Augusta Public Library Local History and Genealogy

In a letter written to her sister Julia Bryan Cumming, on the night of her nineteenth birthday, Maria Bryan, a planter’s daughter born on New Year’s Day in 1808 at Mt. Zion, Georgia, anticipated the coming year and wondered, “what events it may bring forth.” Maria would go on to write over twenty letters to her sister in 1827 and many more until her untimely death in 1844 at the age of 36. Donated to the South Caroliniana Library in Columbia by her nephew George Shaw Billings, noted journalist and brief managing editor for Life magazine, Maria’s letters are a firsthand account of the daily experiences of a young woman born into the planter aristocracy during the height of cotton production in  Hancock County, Georgia. When read in hindsight, Maria’s words pondering the uncertainty of the upcoming year foreshadow the South’s tumultuous and incendiary future, a future Maria never lived to see.

Martha Maria Bryan Harford

The antebellum South is one of the most studied and written about periods in American history, in particular the institution of American slavery. There are no shortage of first-person accounts in the form of letters, diaries, memoirs and narratives that have been used by scholars and historians to understand this peculiar moment in history. When studied alongside other primary sources Maria’s letters, like those written by other antebellum women, such as Mary Chestnut and Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, offer a singular perspective of a life lived in opulent wealth made on the backs of enslaved human beings. Both Chestnut and Clanton Thomas lived into the postbellum years, witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by the Civil War, but Maria Bryan encountered only a world dictated by a slave economy. 

The letters are of particular interest to those studying women’s history as well as those interested in finding enslaved ancestors. In several of her letters, Maria speaks of the slaves that worked on her father, Joseph Bryan’s plantation in Hancock County, one of the wealthiest counties in antebellum Georgia. In a particularly heartbreaking letter, written shortly after her sister’s marriage to the son of Augusta’s first mayor, Thomas Cumming, Maria writes of her personal slave Jenny and the beating she received from an overseer because she failed to meet her quota of spinning. Maria laments to her sister, “It would have distressed you to see her face bloody and swelled. Oh how great an evil is slavery.”

Excerpt of January 27, 1827 letter from Maria Bryan to sister Julia Bryan Cumming

It is this letter and others which name specific slaves that are of particular interest to staff of the Georgia Heritage Room, given a special primary source we have in our own collection. In 1966, Patrick D. Walsh, nephew of politician Patrick Walsh, who served as editor of the Augusta Chronicle from 1875 until his death in 1899, donated a rather interesting document to the Augusta Public Library. The details of the donation have been lost to time, and the how’s and why’s of Walsh’s ownership of this manuscript are unknown. The manuscript is deed of trust established on April 11, 1841 between Martha Maria Harford (Maria Bryan) and her father Joseph Bryan, granting ownership of her five slaves to her father. The deed stipulates that Maria retains rights over the slaves, and that her father shall manage them for her benefit. Digging a little deeper into Maria’s life and letters, we learn that she married her second husband Dr. Alva Connell on April 11, 1841, the same day the deed was established. Living in a world governed exclusively by white men, perhaps Maria was protecting her rights and property by transferring ownership of her slaves to her father, who held them in trust for her, preventing her future husband’s claim on that property. 

Excerpt from Bryan Deed of Trust (1849) naming five slaves.          MS 136 Augusta Public Library Georgia Heritage Room

The five slaves named are Matt and Bird, both about twenty-five years old; Jinny, about thirty-five years old; Annette, Jinny’s child; and George who is five years old. We can assume that the Jenny named in the deed is the same Jenny Maria writes about in her letters. Living within an economic system that considered slaves human property, those searching for ancestors prior to the Civil War should understand where to look for information about enslaved family members. This deed of trust is an example of a property record that can provide valuable clues for genealogical research. Once the slave owner is established, the researcher must locate any and all records associated, especially bills of sale, estate and probate records, like wills and administration papers, and in this case, deeds of trust are another avenue of inquiry.

