Friday, November 17, 2006

Wish you were here

Postcards tell our friends what we're doing on vacation- maybe not in what we write but in the picture on the postcard.

GALILEO notes tell us that the database "Picturing Augusta: Historic Postcards from the Collection of the East Central Georgia Regional Library System consists of forty turn-of-the-twentieth century Augusta-related picture postcards selected from the collection Augusta and Environs: Picture Post Cards in Color held at the East Central Georgia Regional Library in Augusta, Georgia. The postcards in this collection depict the commercial development, economic prosperity, and social customs of Augusta and its inhabitants during the opening years of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the picture postcards document the interplay between Augusta, Georgia, North Augusta, South Carolina, and Summerville, Georgia before and immediately following Summerville's incorporation into the city of Augusta in 1912. The postcards, as collected by Augusta resident Ella C. Mayo Belz at the turn of the twentieth century through 1914, include images of notable Augusta landmarks such as the Augusta Canal, Augusta Country Club, Bon Air Hotel, Lake Olmstead, Meadow Garden (home of the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, George Walton), Medical College of Georgia, and the Partridge Inn. Several postcards in the online collection relate specifically to Augusta's position as the second largest inland cotton market in the United States. These postcards show cotton fields, harvested bales, mills, and other scenes of production associated with the cotton industry in Augusta. There are also many scenic postcards that depict views along the Savannah River and the commercial and residential streetscapes along both Broad and Greene Streets. "

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