 1898, the Weekly Banner published a strange story on the front page of the paper about "A Kissing Bee on Broad Street."

Despite much discussion amongst our library staff, we have no earthly idea why the coroner was raising money (and quite little of it) by kissing other professional men in town, or why the story ended when Tom Hunnicut, superintendent of the Athens Electric Railway, appeared. 

It seems to be yet another example of the different standards of journalism that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where it was apparently not at all unprofessional to publish, on the front page of the weekly paper, inside jokes. 

If you have any ideas about this story and why the coroner would have had to kiss for coins, please let us know via the comment section below, or our This Day in Athens email address, Heritage.Room.Blog@gmail.com.


Learn More?

• Weekly Banner, Aug. 1898 - Oct. 1899 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of Athens & Clarke County, Georgia by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• 237 Kissing books in various collections at the Athens-Clarke County Library.

30 September 1911: Amazing News in Pictures

On this day in 1911, the Athens Banner reported that "the newest thing in motion pictures" would surely lead to news that wasn't in the newspaper but available with the 

press of a button at the head of his bed and in a frame over the mantel there will appear in motion pictures of natural color the gleanings of the happenings of the day before recorded by the photo-reporter.

 (click to enlarge image)

At the time, photographs were not common in the Athens newspapers. There may be a reproduced publicity photo to promote a play or film coming to town, but rarely were local people or events depicted in the paper as anything other than text. Photographs of local people and places appeared only in special issues about the city's progress, and even then, these were portraits of people and unoccupied photographs of rooms or buildings. The "action shot" was not part of local journalism, so a moving picture was a huge change from what even the most devoted Athens news junkie might encounter.

Newsreels were quite popular in the coming decades, though newspapers did not go out of business even when one could push a button and watch "natural color" news from one's own bed.  Several different companies would create the news reels, with Athens especially excited by one in 1913 that featured the UGA Freshman-Sophomore Pushball game.

The Elite theater was on Lumpkin Street, and was later renamed the Georgia Theatre. 

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jul. 1911 - Nov. 1911 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick in the New Books collection.
• 150 Years of Photo Journalism from the Hulton Getty Picture Collection in the general collection.
• Muckraking! The Journalism that Changed America by Judith and William Serrin in the general collection.
• Careers in Focus: Journalism by the J. F. Ferguson Publishing Company in the general collection.
• The Edward R. Murrow Collection in the DVD collection.
• My Paper Chase: A True Story of Vanished Times by Harold Evans in the biography collection.
• City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics by Jeff Hecht in the general collection. 
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson in the New Books collection.
• The Newsreel Archive website.
• Universal Newsreels on Internet Archive website.
  

Heritage Room Newsletters: The Fun Doesn't Stop When Summer Ends!

On this day, we'd like to remind you that our two Heritage Room newsletters are great ways to find out what is happening and what resources are available, all from the cool comfort of your own home!

In our Genealogy and History Events newsletter,  you can find out how to get started researching your Civil War ancestors by signing up for a webinar by the Friends of the National Archives-Southeast, or take a trip to Columbus to learn about Civil War navies at the Civil War Naval Museum. Plan an evening in Atlanta with a love stories tour of Oakland Cemetery, or pick up a Georgia State Park pass here at the library to plan an afternoon at Smithgall Woods State Park in Helen, learning about the 1828 Georgia Gold Rush. There are all sorts of events that make fun family trips before the school year gets too hectic, and our Events newsletter makes sure you have time to plan ahead.

In our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter, you'll learn about not just new content but improved filtering options in Fold3, a database all Athens Regional Library cardholders can access from their own home. Be heartened by the news that Ancestry.com has a name index for the full 1940 Census, months ahead of schedule, and how to buy CDs of webinars by Legacy Family Tree. Read reviews of new genealogy software programs, about the Free Guide to London Ancestors by FamilySearch.org in honor of the Olympics, and the latest additions to collections by local genealogical groups around the world. It sometimes seems impossible to keep up with all the new resources available to the genealogy researcher, but our News & Tips newsletter gives you a great head start.

Click here (or any newsletter link above) to subscribe. It couldn't be easier, so what are you waiting for? Sign up today! 

 

Heritage Room Newsletters: The Cool Way to Follow What's Hot!

On this day, we'd like to remind you that our two Heritage Room newsletters are great ways to find out what is happening and what resources are available, all from the cool comfort of your own home!