Both women and the enslaved of the antebellum South found themselves at the mercy of a system that denied them civil rights, and for slaves, basic human rights. Both had to learn to exist within the confines of this brutal system, to live by their own volition within a system that worked to totally deny them that freedom. The deed of trust between Maria Bryan and her father gives one example of how a woman could legally manipulate a male dominated system to her advantage. By signing over ownership of her slaves to her father, but retaining all rights of their service, Maria prevented her new husband from having any legal control of her “property.” And yet, Jenny, Annette, Matt, Bird, and little George were given no say in the matter. Though Maria did express remorse when Jenny was brutally beaten, ultimately she considered her slaves human chattel to be leveraged for her financial benefit. Naming them in the deed however means they are not lost to history and boldly stand out for their descendants to find. They just need to know where to look. 

February and March are nationally designated months set aside to honor both African American history and women’s history respectively. During this time, Georgia Heritage Room staff will be highlighting ARCPLS collections, like the deed of trust, that shine a light on both. Stay tuned!  

Performances of The Nutcracker ballet have become at staple of the Augusta holiday season.  This year Augustans could view magical productions at the Imperial with the Colton Ballet Company and at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center with the Augusta Ballet.

But let’s go back in time to the start of Augusta’s love affair with the Nutcracker as a holiday tradition. On November 18, 1971, the Augusta Civic Ballet put on its first production of The Nutcracker. The production was a huge undertaking, not only for the dancers, but all the people working behind the scenes to make the show go on. As an Augusta Chronicle article pointed out, the costumer, Mrs. David McKenny was responsible for altering all the costumes to fit the Augusta cast.  That was surely a lot of work, doubly so as she had to undo all her work so that the borrowed costumes could be fitted for new dancers.

Merry Dicks Clark – Ballet Mistress for the 1969-1970 season of the Augusta Ballet

All that work paid off.  The performance was described as “a dream of a show, a spectacle, fantasyland, dazzling, spirited, heartwarming and more…” This was the work of the Augusta Civic Ballet.

Formed in 1962, the Augusta Civic Ballet was hailed as a giant step in the cultural life of Augusta. The goals of the group were indeed high. The newly adopted mission statement promised to “present ballet programs of the highest quality for adults and children, to elevate the art of the regional performing dancer to the highest level possible, to provide a medium of expression for regional choreographers, and dancers and to stimulate interest in and support of ballet and ballet schools.”

This commitment to excellence infused productions of this classic ballet and led it to be part of a long holiday tradition viewed, many years by sold out audiences. In 1977 the Nutcracker was considered the Augusta Civic Ballet’s “gift to the city” By 1991, it was not “officially” Christmas in Augusta until the Nutcracker was performed by the award-winning Augusta Ballet

Dancers for the 1969-1970 appearing in an ad for Turner Music House

While every Nutcracker production was magical, some were more magical than others. Laura Yates, 22, was touched by the magic. By 1993, she had danced in 16 productions of The Nutcracker with the Augusta Ballet. Think how high emotions must have been backstage when Ron Colton, artistic director of the Augusta Ballet for 31 years, oversaw his last production of the famous creation. Could anything be more touching then watching cancer survivor Mike Anderson, late to ballet at 43, dance in the same production as his daughter Olivia? Samantha Pope and Ted Nobles will never forget that the ballet provided the magic for their engagement as Nobles proposed to his bride on stage during the cast’s second curtain call.

However, increased competition from other troupe’s productions spread the magic around and the Augusta Ballet, beset by other troubles, gave its last production in the 2005-2006 season. The 34-year-old tradition, responsible for the development of so many Augusta dancers and the delight of so many audiences, was at an end.

As Augusta gets back to normal, restoring the power, bringing back internet connectivity and turning on the water, one comment heard from residents is that they never have seen storm damage as bad as this. The 2014 ice storm that hit Augusta last was ruled less serious than the present challenges left by Hurricane Helene. It’s no wonder that post storm we feel a little overwhelmed and fearful of the future.

