Story
Author of Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Revised and Updated Virginia Willis shares a delicious recipe with us in anticipation of her upcoming Author Talk on October 15.
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Story
Author of Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Revised and Updated Virginia Willis shares a delicious recipe with us in anticipation of her upcoming Author Talk on October 15.
Story
Party with the Past is a program series that travels to historic sites around the city. On Wednesday, September 18th, we head to Concordia Hall in Downtown Atlanta. This event features a temporary exhibit that dives into the history of the rest of the neighborhood, walking tours, and more.
Curated Experiences
Learn about architect Philip Shutze, and dive deep into his collection of Chinese imports featuring many pieces of porcelain and ceramics.
Story
An East Point institution, Atlanta Utility Works is a machine shop turned event space that has served the Tri-Cities area for over a century. To get you ready for Party with the Past, we uncovered the history of Atlanta Utility Works and its role in the community that surrounded it.
Projects & Initiatives
School Tours
Learn about how hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics shaped the city of Atlanta.
Story
The Ramblin’ Raft Race remains a memory for those who experienced its highs and lows. It was an event that captured the exuberance and excess of an era. Though it ended more than 40 years ago, the stories and legends of the raft race continue to float down the Chattahoochee, echoing the laughter and excitement of a bygone time.
Story
Party with the Past is a program series that travels to historic sites around the city. On Wednesday, May 15th, we head to Pullman Yards in Kirkwood. Learn about the history of the site and the role it has played in Atlanta for the past century.
Story
George “Ed” Merritt’s life encapsulates a journey from the racial violence of early 20th century Georgia to becoming a local civil rights champion in Buford. Born in 1913, after his family fled racial terror in Forsyth County, Merritt served in the U.S. Army during World War II and later became a community leader. His political career peaked when he was elected to the Buford School Board in 1973, reflecting the broader struggle for civil rights in Georgia. Merritt’s legacy, highlighted by his advocacy for voting and education, endures in Buford, where a street now bears his name.
Story
In 1962, a plane crash at Orly Field in Paris claimed the lives of more than 100 Atlantans, leaving a deep scar on the city’s cultural fabric. Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., personally affected and burdened with responsibility, navigated the aftermath, ensuring the respectful return of the deceased. The tragedy unified Atlanta, inspiring donations for a memorial arts center, despite the irreplaceable loss and enduring grief experienced by the community and the victims’ families.
Story
Street names offer insights into a city’s history and its evolving perceptions of past figures. In Atlanta, Lindbergh Drive is named after Charles Lindbergh, an American aviation pioneer who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic. Lindbergh’s achievements made him an international hero, but his later controversial affiliations and remarks led to significant public criticism. Many places that bore his name in the U.S. have since been renamed due to changing public sentiments.
Story
Atlanta History Center Archives have been awarded a $137,554 Archival Projects Grant from NHPRC to rehouse, arrange, and create publicly accessible finding aids for archival collections that document populations and land use in and around Atlanta. The collections are, the Atlanta Department of City Planning, Atlanta Urban Design Commission, and Atlanta Real Estate Board appraisals. These collections are important to understanding the impacts of segregation and redlining on Black Atlantans especially, and will fill several gaps in historic property research.
Originals
The Atlanta Prison Farm operated from the mid-1920s-mid-1990s. Today, a portion of the site is under construction for a new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, while another portion of the site, which contains the remains of some Prison Farm buildings, resides on what the City of Atlanta is proposing as parkland. Atlanta History Center prepared this report to assist the Visioning, Memorializing, and Repurposing the former Atlanta Prison Farm Site subcommittee of the South River Forest and Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force.