In our Genealogy and History Events newsletter,  you can find how to sign up for guided tours of the University of Georgia's new Special Collections library on Hull Street, or when the William Faulkner celebration at Ciné in downtown Athens on the 50th anniversary of his death. Discover the Women of Oakland Cemetery in a Twilight Tour in Atlanta, or how to use a Flip-Pal mobile scanner (the only one allowed by the National Archives) at family gatherings to enhance your family history through a webinar accessible from your home computer. Take a day trip to hear about Alabama and the War of 1812 at the Alabama State Archives, or to learn about "Historic District" designations for neighborhoods at the DeKalb History Center. There are so many interesting, new things to explore, and the Events newsletter ensures you know when and where they are.


In our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter, you'll learn when subscription databases are having sales or free access to their holdings, and how far along the name indexing of the 1940 has come. Click through our links to read the personal journals of Queen Victoria, or to peruse the City of Dallas's online collection of documents and images from the John F. Kennedy assassination. You'll learn which archives are cutting back their hours, and which ones have acquired or are exhibiting fascinating new collections. Links to stories about organizing your family research photos and the best way to preserve family documents for posterity are delivered to your computer so you don't need to search the web for it yourself.


Click here (or any newsletter link above) to subscribe. It couldn't be easier, so what are you waiting for? Sign up today!

12 June 1901: Summertime in Athens Means Talking About Football

On this day in 1901, less than a decade since the introduction of football to Athens, the Banner ran the following story about prospects for the Georgia football team in the coming season, which would not begin for another four months:

Despite high hopes published throughout the summer and early fall, Georgia's final record in 1912  1901 (thanks for the correction!) would be 1-5-2. The game schedule would also be altered by the time the season rolled around in mid-October, including replacing the Tech game in Atlanta with a meeting versus South Carolina in Augusta that would be Georgia's only win (10-5) that season. 


Georgia traveled next to Tennessee, where "the red and black" played two games in three days, losing both 0-47, first to Vanderbilt on Saturday, then again to Sewanee on Monday. The Banner started its story about the road trip with "The Georgia boys got it in the neck again yesterday," before pointing out later in the story that "Three of Sewanee's touchdowns were made by pure luck."


The first game in Athens that season came against Clemson on the 26th, and spirits were high until Georgia lost, 5-29. The headline the next day simply stated that "Clemson Won Football Game." Though daily papers exist through the month of October, the Banner seems to have mostly exhausted its enthusiasm for reporting on football in 1901 at this time. Even in the weekly papers, there is little talk of football of any kind, not just Georgia, but even for teams in the region. The Atlanta Constitution, however, continued to follow the team.


In the days leading up to the November 2nd meeting with North Carolina in Atlanta, UGA alumni in Atlanta sent a letter to the University requesting Georgia cancel the game. This request was refused, with the "physical director of the University," Professor A. H. Patterson noting that the three losses had come to teams that were "heavier" than Georgia, and the newspaper said that "the Atlanta alumni may yet see some good playing that they evidently do not expect to see." The alumni did not; Georgia lost to North Carolina, 0-27.


Georgia's next two games received no notice in the Athens newspapers, even those weekly editions published the day of or the day after a game. November 9th, Georgia tied Alabama 0-0 in Montgomery, then fell again in a 6-16 loss in Athens to Davidson College. 


The last game of the season was against Auburn on Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta.  The days leading up to the meeting had students showing up to cheer the team at practice, and energy and spirits were high. According to John F. Stegeman, however, "Georgia fans gasped" upon seeing an Auburn team take the field that was so much taller and heavier than the Georgia players. Georgia played hard, but was unable to score, including having a touchdown called back near the end of the game because the player's foot stepped out upfield. 


The game ended in a 0-0 tie, and both the team and the fans felt victorious since Auburn never crossed midfield. Spectators celebrated in Atlanta, and in Athens, "The chapel bell has been kept ringing, and the entire campus is aglow from three bonfires."  The team was met at the railroad depot that night by "a huge crowd and escorted by torchlight up College Avenue , through the town, and to the campus arch." The party continued until dawn, and ringing the chapel bell became a Georgia tradition.




Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 1901 - Oct. 1901 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Atlanta Constitution archive in Fold3 database via GALILEO.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Georgia Bulldogs Football History pages on the UGA Athletic Association website.
• UGA Chapel Bell public service announcement from 2011 football season.
• Echoes of Georgia Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Ken Samelson in the general collection.
• Between the Hedges: 100 Years of Georgia Football by Loran Smith in the general collection.

This Day Flashback: What's New is Old

This summer, due to construction, the Athens-Clarke County Library's Summer Reading Performance Series will be having their programs at the Clarke Central High School auditorium.  