Can we survive the storm? If Augusta’s history is any indication, we can! Look at the similarities our present situation has with the ancestors of our past.

Augusta has had its fair share of disasters, mostly in the form of torrential floods. Some of the more famous include 1888, 1908, 1929, and 1990. We’ll mostly look at 1929, if only because the dates almost match!

Just as the major wind event predicted for September 26-27 became so much more, folks in 1929 put their hopes in the predictions of the Augusta Bureau Weather Chief, Mr. Eugene Emigh. “There is small possibility of the hurricane moving this far inland…he was reported as saying to the Augusta Chronicle on September 27, 1929. He also had no fears for the integrity of the levee which held back the waters of the Savannah from Augusta.

But heavy rains in Northwest Georgia, a by-product of the hurricane, put the lie to these predictions. Rather than miles of downed trees and power poles, one hundred city blocks of 1929 Augusta were submerged underwater by a river which had crested at 46.3 feet

Like us, 1929 Augusta was without electrical service to homes and businesses. Telephone services were spotty to non-existent. While the crew of telephone operators fielded hundreds of local calls, downed wires cut Augusta off from much of the rest of Georgia and South Carolina though it appears the situation was quickly rectified. Present-day residents are at the mercy of cell towers rather than wires but the feelings of isolation were probably similar.

High water made for impassible roads, another parallel to our current situation as we look back to the walls of trees that blocked and in some cases still block almost every road in the area. But as soon as things cleared up a little in 1929, high school football resumed games. The Richmond Academy Musketeers faced their rivals from Lincolnton High School not long after the deluge on September 30, 1929. This brings to mind the first post-hurricane football game in the CSRA, a match-up between Evans High School and Effingham County which played on October 9, 2024.

Hopefully in our search for gasoline, we had nothing similar to 1929 though. The People’s Oil Company had overturned tanks which poured gasoline into the Savannah River rather than the waiting gas tanks of the citizens. While it took a while to restore our water, the boil water advisory erred on the side of caution, not from a need to combat similar pollution.

 And while I’m sure the 1929 first responders coped mightily, we didn’t consider using two hundred Boy Scouts for rescue work.

Travel by train, bus and automobile came to a brief standstill in 1929. In 2024 our hurricane force winds destroyed weather measuring equipment and kept planes grounded. But at least our pilots did not suffer the fate of a 1929 bus driver who carried his passengers across a stretch of water on his back.

Another similarity is the need for relief supplies. Generous friends have provided Augusta with pallets of water, first aid kits, non-perishable food, cleaning supplies, diapers, toiletries, and even pet food. This mirrors an effort after the 1908 flood – another severe disaster – to send bread, flour, meal, grits, canned goods, beef, salmon, tomatoes, condensed milk, cheese, coffee, butter, crackers, potatoes, apples, onions, vinegar, syrup, bacon, ham, sausage, blankets, quilts, hats, clothing, brooms, buckets, etc …  I’m sure there is a lot on the list that we have wanted in the last few days. At least we didn’t have to wait for our supplies to be delivered by the wagon load.

What is the lesson to draw in comparing ourselves to our ancestors? Since we’ve shared similar experiences, we can also share in the recovery they experienced.  They made it through.  We can make it through. And one day, we’ll provide stories to our descendants about the hurricane of 2024 and how we have so much in common.

Not because of the Gunpowder Plot, but because you want to attend our genealogy workshop Genealogy 101.05 Leveraging Your Library. Join us on November 5th, 2024 at 2 pm in the Headquarters Computer Lab to find out more about genealogy services that are available from your Georgia Libraries. Learn about what you can find in GALILEO, how to use a library catalog, other Georgia Heritage Room resources and much more!

