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Library Newsletter Spring 2003 In This Issue:
This issue has a decidedly historical theme! The first installment of the "History of Libraries" by Amy Wise, Collection Development Assistant, was well received by our readers and we hope you will enjoy the concluding installment of the series. This issue's lead story by our editor, Laurie Lucas, begins another historical series, "The History of Georgia Southwestern State University", which we think will be of particular interest to our readers as we begin to prepare for GSW's Centennial in 2006. As noted in previous Director's columns, one of the Library's major Centennial projects is to develop a GSW Historical Collection to be housed in the Macy Bishop Gray Rare Books Room. We also plan to create several displays to complement the collection. The response to our request for information and materials from our readers has been gratifying. The GSW History article is illustrated by a photo taken from the first year-book, Le Resume, kindly donated to us by Mrs. Mary Ellen Redman, alumna and friend of Nelle Prance, daughter of then President and Mrs. Prance who also served as an Art instructor at the College. We recently had a wonderful visit during Homecoming with another donor, Mrs. Sandra Griffin Wardell, who presented the Library with unique memorabilia including a hand-made Nursing cap and lantern. We particularly enjoyed the scrapbook she created commemorating many of the highlights and "firsts" of the 4th Nursing class to graduate from GSW. GSW has a rich history which we hope to represent with our collections and displays. Therefore, we continue to appeal to all our kind readers for information and materials relating to GSW. Feel free to call me at (229) 931-2260 or email me at mailto:vjw@canes.gsw.edu I would love to meet and chat with you!. We are very fortunate to have and grateful for the Library's supporters whose gifts and donations enable us to enhance our collections and services.
In preparation for GSW's Centennial in 2006, we will be publishing a series of short articles about the history of Georgia Southwestern. The information is taken from Macy Bishop Gray's book, Through the Years, A Brief Informal Record of Georgia Southwestern College 1908-1957. Macy Bishop Gray was GSW's librarian from 1931 to 1966. Miss Macy's book is located in our Rare Books Room and can be checked out. The Georgia Southwestern that we know today began in 1906 as the Third District Agricultural and Mechanical School (better know as "Aggie"). A bill passed by the General Assembly of Georgia created schools of agriculture and mechanical arts in each of the 11 congressional districts of Georgia. Sumter County offered 275 acres of land along the Seaboard Airline Railroad tracks and $30,000 to have the school located just outside the city limits of Americus. The school provided training for boys and girls who were at least 13 years old. Besides the subjects taught in high schools during that time, boys were offered instruction in plant life, fertilizers, soils, mechanics, gardening, animal husbandry, wood and iron work, dairying, plumbing, steam fitting, blacksmithing, poultry, designing and constructing buildings, concrete work, rural law, home service, surveying and road building. The girls' courses included soil, fertilizers, horticulture, rural law, gardening, home science, dairying, cooking, sewing, laundering, care of the sick, life saving, first aid, millinery, household management, sanitation and home decoration. Since the school was primarily a boarding school, students were not allowed to return to their homes without written requests from their parents or guardians. The 1913 application form asked whether the applicant smoked cigarettes or used profane or obscene language. Applicants were asked if they would faithfully perform all classroom and other duties and obey the rules. Students could be suspended from school for inability or unwillingness to master their studies, irregular attendance and not obeying the rules. In 1924, normal school work was substituted for some of the agricultural and mechanical work and one year of college work was authorized by the Board of Trustees. In 1926, the General Assembly passed an act creating a teachers' college to be located in Americus. The school was named State Agricultural and Normal College and became generally known as Americus Normal College. The first school yearbook, Le Resume, was published in 1926. The 1927 Le Resume includes the graduation picture and poem of Macy Bishop Gray.
Selective List of New Titles/Acquisitions in January 2003 The Job Market of the Future The Media Equation The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights Codes and Ciphers Plain Out Good George Reading: Fried Green Tomatoes and Juliette, Georgia Traveling back to Sumter County from South Carolina, I decided to take a detour and check out Juliette, Georgia, the little town where the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed. Juliette has come back to life and is a famous tourist attraction. Its shops have been reopened and there is even an authentic outhouse complete with a moon carved out on the door. The town is fun and whimsical and the Whistle Stop Cafe serves numerous visitors. I ordered a plate of ribs, potatoes, green beans and fried tomatoes. Now, this was a fun setting, but what was more memorable was when the train blew its horn and rumbled in right next to the cafe!! I felt as if I had gone back in time to 1882 when Juliette began to grow with the coming of the railroad. Looking across the Ocmulgee River, you can see the building which was once the Juliette Milling Company, a consolidation of a cotton mill and a grist mill. Now, you may ask "What does this have to do with Library news?" Well, the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" originated from the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. She has also written other best sellers such as Welcome to the World Baby Girl; Standing in the Rainbow; and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. Her novels are just plain out good reading. If you're looking for something different to do one weekend, go and visit Juliette - be sure to take the novel, then grab a glass of tea with a slice of lemon perched on the rim from the Whistle Stop, plop down in one of those porch rockers in Juliette and enjoy the day. Juliette is located in the center of Georgia - a good day trip - enjoy!!! You can check out some of Fannie Flagg's best selling novels at the James Earl Carter Library, including Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
The growth of universities in Europe during the 12th century reflected an emergence from the Middle Ages and entry into the Renaissance, a revival of art which began in Italy about 1300. The renewed interest in learning led many aristocrats to develop private libraries. One of the world's finest libraries, the Laurentian Library, began in Florence, Italy in the 1400's. **Paper and Libraries** The Chinese invented paper by A.D. 1, though they didn't use it for writing until about A.D. 110. The art of papermaking reached Europe by 1100. It almost completely replaced parchment by 1500. During the Renaissance, the spread of education and desire for knowledge created a demand for books. Scribes could not meet the demand by hand copying. The problem was solved by the invention of printing from movable type. The Asians had known of movable type for centuries, but the ideas was not used until Europeans rediscovered it in the 1400's. Johannes Gutenberg of Germany is credited with the rediscovery. **Libraries in the United States** The oldest library in the United States dates back to 1638, when Massachusetts clergyman John Harvard donated money and about 400 books to a new university. The gift was so important that administrators promptly named the university for Harvard, and the library became the Harvard University Library. Most early colonial libraries belonged to ministers and consisted of books on religion, medicine and animals. Thomas Bray, an English clergyman, established the first free lending libraries in the American Colonies during the late 1600's. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and his friends founded the first subscription library in America, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the original collection still exists. Members of subscription libraries paid due which were used to buy books. Many changes took place in the 1800's as immigrants flocked to the United States and people turned to libraries for education and entertainment. The U.S. ideal of a free public education for every child led to a movement for public libraries. The first free tax-supported library was established in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 1833. In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution - a center devoted to research and learning - was founded in Washington, D.C. Melvil Dewey helped found the American Library Association in 1876 and published the Dewey Decimal Classification that same year. He also established the nation's first library school at Columbia University in 1887. In 1881, Andrew Carnegie gave the first of a series of gifts that made his name synonymous with public libraries. He helped build more than 2500 public libraries. One of the Carnegie Libraries was established here in Americus in 1908. The Carnegie building is located on South Jackson Street in the historic district of Americus. Although the building is no longer used for a library, it is still a grand old landmark.
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