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Archives Alive!
Archives Alive! are archives orientation sessions targeting youth grades 1-12 in order to introduce them to using primary sources. The programs are designed for teachers who would like to bring their students into City Hall for a field trip, would like to schedule for a City archivist to conduct the program in the classroom, or teachers can use the materials on their own. Visit the Archives Alive! site for a full listing of programs and for more information.
Municipal Archives Orientations
The Municipal Archives offers archival research orientations for high school and college-level classes, student groups, and other adult groups. Participants will learn what the Municipal Archives has to offer and how to utilize those resources, as well as having a hands-on session with highlights from the collections. Orientations last approximately 1.5 hours and can accommodate 5 to 15 participants at a time. Orientations may be tailored to the specific research interests of each group. To schedule an orientation, please contact the Archivist at (912) 651-6412 or email Archives@savannahga.gov.
The Online Archives Orientation (narrated video) is available for individuals and groups who need an orientation but cannot schedule one before coming in to use the Municipal Archives. The presentation’s slides are also available for download as a PDF or PowerPoint.
Hungry for History Lectures
The Municipal Archives hosts local history lectures for City employees and citizens to encourage a greater understanding of the community we serve and live in. We often record these lectures so they can be reviewed by employees and shared with citizens. The following links will take you to the recordings available through YouTube.
Highlighted Programs:
- Savannah Museums through the lens of the Municipal Archives; A Virtual Super Museum Sunday Tour, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: April 2021)
- Discovering, Preserving & Documenting Savannah’s Irish History: a case study in municipal archives, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: March 2021)
- Water Flows through the Canal District's History, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: February 2021)
Architecture, Neighborhoods, and Urban Planning
- A Birds-eye Chat from the Roof of City Hall, Presenter: Jonathan E. Stalcup, Architectural Historian and Owner of Architectural Tours of Savannah, with Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: January 2021)
- Water Flows through the Canal District's History, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: February 2021)
- Pine Gardens and Mid-Twentieth-Century Savannah, Presenter: E. G. Daves Rossell, Ph.D., Professor of Architectural History, Savannah College of Art & Design (Recorded: August 2020)
- Tracing Savannah’s Cemeteries, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: June 2020)
- Savannah City Hall Architectural Tour, Presenter: Dr. Robin B. Williams, Chair of Architectural History, Savannah College of Art & Design (Recorded March 2020, part of Dr. Williams "Urban Traces" series)
- What Makes Savannah Unique: The Oglethorpe Plan, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: April 2020)
- Atomic Ranch! Mid-Century Subdivision Development in Oglethorpe’s Colonial Capital, Speaker: Robert A. Ciucevich, principal of Quatrefoil Historic Preservation Consulting (Recorded: November 20, 2019)
- John Norris: Savannah’s Mid-Nineteenth Century Architect, Presenter: Tania Sammons, writer, curator, and museum specialist (Recorded: December 12, 2018)
- Maps, Surveys, and Plans, Oh My!, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: October 18, 2018)
- Hyman Wallace Witcover: Snapshots of an Architect, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: September 28, 2018)
- Savannah - An Everchanging City, Presenter: Bill Durrence, Photographer (Recorded: August 21, 2018)
- William Gibbons Preston: A Boston Architect’s Imprint on Savannah, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: June 28, 2018)
- Charles Cluskey, Savannah’s resident Greek Revival style architect, Presenter: Beth L. Reiter, owner of Savannah ArchiTours, specializing in history, preservation and architecture (Recorded: May 17, 2017)