Reservations are required because of limited space. Call 706-826-1511 or email genealogy@arcpls.org to reserve your spot today.

“Archivists bring the past to the present. They’re records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research.”

-Lisa Lewis, associate archivist for the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana

So why is it important to preserve a diverse array of records that chronicle the past from different points of view? In short, finding significance in the past lives of ordinary folks and value in events of seemingly less importance moves us toward a more complete historical record. It does so by including all people and places within the historical narrative. Everyone deserves to have their story told and remembered. After all, we’re all living through future historical moments and our perspectives matter. Reading first-hand accounts by ordinary folks who lived through or participated in extraordinary events like the Civil War, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement and other major events broadens our understanding of the themes and trends that drive history. Think about what our community is presently going through; an unprecedented weather event that has us all living in survival mode, just trying to get by, in shock at the devastation our city has suffered. How will this event be remembered twenty, fifty, or one hundred years from now?

In 2006, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) designated October, American Archives Month, calling on national, state, and local archives all across the country to educate the public about the purpose of archives and the important role archivists play in preserving history. According to SAA, archives and special collections are “records of enduring value that may include letters, photographs, sound recordings, books, maps, newspapers, diaries, manuscripts, and now, with the advent of the digital age, digital records.” And archivists are “professionals who are experts at managing archives and special collections and focus on collections found in universities, businesses, governments, historical societies, and public libraries.

Most of us have heard of large governmental and institutional archives like the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Library of Congress (LOC) both in Washington DC, but libraries all over Georgia also maintain smaller, unique historical collections that reveal never-told stories about our past. But at an even more local level, all of us are can be considered archivists in some way. Whether you have photo albums full of family photographs, letters written between your grandmother and grandfather during WWII, a chest of great grandmother’s vintage clothes in the attic, or a file cabinet in the study holding valuable family documents, you can choose to be the family archivist and historian. I invite you to honor Georgia Archives Month by finding some time in your busy schedules to gather and consider organizing your family papers, photographs, and other heirlooms. And to think about the best ways to preserve these items for future generations, so your family stories aren’t lost to time. Luckily, there are many online resources available to make this job easier for you!

In addition to preserving family papers and heirlooms, another great way to tell your family story is by researching your family tree. Archivists who work in public libraries are well trained as family historians and work diligently to teach the public the importance of preserving their family history. We have countless resources to assist you on your family history quest. Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) offers free resources like the hand-out below. Please click on the link below for additional resources.

Our job as archivists is not only to acquire and arrange historical collections but to also preserve these records to ensure their longevity. This is true for you as well, if you have family records, photographs, and papers that need preserving for future generations. In the months ahead, the Georgia Room will offer a special program geared towards preserving family records. All the tips and tricks known by professional archivists will be shared with you. Stay tuned for the date and time!

Lamar Garrard, a graduate of Richmond Academy and Georgia Southern has long been a passionate student of baseball history. His current exhibit at the Georgia Heritage Room at the main library is entitled: “AUGUSTA’S WORLD SERIES STARS.” As we approach the World Series season, it is timely that we celebrate ball players that have played for Augusta and participated in the World Series.

Garrard in his pursuit of the history of these players has uncovered some interesting facts and antidotes about 35 players who once roamed the ball parks in Augusta, Warren Park, Municipal Stadium (known as Jennings Stadium), Lake Olmstead Stadium and SRP Park.

Did you know that one of Augusta’s catchers was the catcher for Babe Ruth in two victorious games as the Boston Red Sox bested the Chicago Cubs four games to two in the 1918 World Series? Would you have guessed that a former Richmond Academy player and player for the Augusta Electricians was the winning manager in the 1914 World Series earning him the nickname of “Miracle Man.”

Are you aware that Ty Cobb who played for Augusta in 1904 and ’05 was in three losing efforts and never won a World Series. What about a New Jersey native who came to Augusta to play for the Augusta Tigers and lived in Augusta the rest of his life, because he married an Augusta native. Add to his credentials that he played 3rd base on four NY Yankees World Championship teams.

