Digital Collections
From the V. & J. Duncan Postcard Collection
Municipal Archives Digital Image Catalog
The Digital Image Catalog includes select digital images of photographs, postcards, maps, etc. from our archival collections.
Municipal Archives Digital Image Catalog
Major collections featured in the Digital Image Catalog include:
- City Manager's Office Photographs, circa 1967-1971, 1991
- Girvin family collection of Savannah stereographs, circa 1865-circa 1903, no date
- Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) Historic Preservation Photographs, circa 1970s-circa 1990s
- Palumbo collection of photographs and tourism materials, circa 1870s-1953, no date
- Park & Tree Department/Commission-Applicants for Cemetery Lot Care, circa 1924-1943
- Public Information Office Photographs, 1948-2000
- V. & J. Duncan Postcard Collection, circa 1870s-circa 2000s
- W. W. Law Photograph Collection, 1868-2002
- W. W. Law Moving Image & Sound Collection, 1955-2004
Note: Only a portion of our archival holdings are currently digitized and new digital images will be added to the catalog over time.
Free Persons of Color Register
City Records Available on Ancestry.com
Several of the City's collections have been made available to the public on-line through Ancestry.com to increase their availability and access to those unable to visit Savannah in person.
To start searching and using these collections online, please visit Ancestry.com.
Collections currently available through Ancestry.com:
- Savannah, Georgia, Vital Records, 1803-1966
- Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939
- Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery Burial Lot Cards, 1807-1995
- Savannah, Georgia, Court Records, 1790-1934
- Savannah, Georgia, Land Tax & Property Records, 1809-1938
- Savannah, Georgia, Naturalization Records, 1790-1910
- Savannah, Georgia, Records of Titles, 1791-1971
- Savannah, Georgia, Registers of Free Persons of Color, 1817-1864
- Savannah, Georgia, Voter Records, 1856-1917
- Savannah, Georgia, City Council Minutes, 1790-1900
1855 Annual Report
City Records Available through the Digital Library of Georgia
To start searching and using these collections online, please visit the Digital Library of Georgia.
Collections currently available through the Digital Library of Georgia:
- Record Series 3121-007, Engineering Department – General Maps, 1798-1961, no date
- Record Series 3121-019, Savannah Cadastral Survey – Ward Survey Maps, 1939-1940
- Record Series 3121-020, Engineering Department – Major Subdivision Maps, 1871-1972, no date
- Benjamin Van Clark Neighborhood Documentation Project – Oral History Collection, 2003-2004
- Eastside Documentation Project – Oral History Collection, 2008-2009
- Ellis Square Oral History Project, 2007-2008
- Mayor’s/Municipal Annual Reports for the City of Savannah, 1855-1923 (some gaps)
- Mayor’s Office Records, 1869-1904, 1960-1966*
- West Broad Street Appraisals, 1958-1961*
- Westside Documentation Project – Oral History Collection, 2005-2006
*These collections were digitized with a policy of digitizing every page, front and back, so you may see blank pages throughout the digital document.
Savannah City Codes
City Ordinances passed by City Council are recorded in the Ordinance Books in the Clerk of Council's Office. Periodically, the City publishes all the ordinances on the books at a given point of time, as well as the current City Charter, as the City Code. The Municipal Archives retains copies of Savannah's historical City Code books. The earliest published City Code dates from 1854 and includes City ordinances regulating the activities of slaves and free persons of color, as well as laws pertaining to the public market, the scavenger department, and more.
Broughton Street, postmarked 1909, V. & J. Duncan Postcard Collection, Item 46
Broughton Street Through Time
Broughton Street, postmarked 1909
V. & J. Duncan Postcard Collection, Item 46.
Stroll down Broughton Street, Savannah's "Main Street," through time by visiting our gallery of images from the City's archival collections, including items from the V. & J. Duncan Postcard Collection (courtesy of V. & J. Duncan Antique Maps & Prints), the Municipal Archives Postcard Collection, and the Municipal Archives Photograph Collection. The images span the 1890s through 1960s, and show changes in transportation and business over time, as well architectural styles and building facades.
Savannah Riverfront, August 1973
View selected images from the Riverfront Urban Renewal Project designed by Gunn & Meyerhoff A.I.A., Architects collection (Record Series 1121-056), featuring River Street and Factors' Walk in August 1973 before the project revitalized Savannah's historic waterfront.
Stained Glass Inner Dome, Library of Congress, HABS, GA, 26-SAV, 61-28
Savannah City Hall Architectural Drawings
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) collection, cared for by the Library of Congress, includes documentation of the City Hall of Savannah, Georgia. Collected around 1981, the City Hall HABS project (HABS, GA, 26-SAV, 61) includes forty-two black and white photographs, twelve data pages, and one photo caption page. The photographs include contemporary views of the building, as well as photographs of the plans and elevations drawn by Hyman W. Witcover, architect, circa 1904, during the planning and construction of City Hall (the original drawings are housed in the City of Savannah Municipal Archives). The data pages include a brief history of the building and a thorough description of its materials, and architectural style and details.
Mayor John Houstoun
Biographies of Former City of Savannah Mayors
The Special Collections department of Armstrong Atlantic State University's Lane Library has digitized selected papers from the Savannah Biographies collection. The Savannah Biographies collection includes unedited student research papers, and includes several biographies of former Savannah mayors.
List of Savannah mayors included in this collection.
Savannah Biographies Collection Online
Automobile Registration Books, 1909-1919
Sub-series 5600CL-320 Automobile Registration Books (1909-1910, 1913-1917, 1919) includes six volumes documenting vehicle registration during the beginning of the automobile age. The volumes, maintained by the City of Savannah's Clerk of Council's Office, include: registration date; registration number; name and residence of owner; and style of automobile. Entries are arranged numerically by registration number. The responsibility of handling vehicle registrations was transferred to the Chief of Police by City ordinance on December 31, 1919.
- 5600CL-320 Volume 1, Automobile Registration Book, 1909-1910
- 5600CL-320 Volume 2, Automobile Registration Book, 1913
- 5600CL-320 Volume 3, Automobile Registration Book, 1914-1915
- 5600CL-320 Volume 4, Automobile Registration Book, 1916
- 5600CL-320 Volume 5, Automobile Registration Book, 1917
- 5600CL-320 Volume 6, Automobile Registration Book, 1919