FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

GHS Presents: Encounter and Exchange: A New Online Exhibit for Georgia Teachers

Savannah, GA - December 28, 2007. The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online exhibit featuring highlights from our collections. Encounter and Exchange is based on the 2007 Lecture Series, which included presentations from some of America's leading historians:

Ira Berlin, Bancroft Prize award-winning author, addressed the development of North American slavery;
Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning author, spoke on Colonial Encounters with Native Americans;
Bruce Stephenson, recognized authority on Daffin Park's designer John Nolen, discussed his impact on Savannah's urban landscape in the Progressive Era;
and Vincent Carretta, senior fellow at Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, discussed his groundbreaking work on eighteenth-century abolitionist and former slave, Olaudah Equiano.

Encounter and Exchange explores the historical meetings between different individuals and groups of people throughout coastal Georgia history, and the exchange of ideas and clash of cultures that followed. Sometimes forced and bloody, other times cooperative and peaceful, these historical encounters shaped the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of present-day coastal Georgia.

The exhibit is designed to provide an online teaching aid for educators. Focusing on three themes - colonial settlement of North America, the first two hundred years of slavery in North America, and human interaction with the environment - the exhibit applies these themes to Savannah and Georgia history. Digital images of artifacts and documents offer a visual aid and exemplify the ways the GHS collections can serve to educate researchers and students alike. Teaching tips and additional reading suggestions follow the explanatory text to help Georgia's teachers incorporate state history into related curriculum in accordance with professional standards.

Visit our new website at www.georgiahistory.com and follow the Education links to explore Encounter and Exchange, GHS's newest online exhibit!

Project funding provided in part by the City of Savannah

The Georgia Historical Society, headquartered in Savannah, is the oldest cultural institution in the state and one of the oldest historical organizations in the nation. It is the first and only statewide historical society in Georgia. For nearly 175 years, GHS has collected, preserved, and shared Georgia history through a variety of educational outreach programs, publications, and research services. For more information visit: www.georgiahistory.com.