One of the Augusta Pirates players who was on the Florida Marlins 1997 World Series Championship team had a father and his dad’s two brothers who were all major leaguers.

Consider that two Augusta GreenJacket players were on three World Championship teams with the San Francisco Giants and spent time here at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

These are just a few of the many interesting facts that are emphasized in this exhibit. There are many baseball cards, photos, programs, signed baseballs, books, etc. to catch the eye.

Mr. Garrard writes a baseball newspaper column for 5 area towns that includes:
Washington and Lincolnton, GA. McCormick, Edgefield and Greenwood, S.C.
He has also written articles for the AUGUSTA MAGAZINE and the COLUMBIA COUNTY MAGAZINE. He speaks to civic clubs, churches, schools and historical societies about Baseball History. His favorite talk subject is about the heroic generation of ballplayers that took part in WWII.

Staff of the Georgia Room sends a big thank you to Mr. Garrard for writing this blog post and for displaying so many items from his vast baseball collection over the last seven years. That’s right folks, this is the seventh baseball exhibit hosted by the Georgia Room. Thank you Lamar!

On July 4^th, our thoughts turn most naturally to the Declaration of Independence. We need to stop as well to contemplate another of our founding documents, the Constitution of the United States.

Setting out the forms and functions of our republic, the Constitution stands as one of the hallmarks of liberty and just governance.

Constitution Week (September 17^th – September 23^rd) draws our attention to this and other issues, and is celebrated by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). This important commemoration was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 2, 1956 to celebrate the creation of this significant document.

Member of the Augusta DAR chapter have installed a display in the Georgia Room to highlight this important week. It is part of a continuing mission to educate the public about the significance of the Constitution. We encourage you to pay a visit to the Georgia Room to view the display which will be up until the end of September.

The purpose of the display is to remind us of three important points.

• Emphasize citizen’s responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution.
•  Inform people that the Constitution is the basis for America’s great heritage and the foundation for our way of life.  
• Encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787.

A visit to your local library can provide you with resources to encourage the study of associated historical events. You can look at all sides of the present debate. Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May to September 1787 and Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution are just two examples of the resources available for study through your local library branch of the Augusta-Richmond County Library System. Consult our library catalog to locate resources of interest to you at arcpls.org. or ask your library staff for assistance in locating relevant material.

Register now for the Georgia Room’s upcoming genealogy program presented by Greenblatt Library’s curator Renee Sharrock. Learn how to locate and use medical records to uncover clues about deceased loved ones. Genealogy databases like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org are great for finding census records as well as birth, marriage and death records, but medical records can provide an additional avenue of inquiry when researching your ancestors, especially for those curious about how disease and illness travel along family lines.

Greenblatt Library at Augusta University preserves historical collections related to the history of the Medical College of Georgia, including medical artifacts, documents, manuscripts, and campus publications. Renee Sharrock manages the collections and assists family historians searching for information about ancestors with Augusta connections, particularly with regard to Augusta’s medical history.

The program is scheduled for Saturday, September 28th at 11:00 am. Registration is required, as seating is limited. Please call 706-826-1511 or email genealogy@arcpls.org to register.

In 2005, the Augusta Public Library received an unexpected but significant donation from local genealogist and author, Gloria Ramsey Lucas. The donation comprised nearly 300 funeral programs of extended family and friends that her aunt Eula Mae Ramsey Johnson had collected over her lifetime. An avid genealogist and former president of the Augusta Genealogical Society, Ms. Lucas is known for her award-winning work, Slave Records of Edgefield County, an exhaustively researched index listing slaves and slaveholders in Edgefield County, South Carolina gleaned from probate, property, and tax records. The book is a boon to family history researchers with enslaved ancestors in South Carolina.