The weekly performances at Clarke Central reminded us of a story This Day in Athens featured in 2010 about a similar concert program for children hosted by the volunteer members of the Athens Library Association in February, 1915. At the time, Athens Library Association was a group of volunteers with donated books in a donated room in the Southern Mutual Building downtown. 

While they had Saturday morning storytimes for children in the corner of their library room, to host a larger, fuller concert program, the library volunteers used the auditorium at Athens High School on Wednesday afternoons. (Summer programs would be held outdoors, as the auditorium would be too warm.) The most popular books in the children's collection at the time were Beatrix Potter's tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Just So Stories, and The Little Princess.

The 2012 Athens-Clarke County Library programs programs will be held in the Clarke Central auditorium on Thursday mornings at 10:30am.  They will feature local storytellers, ventriloquists, puppeteers, music, stories, sing-alongs, poetry, and dancing.  The first program is this Wednesday, May 24th, hosted by the Children's Area staff.

To learn about each week's show, as well as other Summer Reading programs offered by the Athens-Clarke County Library Children's Area, go to the Dream Big--READ! 2012 Summer Reading Program website or pick up a purple flyer at the library.

Learn More:

• This Day in Athens, 27 February 1915: "The Pleasure and Privilege of a Story Hour."
• Dream Big--READ! 2012 Summer Reading Program at the Athens-Clarke County Library web page.
• Dream Big--READ! 2012 Summer Reading Program at the Athens-Clarke County Library brochure. (pdf)
• Athens-Clarke County Library Children's Area web page.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Story of the Athens Public Library by Susan Frances Barrow Tate in the Heritage collection.
• Books by Beatrix Potter in the children's fiction collection.
• The Little Princess by Frances Hodges Burnett in the children's fiction collection.
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling in the children's fiction and young adult collections.
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in the children's fiction collection.

4 May 1921: YMCA Summer Ball Teams Announced

On this day in 1921, the Athens Banner published the members and schedules for the early summer Y.M.C.A. baseball teams:

Y.M.C.A. Ball Clubs Now Organized

 The following is a roster of the teams and the schedule for the season:

      N. G. Slaughter (captain), R. McWhorter, W. F. Pittard, Fred Dean, George Thornton, George Williams, France Price, Tony Costa, Harry Dews, B. Joel, Tom Stokes.

      W. R. Bedgood (captain), Julian Erwin, Henry M. Bacon, Hope Smith, W. H. Owen, Bradberry, Hugh Hodgson, C. D. McDorman, Joel A. Wier, W. A. Clark, Abit Nix, W. T. Dean.

      W. E. Hopkins (captain), J. C. Hutchins, Tom McNiebling, S. R. Cook, Harry Cason, John W. Nicholson, E. F. Porter, R. L. Moss III, O. M. Roberts, Fred Davis, Jr., Hubert Rylee.

      W. K. Meadow (captain), Howard McWhorter, D. D. Quillian, Fred McEntire, Clyde Anderson, Morton Hodgson, Edward Hightower, G. A. Booth, Garland Hulme, P. E. Holliday, T. Marvin Cox.

      "Whitie" Davis (captain), Abe Link, Marion Conolly, E. H. Dorsey, Jr., W. B. Thornton, Ernest Hollingsworth, Paul Conolly, Joe Costa, L. A. Scarborough, J. E. Patman, Jack Wilkins.

      "Starr" Smith (captain), W. T. Forbes, Sr., Abe Goodman, Fleetwood Lanier, Rucker Ginn, M. B. Wingfield, Paul Weatherly, Guy Hancock, Harry Burton, L. A. Booth, I. Myerson.

 -- Athens Banner, 4 May 1921, page 3, columns 2-4.

The early season lasted through the first week of June, when the championship game was played between Captain Slaughter and Captain Davis. According to the Banner, "Slaughter was slaughtered and the crown rests serenely on the heads of Whitey's team-mates." 


A second season began July with new teams comprised of essentially the same group of young men in different groups. For the July season, the teams were given names and new captains, with the Tigers, Bear Cats, Wild Cats, Bull Dogs, Eagles, and Buffaloes sparring against one for approximately one more month. 


The men on the team were all between the ages of 18 and 40, many of them from prominent local families, such as the McWhorters, Costas, and Hodgsons, while others were businessmen of note in their own right, such as Abit Nix, Joel Wier, and W. K. Meadow. 

Most of the young men on the team were familiar names on the Banner society pages, and because most were business and family men, teams sometimes had to play without a full roster to cover all the positions. 


