Imagine stepping back in time to uncover the personal stories and everyday moments of Georgians during the early 20th century, as the United States experienced World War I and ushered in the Progressive Era. Elbert County Public Library’s archival collection features a scrapbook of postcards compiled by Eva Thornton, a local Elberton resident, which captures a snapshot of life there from 1909- 1922.
When you open the scrapbook’s deep burgundy cover with slightly worn edges, you’ll uncover pages of postcards sent between residents of Elbert County to Thornton and her relatives.
Thornton also received postcards from friends and family outside of Elbert County, including one relative stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, during World War I. Many of the postcards feature images of soldiers, sailors, and historic images of Washington, DC.
The postcards give an insight to life in Elbert County and paint a picture of life generally during this timeframe in a small town in Georgia, documenting small, intimate conversations.
In the scrapbook, you’ll notice the abundance of Christmas and other holiday-themed postcards.
But why postcards?
“Think about it like how we use text messages and social media to communicate, these postcards give us an insight into how smaller conversations happened in a rural community before the technology we use today existed,” said Josh Kitchens, director of Archival Services and Digital Initiatives at Georgia Public Library Service. “Typically when we think of historical writings, we think of long letters that people wrote to each other from large distances.”
According to Janet Burroughs, director of Elbert County Public Library, patrons who have examined the postcards enjoy trying to decipher the messages on the backside of the beautiful postcard illustrations.
Many patrons have taken pictures of the illustrations in hopes of recreating a similar image with paint and colored pencils.
Burroughs said the scrapbook is an example of the important role libraries play in preserving and documenting local history.
“Many times when distant family members inherit items such as family Bibles, scrapbooks, or diaries, the relative may have little to no interest in keeping the documents, have no space in which to store it, or store in a place with environmental conditions where it is likely to deteriorate,” said Burroughs. “Libraries can preserve items like these for future generations and those interested in design, history, and genealogy.”
With digitization, the scrapbook and the stories inside can be shared with a wider audience.
“One of the things we do at Georgia Public Library Service is help digitize collections to make them more accessible. We work with the Digital Library of Georgia to digitize items, make them easier to use and researchable, and put them in context to give people insight into different things that are going on or occurring in a community at the time,” said Kitchens.
The Eva Thornton scrapbook is freely available for public viewing at Elbert County Library, as well as online through the Digital Library of Georgia.
Learn more about exploring history at the library at georgialibraries.org/genealogy.
