FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Laura García-Culler, Executive Vice President
912.651.2125, or Email

Five New Collections Now Open for Research

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Savannah, GA - August 29, 2007. The Georgia Historical Society announces five new collections open for research. These collections cover topics ranging from the removal of the Cherokees; plantation management; women's history; and urban art and development. These collections are available for research at the Georgia Historical Society's headquarters on the corner of Whitaker and Gaston Streets.

Bull Street Improvement Project records (MS 1719)
During the late 1980s and 1990s, The Beehive Foundation was instrumental in the preservation and restoration of historic properties and the creation of new infill buildings within Savannah's Historic Landmark District. In 1989, Mills Lane, through The Beehive Foundation, proposed the idea of a five-year project to refurbish the main street of Savannah's National Historic Landmark District, Bull Street, by planting new trees, repairing brick sidewalks, replacing concrete walks with brick, and adding cast-iron lights and trash receptacles. The project's mission was to enhance the visual quality of Bull Street, the primary spine of the Historic District, and to make it a showcase of what could be done throughout the rest of the District.

The Bull Street Improvement Project began in 1991 and ended in 1996. Records include correspondence, contracts, notes, drawings, maps, plans, financial materials, vendor files, photographs, slides, surveys, research files, agendas, meeting minutes, reports, and newsletters.

Also included in the collection are records from projects related to the Bull Street Improvement Project, including: City Sign Improvement Project, Savannah Streets and Squares Project, and project extensions involving areas tangential to the immediate parameters covered by the Bull Street project.

The arrangement, description, and preservation of this collection was supported by The Beehive Foundation.

John A. Cuthbert letter (MS 1721)
The John A. Cuthbert letter from Milledgeville, 10 June 1834, to Hiram Warner contains an explanation of the points of law relating to rights of Georgians regarding Cherokee property as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Worcester v. Georgia (1832). The letter was likely regarding an act of the Georgia state legislature of 1833 in defiance of the court's opinion regarding Georgia's jurisdiction over the Cherokees. In the letter, Cuthbert explains to Warner why the act is unconstitutional.

Historic sites in and near Savannah mural drawings and other material (VM 1383)
Augusta Oelschig (1918-2000) was born in Savannah and studied art with Emma Wilkins, Lamar Dodd, Henry Lee MacFee, Alexander Brook, Justino Fernandez, the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Oroszco in Mexico City, and Dr. Horace Kallen and William Scharf of New York City. She is known for creating social commentary by exploring aspects of African-American life in the lowcountry and much of her art concerns the injustice of Southern race relations.

In 1972, Oelschig received a commission for a mural depicting the history of Savannah for the Home Federal Savings and Loan on Telfair Square. In 1999, the mural was purchased and reinstalled in 2000 at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce office on the Southeast corner of Bay and Drayton streets. The collection contains drawings of buildings, scenes, and details of 44 of the 45 images in the mural in addition to source materials such as clippings and photographs. The mural's images include the Central of Georgia Railway station and shop buildings, Chippewa Square, City Exchange, City Market, Pirates' House, Planter's Bank (Pink House), S.S. Savannah, Savannah Cotton Exchange, and the U.S. Customs House.

Shaftesbury Plantation account book (MS 1720)
Shaftesbury was a prominent rice plantation situated on Argyle Island (today part of the Savannah River Wildlife Refuge). Originally owned by James Deveaux and later by the Gibbons family, the account book contains Shaftesbury information for the years 1869-1898 and Fairlawn and Whitehall Plantation information for the years 1889-1898. Information in the journal includes expenses, sales of crops, overseers' names, acreage planted, salaries for the hands, equipment, building material, taxes, and net profit.

Ruth Barnes papers (MS 1479)
This collection is primarily comprised of scrapbooks created by Mrs. Ruth Barnes from 1930-1937. The scrapbooks contain material regarding Ruth Barnes' involvement in the Savannah branches of the American Association of University Women and the Young Women's Christian Association and provide a sense of the social activity of Savannah society members during the 1930s.