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Savannah archives house extensive collection of priceless artifacts
October 22, 2009 - 11:16pm
by Chuck Mobley
Savannah Now

With records and maps dating back to the 18th-century, the City of Savannah Research Library and Municipal Archives preserves and administers a treasure trove of priceless and irreplaceable artifacts.

Its collections include city council meeting papers from 1817-1957; the Engineering Department Retrospective Maps Collection, some 3,300 maps that go as far back as 1752; and the Public Development Bureau Retrospective Plans Collection, which contains documents concerning urban renewal projects, square renovations and other development initiatives.

These records aid and inform city offices on a daily basis, said Glenda Anderson, who is the director of the library and archives. They also, she said, often take on a purpose far from their original intention.

The city's Registers of Free Persons of Color, originally set up to monitor African Americans and identify their "white guardians," now serve as an invaluable genealogical and historical record.

"Sometimes," said Anderson, "documents take on a life of their own."

At the start: This Municipal League of Georgia medallion commemorated the Aug. 11, 1904, cornerstone laying ceremony for Savannah's City Hall.

The staff: Director Glenda Anderson, at left, and archivist Luciana Spracher look at an 1820 map of Savannah. The detailed map, drawn by city surveyor John McKinnon, is a great "snapshot" of an earlier time, said Spracher. The city then ended at Liberty Street, and they were just starting to lay out new streets.

Free, to a point: The city has five separate Antebellum-era Registers of Free Persons of Color, dating back to 1817, said Anderson. This one covers 1861 to 1864. Free persons of color were expected to register each year. They had to have a white guardian, and the registration process also recorded their place of birth, residence, occupation, description and parents' names.

Weight control: These weights, which were used in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, were carried by inspectors who made sure that scales at grocery stores and butcher shops were accurate. The inspectors then left red tags as a record of their findings. This is an example, said Spracher, of records being generated by the function of the office.

On the Web: The Research Library & Municipal Archives has a far-ranging Web site that includes on-line exhibits of "World War II in Savannah," "Slavery in Savannah: Intersections with Local Government" and "Savannah Fire and Emergency Services Historical Photographs." To see far more, go to savannahga.gov/cityweb/RLibCat.nsf.

Contact information: The office is open to the public, but appointments are necessary for research and reference requests. The phone number is 912-651-6412. The E-mail addresses are Ganderson@savannahga.gov and Lspracher@savannahga.gov.