The "Field League" grew in popularity over the summer of 1921, with over 100 men divided into eight teams for the August season. As the Banner noted, "the second larger league is expected to cause some big excitements in local amateur sports circles."




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Oct. 1920 - May 1921 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of the Y timeline on the YMCA website.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Baseball Scrapbook by Peter C. Bjarkman in the general collection.
• Classic Ballparks by James Buckley in the general collection.
• Total Baseball, edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer in the Reference collection.
• The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules by Ross Bernstein in the general collection
• The Way Baseball Works by Dan Gutman in the general collection.
• The Baseball Anthology: 125 Years of Stories, Poems, Articles, Photographs, Drawings, Interviews, Cartoons, and Other Memorabilia, edited by Joseph Wallace in the general collection.
• Casey at the Bat by Dan Gutman in the children's collection.
• Baseball: A Celebration! by James Buckley in the general collection.

1 May 1901: "a grab bag, a fish pond, a tug of war, and the like"

On this afternoon in 1901, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, recently relocated to Prince Avenue, held a May Day Festival for the local children.

Admission to the festival was 10 cents, and included refreshments, a variety of games, a Maypole dance, and a baseball match "between the Milledge avenue and Prince avenue nines." 

According to the account published in the Banner the next day, "scores of children" attended the festival, and the whole endeavor was a "lovely" and "beautiful" success. with everyone enjoying "an evening of rare pleasure" that included the Milledge avenue boys winning a "very exciting" baseball game. 

Also of note was that Jennie Wilson Fears, seven-year-old daughter of livery owners Elliot and Leila Fears of Hull Street was crowned as "Queen of Love and Beauty," and Harriet White Benedict, seven-year-old great-niece of College of Agriculture president H.C. White, also won a prize for "the most beautifully decorated baby carriage."

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 1901 - Oct. 1901 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• A History of Emmanuel Church, 1943-1993 in the Heritage collection.
• 1900 U.S. Census in Ancestry Library Edition via GALILEO.
• Chemistry at the University of Georgia by W. H. Waggoner in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of Athens and Clarke County Georgia by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• A World of Flowers by Clay Perry in the general collection.
• The Folklore of American Holidays, edited by Hennig Cohen and Tristam Potter Coffin in the Reference collection.
• A Book of Flowers by Kathleen N. Daly in the Heritage and general collections.
• The American Book of Days by Jane M. Hatch in the Reference collection.
• Celebrating with Flowers by Jane Packer in the general collection.

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.

Heritage Room Newsletters Keep Your Research Moving Forward!

On this day we'd like to remind you to subscribe to our two fantastic Heritage Room newsletters. They will be delivered to your email Inbox, and are a great way to keep up with all that is going on in genealogy and history throughout the year.

Our Genealogy and History Events newsletter covers everything from classes about using the 1940 Census when it is release in April and tours of Civil War battle sites to museum exhibitions of local woodworkers and Brown Bag lunch programs at the Georgia Archives. Many organizations are noting the Civil War Sesquicentennial with events, and this newsletter is an excellent way to avoid missing any of the great learning opportunities available.

Our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter makes sure you will not miss out on new resources and discoveries, even as everyone's schedule speeds up with spring. With news about the latest collections available through Family Search and new archival collections now online to news about summer genealogy programs and opportunities to contribute to new collections.


Click here (or either newsletter link above) to subscribe. It couldn't be easier, so sign up today!

Don't Miss Out! Sign Up for Our Newsletters!

On this day, we'd like to remind you to subscribe to our two free Heritage Room newsletters. 

Our Genealogy and History Events newsletter covers everything from webinars by the National Archives in Atlanta about the 1940 Census and lock-in research evenings at the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville to exhibitions about George Washington Carver at the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta and furniture by Athenian Henry Eugene Thomas at the Georgia Museum of Art here in town. Rather than keep up with a million postcards, flyers, and emails, we put all the coming events of the month into a neat package or two that you can use to ensure you don't miss a thing.

Our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter keeps you in the loop with the latest resources available for research, such as the Tennessee Death Records recently added to the Ancestry database and a link to the new searchable online index of Alabama probate records. It also covers updates about the release of the 1940 Census (available on April 2, 2012, at 9am EDT) and fun things, like the new Henry Louis Gates PBS program, Finding Your Roots, and when the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? returns.


Click here (or either of the above newletter links) to read the current newsletter and subscribe to have them delivered. It couldn't be easier, and is a great time saver, so sign up today!

