Hidden Histories, Historical Marker Resource

Modena

2. Portrait of John Milledge. Courtesy of the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

This Hidden History was created by SCAD student Samantha Stewart as part of their SCAD art history department coursework, with guidance from art history professor Holly Goldstein, Ph.D., in 2025.

The Modena historical marker was dedicated in 1987. View the Modena historical marker listing.

Gallery

Illustrations

Photograph of Modena Historical Marker, 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Portrait of John Milledge. Courtesy of the U.S. Senate Historical Office. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/M000712
Illustration of tourist map of Wormsloe Plantation, 1930. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/wormsloe-plantation/m-4112/
Screenshot of Wormsloe and Modena Plantation sites, 2025. Courtesy of Apple Maps.
Section from the Athens Banner-Herald, 1806. Courtesy of the University of Georgia Archives. https://www.onlineathens.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2015/03/27/history-of-uga-s-old-college/798349007/
A Code of Laws for the Government of Franklin College, University of Georgia, 1834. Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, LD-1970.5.A3, 1834.
Illustration of Franklin College, in Athens, Georgia from Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 1854. Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, #1361PR, Box 2, Folder 76.
Postcard of Old College, University of Georgia, Athens, GA – 38, c. 1900. Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, #1361PC, 01-0133.
Postcard of Old Dormitory, University Campus, The first Building in Athens, c. 1907. Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society, #1361PC, 01-0192.
Photograph of the University of Georgia, 1875. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/university-of-georgia/m-2416/
“Map of Campus, University of Georgia,” 1899. Courtesy of the University of Georgia Historic Preservation Master Plan. https://www.architects.uga.edu/sites/default/files/misc/03a_uga_historical_background_-_11-05-18.pdf
“Campus – University of Georgia,” 1900. Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/university-of-georgia/m-2418/
“A University of Georgia student carried a confederate flag as others follow in demonstration through the streets of Athens protesting integration of their school in 1961,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2025. https://www.ajc.com/opinion/columnists/torpy-slavery-apologizing-confederate-history-censor-still-honored-at-uga/YKHL56G76FESBMWCXFI2DKSBTA/
Photograph of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, c. 1930s. Courtesy of the Georgia Archives. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/united-daughters-of-the-confederacy/
Photograph of birds eye view of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia, 2018. https://www.skio.uga.edu/about/uga-skidaway-institute-story/
Mildred Rutherford, Miss Rutherford’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information About the South, Secession Was Not Rebellion, Vol. II, 1923. Courtesy of Princeton University and Google Books.
Cover: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Inner cover and page 1: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 2 and 3: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 4 and 5: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 6 and 7: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 8 and 9: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 10 and 11: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart
Page 12 and back cover: Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information about the South: Georgia, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Vol. I, May 2025. Courtesy of Samantha Stewart

Artist's Statement

When selecting which Georgia Historical Marker I wanted to work with for this project, I began by looking at markers near the places I already had significant connections to. I started with my hometown of Warner Robins, Georgia, and then I moved on to Athens, where I did my undergraduate program at the University of Georgia (UGA). I returned to the Savannah area in my search and landed on Dutch Island, about a thirty minute drive away from where I currently live in Thunderbolt. The marker that caught my eye was Modena, located on Skidaway Island, specifically because it mentioned the University of Georgia and Franklin College, which is the sub-college I graduated from, and I wanted to learn more about UGA’s connection to Savannah.

Growing up, my mom made my siblings and I all scrapbooks containing the images from our childhood up until present day. We each have three “baby books,” and she has made a scrapbook for each year going back to 1991 when my sister was born, up until her most recent year of 2023. The idea of a scrapbook is already dear to me, as it is a collage of memories that fill out the story of someone’s life. The farther along I got in my research the more a scrapbook seemed to line up with my topic. Mildred Rutherford created a collection of Historical Notes, or Scrap Books entitled Miss Rutherford’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information About the South. In direct conversation with her work, my creative component is titled Miss Stewart’s Scrap Book, Valuable Information About the South, “Milledge and Modena: Marking the History of the University of Georgia,” Volume I, ‘published’ in May of 2025.

I bought a scrapbook from Michaels, along with some markers and red string. I planned out the cover similarly to that of Rutherford’s, and distressed the edges of the book by burning it over an open flame. I decided I wanted to further ‘historicize’ the object by burning the pages within the scrapbook to show (un)natural wear and tear throughout the decades, and also connect it to the concept that much of Rutherford’s own records burned in a house fire in 1927 (34). This research project has felt like a detective case, and I wanted to add bright red string to the background of my book pages to mimic that of a detective’s evidence board as a way to route out the clues of a case. From there I wrote down the timeline of relevant, extensive information that has guided this research project and placed it on the inner cover of the scrapbook to also inform readers. I was initially torn between beginning the book based off of my research process or of chronological history, and since the timeline is such an evident part of the book I decided to place my collage in this same structured formatting. This artist statement is also located in the back of the scrapbook.

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