Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Carnegie Libraries of Georgia
10 Carnegie libraries in this Southern state. Divided from Florida in March, 2022.
Albany
Fun history, from Waymarking.
It began in 1906, converted to a business branch in 1966, and was replaced by a Ford Motor Company building in 1985. The replacement is currently being renovated.
This building houses the administrative offices for the Albany Arts Council and won the 1993 Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding Adaptive-Use Rehabilitation.
I think converting a Ford building was even more challenging.
Atlanta
I have to give the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Systems props for its candor. The Central building was segregated, and their pages own up to it. The African-American community was served by the Auburn Avenue branch, also a Carnegie building. Desegregation happened in 1959.
Atlanta had the Southern Library School associated with the library until it moved to Emory University. It closed in 1988.
1898 grant, built in 1900. Demolished in 1977, before its replacement in 1980.
Barnesville
1909 grant. Built in 1910 to a Whitfield and King design. It has been replaced by a far larger building, and this serves as a residence and a studio.
The 1929 Curt Teich card appears to have been used in a chain letter scheme in the late 1940s.
Dawson
1913 Carnegie grant. No longer in use as a public library, it serves as the Terrell County Historic Preservation Society.
The photo was by Miller. It seems to show some sort of damage to the fanlight over the door, as it reflects as if an insulation batt would.
Montezuma
1906 grant: no longer in use.
Published for the Montezuma Chamber of Commerce by Colorama.
Newnan
Mistakenly captioned 'Newman' on the Black & White brand card.
A late 1901 grant makes this the oldest Carnegie library in Georgia. Built in 1904, it was replaced in 1987 and beautifully renovated in 2009. Weirdly, it served another purpose in the interim, and according to its web site, is a public library once more. Actually, it's a reading room. The city calls it 'library type services.'
Like 'light beer'?
The full service library is the Newnan-Coweta Public Library.
Rome
(L) The Municipal Auditorium takes top billing on this Tichnor Quality View. The Classical Revival Type A building languishes a ways down the dirt street.
(R) Glossy card published by Rome Book Store, possibly printed by Curt Teich.
Opened in 1911. Max Meyerhardt, a prominent Jewish citizen of Rome, took the lead in obtaining the Carnegie grant.
Replaced in 1988 by the Sara Hightower Regional Library, and is now used as offices.
Savannah
Curt Teich 'American Art' card with heavily retouched trees.
Established in 1903. 1910 grant. The African-American branch was built in 1913, as the old Hodgson Hall was segregated. The library's brief history page is not very clear on the facts, but it looks as if the 1910 grant went to the segregated branch first, before the second, 1916 grant, went to the main branch.
Segregation ended in 1963.
The more detailed page glosses over the segregation part, but adds that the main library received a 1936 WPA-built addition.
Valdosta
We are getting pretty desperate, aren't we?
Once again, the library plays second fiddle on this Artvue postcard.
1912 grant. Since 1967, serves as the Valdosta-Lowndes County Museum.