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.