- Colonial Park Cemetery Tour, Presenter: Charlotte Landon, program guide at Massie Heritage Center (Recorded: May 9, 2017)
- Savannah Cotton Exchange Tour, Photography: Sam Beetler, Conservation Coordinator, City of Savannah, Department of Cemeteries, Tour Guide: E. Rick Willis, Secretary, Solomon’s Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M. (Photographed: March 23, 2017)
- William Jay: Savannah’s "Friend to the Fine Arts", Presenter: Tania Sammons, Savannah-based curator and writer (Recorded: January 31, 2017)
- Savannah: Square by Square, Presenter: Michael Jordan, local historian, author and film-maker (Recorded: March 24, 2016)
Art, Film, Literature, and Music
- Savannah Museums through the lens of the Municipal Archives; A Virtual Super Museum Sunday Tour, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: April 2021)
- Virginia Jackson Kiah: A Notable Savannah Woman, Presenter: Dr. Deborah Johnson-Simon, Museum Anthropologist and Founder/CEO African Diaspora Museology Institute (Recorded: August 4, 2020)
- Law’s Murphys: Preserving Savannah through Art, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: June 2020)
- A Love Letter to Savannah: City Views and Street Scenes by Christopher Murphy, Jr., Speaker: Courtney McNeil (Recorded: February 26, 2020)
- Savannah Jazz: A Panel Discussion on the History of Jazz in Savannah, Panelists: Dr. Thomas J. “Teddy” Adams; Mr. Theron A. “Ike” Carter; Dr. Charles J. Elmore; and Ms. Huxsie Scott, Moderater: Dr. Otis S. Johnson (Recorded: November 7, 2019)
- Conrad Aiken: Savannah’s 20th Century Literary Giant, Presenter: Orlando Montoya, radio host, writer and historical tour guide (Recorded: June 11, 2019)
- Beyond the Live Oaks and Spanish Moss: Art in Savannah, 1920-1960, Presenter: Courtney McNeil, Chief Curator/Deputy Director Curatorial Affairs at Telfair Museums (Recorded: April 1, 2019)
- Savannah - An Everchanging City, Presenter: Bill Durrence, Photographer (Recorded: August 21, 2018)
- Savannah’s Literary Legacy, Presenter: Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center of Senior Citizens, Inc. (Recorded: July 30, 2018)
- Before and After Midnight: The Art of Bonaventure Cemetery, Presenters: Harry DeLorme, Jr., Curator, and Susan Laney, Curator (Recorded: May 15, 2018)
- The History of Film in Savannah, Presenters: Lacy Brooks, Historian, and Becky Rowden, Attorney (Recorded: April 11, 2018)
Government and Politics
- Going Viral! Spanish Flu to COVID-19: A History of Influenza in Savannah, Presenter: Kelly Zacovic, Archivist, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: May 2020)
- Five Years That Changed Savannah Forever: Reflecting on the Civil Rights Movement through the W. W. Law Photograph Collection, A Conversation with Dr. Otis S. Johnson, former Mayor of Savannah and Guest Curator of the exhibit "Five Years That Changed Savannah Forever..." (Recorded: November 21, 2019)
- Tomochichi: Friend and Ally of the Georgia Colony, Presenter: Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center, Senior Citizens, Inc. (Recorded: August 5, 2019)
- Dreadful Pestilence: Telling the Story of Savannah’s Yellow Fever, Presenter: Jamie Credle, Director Davenport House Museum (Recorded: February 13, 2019)
- Commemorating Tomochichi in Savannah, Presenter: Dr. Robin B. Williams, chair of the Architectural History Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Recorded: April 26, 2017)
- The Wexford-Savannah Axis: Reconnecting Savannah to its Irish Roots, Presenter: Brittany Sealey, researcher for the Wexford-Savannah Axis, Center for Irish Research & Teaching, Georgia Southern University (Recorded: September 30, 2016)
- Mayor Malcolm R. Maclean: Servant Leader, Presenter: Wade Herring, attorney and Maclean mentee (Recorded: 5/11/2016)
- The State of Chatham: Savannah’s Wet Romp through Prohibition, Presenter: Dr. Lisa Denmark, associate professor of history at Georgia Southern University (Recorded: 2/26/2016)
- Remembering Herman Myers: Political Boss or City Father?, Presenter: Dr. Lauren Acker, Department of History & Geography, Georgia College & State University (Recorded: 9/11/2015)
- Olgethorpe’s England, Presenter: Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center at Senior Citizens, Inc. (Recorded: 8/26/2014)
