Through a small, but dedicated team, the Municipal Archives in recent years has made great strides to seek out the stories and collections of Savannah’s residents and communities that have been previously overlooked and under-represented in the City’s archival collections and written histories. The Archives strives to help preserve a more complete and inclusive history of Savannah and ensure its availability for our current and future generations.

The Municipal Archives:

• Collects, manages, preserves, and makes accessible records documenting the City of Savannah’s history.
• Administers the records management program and the City Records Center to increase the efficiency of City agencies.
• Shares the City’s history with City employees, citizens, and visitors through outreach activities.

Assisted by a rotation of excellent project and grant archivists, college interns, community volunteers, and community partners, a series of programs and projects have helped to push these efforts forward slowly but surely, including the Municipal Slavery Project, the Proud Savannah History Project, the Savannah Community Memory Project, and most recently the “Jim Crow in Savannah’s Parks” online exhibit completed by Jeffrey Ofgang, an intern from Georgia Southern University’s Public History program. As highlighted on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Political Rewind, this exhibit is “an incredibly fascinating and really educational project … To have this forgotten history of Savannah come out in an incredibly engaging visual illustration of how white leaders from the nineteen teens, twenties, thirties, all the way up through the sixties were really pushing an intentional policy of segregation in city parks and city recreational facilities is eye-opening, it’s sobering, and it reminds us that all that history will repeat itself unless we know our history better.” This exhibit highlights the wealth of resources preserved in the Municipal Archives and available for the public to research, as well as the complicated history staff are working to share with our community.

Approval

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