Community Archives Initiative
Help us ensure that Georgia’s unique story is preserved and made accessible for generations to come.
The Georgia Historical Society's Community Archives Initiative is dedicated to preserving Georgia’s diverse histories through active community participation. Our initiative encourages Georgia residents to become part of history by volunteering to enhance archival collections alongside archivists, attending community-based workshops, and contributing family artifacts and other materials. Together, we can ensure that Georgia’s past is preserved, shared, and accessible to researchers for generations to come.
Continue reading to learn about the initiative and how you can get involved.
Community
At the core of GHS’s community engagement efforts is a commitment to empowering the public to preserve and share their own histories. Through a range of workshops, GHS equips individuals, families, and organizations with the knowledge and tools needed to document and safeguard their stories. Volunteer opportunities—both in-person and remote—invite participants to work alongside GHS archivists and contribute directly to expanding access to historical materials. In addition, GHS provides educational resources that support researchers, educators, and the general public in exploring and sharing Georgia’s rich and varied history. Together, these resources help make community stories more accessible and ensure they remain available for future generations.
Workshops
Led by GHS professional staff, these sessions enable participants to document and preserve personal family and community materials for future generations.
If you are interested in participating, please contact LaPortia Mosley at lmosley@georgiahistory.com.
In-Person Volunteer Opportunities
In-person volunteers have the unique opportunity to work alongside GHS archivists in our state-of-the-art Research Center, contributing directly to preserving history by improving the descriptions of collection materials.
Interested in volunteering in person to enhance a collection at GHS? Contact LaPortia Mosley at lmosley@georgiahistory.com for more information.
Remote Volunteer Opportunities
Through digital crowdsourcing, remote volunteers can contribute to descriptions of digitized images by identifying people, places, events, and other subjects in photographs. Enhanced descriptions make items more searchable, which improves accessibility.
Digital crowdsourcing instructions can be found HERE.
Focus Collections include:
History Snapshots
History Snapshots are mini-lessons aligned to the Georgia Social Studies Standards of Excellence that highlight lesser-known historical figures through picture books and primary sources uncovered by community efforts as part of the Community Archives Initiative.
Donate Artifacts
Your family and community history are part of Georgia’s history. By donating personal materials to the statewide GHS archival collection, you contribute to a living archive that serves teachers, students, researchers, and the general public. Each item is carefully arranged and described by professional archivists in our secure, climate-controlled facility. Like all items within the GHS archival collection, materials then become available to researchers across the globe. They are the building blocks of history and the foundation upon which GHS constructs all programs, classroom materials, and other historical resources.
Learn more about donating your papers and other personal objects.
Higher Education
The Community Archives Initiative’s collection project empowers pre-service teachers to preserve lesser-known local stories and expand the historical record used in inquiry-based instruction. Through partnerships with universities, professors and pre-service teachers receive professional development, training in collection development, support from Teaching with Primary Sources, guidance in oral history collection and transcription, and opportunities for collaborative conference engagement. As these educators enter classrooms across the state, the collections and skills they develop translate into richer, place-based learning experiences, ensuring that students statewide engage with a more comprehensive and locally grounded understanding of history.
Between the Margins is a collection of educational activities created by pre-service teachers that turn collection development into inquiry-driven investigations of lesser-known community stories aligned to Library of Congress’ Teaching with Primary Source strategies.
▶ 1972 Orator Yearbook (Henry Grady High School)
K-12 Education
The Community Archives Initiative’s Decoding Histories program engages K-12 educators and students in exploring the importance of reading and writing in cursive in order to understand written materials from the past. This program supports the new Georgia K-12 English Language Arts Standards by using archival materials to deepen historical inquiry and strengthen literacy skills. Through Decoding Histories, teachers can connect students with authentic documents that bring history to life while building their ability to read and write cursive, an essential skill for accessing historical texts. Students also have the opportunity to contribute to the preservation of history by interacting with primary sources and learning how to interpret and document the past.
Organizational Partnerships
The Community Archives Initiative is built on partnerships with organizations across Georgia committed to preserving Georgia’s rich history and making it accessible to the public. GHS supports organizations with training and resources through consultation visits, presentations, oral history support, and digitization efforts.
To learn more about becoming a community partner, please contact LaPortia Mosley at lmosley@georgiahistory.com.
Sponsors
The Community Archives Initiative would not be possible without the generosity and support of our sponsors. Their contributions help us expand our collections, and host workshops and community collection opportunities.
With support from
Get Involved
For more details on how you can be a part of the Community Archives Initiative, please contact LaPortia Mosley at lmosley@georgiahistory.com.
Gallery