Understanding the challenges and brick walls many African Americans face when researching the lives of their ancestors, Gloria Lucas knew that funeral programs could provide valuable clues. While traditional genealogy records like birth, marriage, and death certificates give us critical information in terms of dates and locations, funeral programs paint a more personal picture of our deceased loved ones. We learn about a person’s relationships, community or religious ties, social circles they traveled in, churches they attended, as well as occupational information, and interests and hobbies. Sometimes the obituary found in a funeral program is the only biographical information that exists for a person, giving them an added significance.

Shown here are two images from the full-color program of Deacon Willie Murray, better known as Mickey Murray who grew up in North Augusta and went on to become one of the nation’s top soul singers in the 1960s. Mickey Murray’s recording of Otis Redding’s, Shout Bamalama in 1967, sold over one million copies and propelled him to stardom. While this program chronicles the life of a well known musician, the majority of the funeral programs in the library’s collection document the lives of lesser known folks who led equally remarkable lives. What comes to mind as one reads through the obituaries is how deeply personal they are, how they offer a window into the hopes and dreams of that individual, their many accomplishments over a lifetime, and how they are remembered by loved ones.

Family members searching for clues about Cordia Ruth Moore’s life would be delighted at the details given in her funeral program. Like most programs, we learn when and where she was born, who her parents are, who she married, the names of her children, and her many grandchildren. But, Cordia’s beautifully written obituary also tells us her many hobbies, among them, horseback riding, candle and soap making, and gardening. We are also given her religious affiliations, educational history, and membership in organizations. While knowing a loved ones birth, marriage, and death dates as well as locations of these events is important, it’s the personal details that reveal the richness of their lives, and connect them with our own.

The two earliest programs in the library’s collection are of Lucy Craft Laney, founder and principle of Haines Normal and Industrial School, and the program of a woman who was born a slave and died at 113 years of age. Both programs contain valuable information about these two women. They also offer insight into the time period in which they were created. Examining several different funeral programs from a specific time period can reveal historical themes and trends, making them not only important for genealogical research, but a valuable primary source for historians as well. For example, Ms. Laney’s program lists other important figures in Augusta at the time of her death (1933) who were active in the political, educational, and religious arenas of Augusta’s African American community.

Unfortunately, funeral programs can be hard to find, tucked away and sometimes scattered in personal collections or at local churches and funeral homes. Over the last twenty years however, libraries throughout Georgia have been inspired by the Augusta Public Library Funeral Program Collection-believed to be the first of its kind- to build their own collections. Tamika Strong at the Auburn Avenue Research Library has played an integral role in building their collection from the ground up. After reading an article written in 2009 by Dottie Demarest-former Local History Librarian of Augusta Public Library- in the Georgia Library Quarterly about the funeral program collection, Ms. Strong stated, “if Augusta can do it, so could Atlanta.” To date, Auburn Avenue has amassed over 3,000 funeral programs. Other libraries in Georgia with growing collections are, Thomas County Public Library System and Moultree-Colquitt County Library System.

Each above funeral program collection, including the Augusta Public Library collection can be found in the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG). The DLG partners and provides funding to libraries throughout Georgia to have their archival collections digitized and made freely available to a wider audience. Follow the links below to learn more about these collections.

The Augusta Public Library depends on the local community to donate funeral programs to our collection. The programs are housed in the Georgia Heritage Room on the third floor of the headquarters library at 823 Telfair Street. We currently have around 4,000 of which about 3,600 have been digitized. Corey Rogers, Director of the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, and Diversity Scholar, Joyce G. D. Law have been instrumental in building the library’s collection and have our gratitude. Please consider donating. If you wish to keep your programs, Georgia Room staff will happily make copies and return the originals. To contact us, please call 706-826-1511 or email Tina Monaco at monacot@arcpls.org.