13 December 1902: Santa to Visit at the International Doll Show

On this day in 1902, Santa Claus made an appearance at the doll show benefit raising funds for Winnie Davis Hall:

(click to enlarge image)

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, May 1902 - Oct. 1903 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Miss Rutherford's Scrapbook by Mildred Rutherford in the Heritage collection.
• The Collector's Encyclopedia of Dolls by Dorothy S. Coleman, Elizabeth A. Coleman, and Evelyn J. Coleman in the Reference collection.
• The Dolls of Yesteryear by Eleanor St. George in the general collection.
• Cornhusk, Silk, and Wishbones: A Book of Dolls from around the World by Michelle Markel in general collection.
• The Doll Source Book by Argie Manolis in the Reference collection.
• Dolls of the Art Deco Era 1910-1940: Collect, Restore, Create, and Play by Susanna Oroyan in the general collection.
• The Fairytale Doll Book by Valerie Janitch in the general collection.
• Sewing Victorian Doll Clothes: Authentic Costumes from Museum Collections by Michelle Hamilton in the general collection.
• The Book of Doll Making by Alicia Merrett in the general collection.
• Dolls: A Complete Bibliography by Nancie Anne Lutz in the Reference collection.

Newsletters for You!

On this day, we'd like to remind you about our two Heritage Room newsletters, free updates of information that land easily in your email inbox and make keeping up the world of genealogy and history research and events easy as can be.


Our History & Genealogy Events newsletter offers you a schedule of  the upcoming tours, classes, fairs, festivals, meetings, book signings, lectures, and other happenings in Athens and around Georgia. We also include webinars sponsored by genealogy companies such as Legacy Family Tree  in which you can participate from your own home. As items are added to the month's calendar, we will send out updates so you state current with all the historical events.

Our Genealogy News & Tips newsletter provides you a round up of recent genealogy and research information, such as newly published books, new online resources, ways to get past your brick wall, tricks for researching ancestors in other parts of the nation and world, the way various records can be used, and free software available for doing your family tree. It's a great, concise way to keep up with all the ways you can research without spending all your time seeking out information yourself.

Click here (or either newsletter link above) to read the current newsletters and subscribe to have them delivered to your email Inbox. They are a free service of the Heritage Room, and it couldn't be easier, so sign up today!

28 October 1918: Athens Quarantine Partially Lifted

On this day in 1918, at 7 o'clock in the morning, the quarantine that had been imposed on the city of Athens and the county of Clarke for the previous three weeks, was partially lifted. County schools, the Lucy Cobb Institute, the University of Georgia and State Normal School, and church services would be allowed to meet, but "city schools, movie houses, theatre, pool rooms, shooting galleries, soda founts and ice cream parlors will remain closed." Sunday schools were also asked to refrain from meeting.

The quarantine had first gone into effect October 7th, when Athens had only a few cases of influenza reported, but wanted to avoid a larger outbreak. Mayor Andrew Erwin had the Chief of Police notify the management of a carnival scheduled to come to town that they would have to cancel their visit, and strict enforcement of the anti-spitting ordinance was put into effect. 

The Board of Health met and immediately closed gathering places such as movie theatres, pool halls, soda fountains, and other "amusements." Physicians or the head of a household where the flu struck had to report the case to the Board of Heath within 24 hours, and city schools were closed. The University of Georgia shut down, and all students who lived off the campus were told to stay at home. The Superior Court also delayed their October session. The only exceptions for meetings were for "necessary war work."

Despite the drastic procedures, the Athens Banner took a measured tone, telling its readers that "there is no need for fear, precaution and proper care from exposure will do more to wipe out the disease than anything else." People were generally asked to stay home, and most were willing to comply. In order for students to return to school, they had to present a letter from a physician stating they had not been exposed to the disease for the previous seven days.

Upon partial removal of quarantine, the chairman of Athens Board of Health, Dr. McKinney, did ask for everyone to "continue to exercise the greatest of care for we are not yet out of danger of a further spread of the contagion." Though only 5% of Athens was thought to have contracted the flu, the epidemic was harshest on those ages 15-34, and was so severe "that the average lifespan in the US was depressed by 10 years." 

By early November, it was news that the Colonial had booked entertainment for two weeks out,  but there is no article that notes the official date quarantine was fully lifted from the city. When Armistice to end World War I was declared on November 12, hundreds of citizens and students gathered in the streets to celebrate the event, with no thought of the flu.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Daily Herald on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• The 1918 Influenza Pandemic page on Dr. Robert Siegel's Human Virology website.
• History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection. 
• This Time of Dying by Reina James in the fiction collection.
• The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry in the general collection.
• Blessing's Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson in the young adult collection.
• The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu by Neil Schachter in the general collection.