Regional History

Community Archives, Digitization, Access, and Preservation Partnership

Together we can preserve and document the rich history of South Georgia by digitizing a portion of your holdings, making them available through online repositories at the Valdosta, state, and national levels, and providing long-term security with digital items preserved in a state-of-the-art digital preservation system. Your materials stay in their local homes for community access but will be widely available. You will be able to tell the stories of our area to a national audience. For more information click here: https://archives.valdosta.edu/online_exhibits/community-archives/index.html

Regional History: Valdosta State Graduate School Theses and Dissertations

"Almost Too Terrible to Believe": The Camilla Georgia Race Riot and Massacre,  September 1868," by Joshua Butler.

Camilla, Georgia, became the site of a racially motivated political riot on Saturday, September 19, 1868. Determined to promote political and social reform with an organized rally, at least 150 freedmen, along with Republican political candidates, advanced toward the town’s courthouse square. Local citizens warned the black and white activists of the impending violence and demanded that they forfeit their guns, even though carrying weapons was customary at the time. The marchers refused to give up their guns and continued to the courthouse square, where local whites fired upon them. This assault forced the Republicans and freedmen to retreat as locals gave chase, killing an estimated fifteen protestors and wounding forty others. 

"Portraits of the Past-Perspectives for the Present: Segregated and Desegregated Schools in Early County, Georgia, 1960-1981," by Charla Houston Allen.

American public school resegregation is a rarely discussed reality, as are the origins and effects of desegregated public schools. This qualitative portraiture study examined segregated and desegregated public schools in rural Early County, Georgia, from 1960-1981 to give a more complete accounting of the time.

"From Faith To Faith: The Rise and Spread of Catholicism in Georgia, 1732-1832," by Matthew Blake Strickland

The research holes of other historians reside in the fact that the Catholic story has been neglected in discussions of Georgia religion. There have been many neglected points made about Catholics in Georgia during the era of the early republic when there is ample source material to appropriately discuss this group of Christians.

"The "Gold Standard" of the Wiregrass Primitive Baptists of Georgia: A History of the Crawford Faction of the Alabaha River Primitive Baptist Association, 1842-2007," by Michael Holt.

The study of Primitive Baptists to date has focused primarily on the origins of the denomination in the 1830's. However, few works trace the subsequent development of the group. The object of this study was to examine the origins and development of a single Primitive Baptist Association and interpret their meaning in relation to the Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass Region of Georgia as a whole.

"The Politics of Race and Class and the Development of Public Education in Georgia: A Qualitative Study of Retired African American Teachers' Perspectives on Schooling From 1930 to 1970," by Melvin Anthony Shelton.

This dissertation is a qualitative study that chronicles the development of public schooling in Georgia and uses interviews to focus on the perspectives and meaning that 11 retired African American public school teachers associated with their experiences as teachers and students between 1930 and 1970. A tape recorder and field notes were used to record the interviews. The participants' stories were transcribed and reconstructed into portraits.

"Georgia Women Writers: A Narrative Study of Professional Georgia Women Writers to Determine Implications for Educational Change," by
Ragan-Martin, Wilma Maudrene Bronwyn

By examining the lives of successful women writers from South Georgia, I have been able to discover patterns in their lives that encouraged these women to become writers. By using life story interviews and narrative inquiry, I was able to determine specific implications for educational change. These factors can be examined at school and at home to encourage both girls and boys to become more confident in their writing ability. In addition, all three writers gave generous suggestions to help with the teaching of writing. Three life story interviews of published women writers from South Georgia were completed. The transcripts were examined and analyzed in order to discover patterns in the lives of these women.

The VSU Archives would like to encourage and promote local historical research. To this end, Graduate and Undergraduate Student papers relating to Lowndes County, South Georgia, and Georgia history will be posted here. If you are interested in publishing regional research on our website, please contact us.

Valdosta State History Research Links

An incomplete sketch of the people, places, and historic events of Ray City, Georgia. A local history project of the Ray City Community Library.

Vanishing Georgia

"Vanishing Georgia comprises nearly 18,000 photographs. Ranging from daguerreotypes to Kodachrome prints, the images span over 100 years of Georgia history. The broad subject matter of these photographs, shot by both amateurs and professionals, includes, but is not limited to, family and business life, street scenes and architecture, agriculture, school and civic activities, important individuals and events in Georgia history, and landscapes."

Vanishing South Georgia

"Vanishing South Georgia exists primarily to bring attention to the myriad forms of vernacular architecture once common throughout the region. Many of these structures were built during the sharecropping and tenant farming eras, and as a result have long ago been abandoned."  - Brain Brown

Huxford-Spear Genealogical Society and Library

The Huxford-Spear Genealogical Society, of Homerville,  features the Wiregrass Georgia Pioneer Surnames and Genealogies index.

Ancient Civilizations of Georgia

LostWorlds.org is an online interactive museum devoted to educating the public about the prehistoric indigenous civilizations that existed throughout the Americas utilizing advanced internet technologies such as streaming video documentaries, 3D computer animated reconstructions, Quicktime VR and more.

Georgia Indians

Georgiainfo@galileo from the University of Georgia. Features links to Native Georgian resources.

• Cherokee Indians 
• Yamacraw Indians
• Creek Indians
• Westo Indians

Altamaha River Keepers

The Altamaha Riverkeeper is a grassroots organization dedicated to the protection, defense and restoration of Georgia’s biggest river---the Altamaha--- including its tributaries the Ocmulgee, the Oconee and the Ohoopee.

Berrien County Historical Photo Collection 

 Official Historical Photos Project of the Berrien Historical Foundation

Georgia Museum of Agriculture

Georgia’s Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village opened as the Agrirama on July 4, 1976. The grounds consist of five areas: a traditional farm community of the 1870s, an 1890s progressive farmstead, an industrial sites complex, rural town, national peanut complex, and the Museum of Agriculture Center. Over 35 structures have been relocated to the 95-acre site and faithfully restored or preserved. Costumed interpreters explain and demonstrate the life-style and activities of this time in Georgia’s history.

Georgia Southern Museum

The Georgia Southern Museum where collections, exhibits, and programming interpret the natural and cultural history of Georgia’s coastal plain and the exciting research and work taking place at Georgia Southern University.

Hazlehurst-Jeff Davis Co, History

Liberty County Historical Society

Old Jacksonville, Georgia - Where History Lives

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Swampland Cultures: Georgia

Vernacular Georgia

Most of the historic buildings in Georgia—in its cities, small towns, and rural countryside—are vernacular in character. Vernacular architecture can be difficult to define and is often characterized by what it is not: it is not high-style design created by professional architects and based on academic or theoretical principles. Rather, it is the skill of traditional building construction passed from one generation of builders to the next in a practical hands-on way through the use of materials, form, and ornamentation.

Midway Museum

The Midway Museum is the home to a prodigious collection of heirloom furnishings, paintings, artifacts and historical documents as well as genealogical books of reference that many prominent families and their ancestors donated from the colonial period.

Southern Forests for the Future

A resource featuring highly detailed maps of Southern forest, urbanization, and other data-set based maps.