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/dlg_fpro?f%5Bprovenance_facet%5D%5B%5D=Augusta-Richmond+County+Public+Library

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/aarl_afpc?f%5Bprovenance_facet%5D%5B%5D=Auburn+Avenue+Research+Library+on+African-American+Culture+and+History

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/zhu_funprg?f%5Bprovenance_facet%5D%5B%5D=Thomas+County+Public+Library+System+%28Thomasville%2C+Ga.%29

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/zgz_zgz-aafp?f%5Bprovenance_facet%5D%5B%5D=Moultrie-Colquitt+County+Library+System

The Georgia Room is pleased to hold two manuscripts by the prolific, popular author Edison Marshall, the original draft of West With The Vikings as well as an editor’s copy of the same work. We’ve set up an exhibit on it, and we invite you to visit and take a look. 

Despite being born in Rensselaer Indiana in 1894, by virtue of marriage to Agnes Sharpe Flythe and calling Augusta home from the 1920s until his death on October 29, 1967 Augusta laid claim to Edison Marshall. And Marshall laid claim to Augusta.  Marshall was a figure in its cultural life, as a member of the Augusta Authors’ Club.  He was constantly in the public eye serving on local commissions or as a speaker at local clubs and charity events.  And his entertainments and gatherings at his home Breetholm were sure to be a snippet in the society news column.

 Augusta didn’t mind being associated with success either. Marshall was worth claiming as a resident.

Marshall had published works in almost every conceivable genre. First writing short stories and serialized articles, Marshall branched out into historical novels.  While these were the mainstay of his work, he also had a science fiction novel and screenwriting credits to add to his writing resume. Marshall turned his hand to so many genres and so many titles, because as he put it, “I write to be read.”

As a popular author, by 1964, Marshall’s books reached sales of 10 million in hardback alone and were translated into eight languages. Several of his titles, among them Benjamin Blake, Yankee Pasha and The Viking – not to be confused with West with the Vikings – were made into blockbuster movies with some of the most popular stars of the day.

So, why did the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library end up with the original manuscript of West With The Vikings?

The donation was part of a project proposed by a past president of the library board of directors, Rabbi Norman Goldberg. Goldberg hoped that the Augusta Public Library would come to house more manuscripts by Augusta authors resulting in a large collection. At the board meeting held in February of 1962, Goldberg announced Marshall’s intention of donating several of his manuscripts to the Augusta Public Library. The manuscript of West With The Vikings was considered the inaugural deposit and the celebration accompanying its donation was titled, “Foundation Day of Richmond County-Augusta Library’s Collection of Original Manuscripts.” At this celebration, the manuscript was presented to the library on April 20, 1962.

The Augusta Chronicle, in an article published on August 11, 1962, mentioned that the University of Oregon, considered Marshall’s alma mater, had approached Marshall over the donation of his personal papers and manuscripts to that institution. The paper reported Marshall as saying he could only comply with part of the request since his present and future manuscripts were committed to the Augusta Public Library.

And yet, the Georgia Room has only West With The Vikings in its collection. By Marshall’s death on October 29^th, 1967, no further deposits had been made. Who knows where the breakdown in the gifting process occurred.

Could Marshall have done more to safeguard his intent to give other materials to the Augusta Public Library? A public declaration wasn’t enough to secure this. One thing Marshall should have done was to leave a formal deed of gift to the library. A deed of gift would have guaranteed that the relationship between Marshall, the library, and the items he wished to donate would have been preserved.  

Have you, like Edison Marshall, considered leaving material that could be historically significant to a library or archives? What could you do to make this happen?

A good first step is to read through these two brochures by the Society of American Archivists:

Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/donating-familyrecs

A Guide to Deeds of Gift https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/deeds-of-gift

If you decide to donate your materials, consider making the Georgia Room your first stop for more information.  We are happy to talk over the donation potential of your collections and whether our repository is the most logical one to house them. We only ask that you call 706-826-1511 to arrange for a visit so we can give your donation the attention it deserves