Military History
- Poppies and More: Remembering the Great War, Presenter: Kelly Zacovic, Archivist, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: November 8, 2018)
- World War I Centennial Series: Remembering the Great War, Presenter: Britni Delinger, Kelly Zacovic, and Luciana Spracher, City of Savannah, Municipal Archives (Recorded: March 14, 2018)
- World War I Centennial Series: The German Hun in the Georgia Sun, Enemy Aliens in WWI Georgia, Presenter: Leisa Vaughn, Historian (Recorded: July 28, 2017)
- World War I Centennial Series: The World’s War is Georgia’s War, 1917-1919, Presenter: Brittany Sealer, Curator and Historian (Recorded: June 16, 2017)
- The City of Savannah’s City of Savannah, Presenter: Jerry McLaughlin, Project Manager for the restoration of the WWII B-17 City of Savannah (Recorded: December 5, 2016)
- The Urban Legacy of the Volunteer Militias in Savannah’s Bull Street Corridor, Presenter: Dr. Karl F. Schuler, professor of architectural history at Savannah College of Art & Design (Recorded: July 15, 2016)
Transportation
- Henry Plant: 19th Century Visionary, the Plant System, and Savannah, Speaker: Heather Trubee Brown, Curator of Education Henry B. Plant Museum (Recorded: October 10, 2019)
- The Story of the Steamship Savannah, as told by Captain Moses Rogers, Presenter: Bobby Hughes, Interpreter, Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum (Recorded: May 14, 2019)
- "But what a pretty thing a Rail Road is! – We must have one of our own – positively!": the Origins of the Central of Georgia Railroad, Presenter: Dr. Lisa Denmark, professor of history at Georgia Southern University (Recorded: February 27, 2017
- The City of Savannah’s City of Savannah, Presenter: Jerry McLaughlin, Project Manager for the restoration of the WWII B-17 City of Savannah (Recorded: December 5, 2016)
Slavery, Indigenous Populations, and Immigration
- Discovering, Preserving & Documenting Savannah’s Irish History: a case study in municipal archives, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: March 2021)
- Water Flows through the Canal District's History, Presenter: Luciana Spracher, Director, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: February 2021)
- Savannah’s Archaeology: The History of People Overlooked in History, Presenter: Rita Elliott, Education Coordinator and Research Associate with The LAMAR Institute (Recorded: November 2020)
- Snapshots from the Archives, Presenters: Luciana Spracher, Municipal Archives Director, and Kelly Zacovic, Archivist, City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: October 2020)
- Indigo Past to Present: Ossabaw Island and Colonial Georgia 1760-1782, Speaker: Elizabeth DuBose, Executive Director Ossabaw Island Foundation (Recorded: September 17, 2019)
- Tomochichi: Friend and Ally of the Georgia Colony, Presenter: Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center, Senior Citizens, Inc. (Recorded: August 5, 2019)
- Commemorating Tomochichi in Savannah, Presenter: Dr. Robin B. Williams, chair of the Architectural History Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Recorded: April 26, 2017)
- The Wexford-Savannah Axis: Reconnecting Savannah to its Irish Roots, Presenter: Brittany Sealey, researcher for the Wexford-Savannah Axis, Center for Irish Research & Teaching, Georgia Southern University (Recorded: September 30, 2016)
- Early 19th Century Urban Slavery in a Mechanic’s Household in Savannah, GA, Presenter: Jamie Credle, director of the Davenport House Museum (Recorded: August 31, 2016)
Women’s History
- Virginia Jackson Kiah: A Notable Savannah Woman, Presenter: Dr. Deborah Johnson-Simon, Museum Anthropologist and Founder/CEO African Diaspora Museology Institute (Recorded: August 4, 2020)
- Flora Butler Abbott Sengstacke; From Slavery to the Chicago Defender, Speaker: Martha Keber, historian (Recorded: January 22, 2020)
- Painting a Portrait, Growing a Legacy: Interpreting the Life of Juliette Gordon Low, Presenter: Lisa Junkin Lopez, Executive Director, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (Recorded: July 16, 2019)
- Women’s Suffrage Comes to Georgia, Presenters: Roger Smith, Director of The Learning Center, SCI, and Luciana Spracher, Director of City of Savannah Municipal Archives (Recorded: March 19, 2019)