Augusta Public Library Local History and Genealogy

Here is just a snippet of the interview with Butterfly McQueen. At this time (and I hope that changes) we only have one copy of the interview and it is in terrible condition. I appologize for the background hum which is on the tape itself. Gary Swint, who is now director of our library system, interviewed Ms. McQueen in December of 1989.

If there is demand, I will record the entire interview or digitize other oral history interviews. Enjoy!

http://genealogy.ecgrl.org/audio/butterfly_mcqueen.mp3

Books aren’t the only thing we have in our Georgia Room collection. We have interviews on audio tape which were part of an oral history project the Augusta Public Library conducted in the mid-seventies. There are also 15 slim books of transcripts that were taken from the interviews. The subjects range from the history of Paine College, the founding of Hepzibah, reminiscences of the last surviving fireman from the big 1916 fire, and Butterfly McQueen’s memories of her early life in Augusta among other things.

Not all of the interviews are transcribed however. There are more than a dozen interviews that remain in tape format, including one that is on reel to reel tape. It is an interview of Bill Wall about the Augusta National. We don’t have a tape player any more that can play it. The other interviews are on cassette tape and have never been transcribed. Some are not in good shape.  We want to transfer the interviews to a digital format so that the public can listen to them and are considering applying for a grant to do it.