This project, undertaken by the Center for Public History with the support of a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council, documents the rural heritage of Carroll County. The collection includes documents during research as well as information about the resulting exhibit.

This collection was created in 2008 to house documents about Carroll County and the West Georgia region that were outside the scope of any other collection within the Center.

This is an on-going collection that relates to folklore topics, traditions, and places in Georgia, with the exception of one comparative look at folklore guiding the practice of midwifery in British Colonial America and in rural 20th century Alabama. The collection is the result of student work in the graduate folklore and folk life seminar class. 

This collection represents the work of students in local history classes at the University of West Georgia.

Collection of both historic and contemporary photographs.

Collection documenting the rural architecture of West Georgia.

The Banning Mill Collection is composed of research done by graduate students and includes oral history interviews, artifacts, maps, tax records, photographs, census records, newspaper articles, and papers and thesis work.

The Booker T. Washington High School Collection interviews were conducted by University of West Georgia graduate student Jihan George Bradford.

This collection is composed of documents and artifacts collected by the Chamber and donated by individuals to the Center for Public History. The eleven oral histories, commemorative booklet, and panel display produced by the Center for Public History to celebrate the Chamber’s 50th anniversary in 2005 are also included.

A collection of five diaries, various membership cards, Coast Guard papers, and other miscellaneous papers and photographs.

A compilation of documents produced and collected by the Center for Public History’s seventeen-month project to document the African-American community of Powder Springs, Georgia.

The Regional Music Collection documents the musical folklife and history of country, gospel, bluegrass, and other styles of grassroots music in Carroll County, Georgia and the surrounding area. Included in the collection are audio and video recordings in a variety of formats, photographs, oral history interviews, fan mail, correspondence, song lists and lyrics, articles, newspaper clippings, and concert posters and flyers.

The Southern Baking Traditions Oral History Project is an ongoing project meant to document the types of baked goods that people in the West Georgia Piedmont Region have traditionally prepared for their daily meals and seasonal celebrations. The collection includes recipes and family stories surrounding the baking of a variety of breads, biscuits, puddings, cakes, cookies, and pies.

This collection includes documents and artifacts collected to illustrate the history of the textile and apparel industry in West Georgia. Segments of the collection focus on the broader textile mill history of Carroll County and the State of Georgia, the general mill histories of Carrollton and Villa Rica, Mandeville Mills, the apparel industry histories of the towns of Bremen and Bowdon, New Manchester, the Printed Fabrics Corporation, and the Center for Public History’s exhibit entitled Spinning Yarns, Knitting Socks, and Sewing Suits: Stories of Carroll County’s Textile and Apparel Industries.

This collection documents the history of the University of West Georgia and is composed of interviews, documents, books, and materials generated by the University of West Georgia and collected from alumni and faculty.

The Veterans History Collection is composed of materials in four subgroups:  the Veteran’s History Project, a small collection of World War I letters, and two oral history projects: Voices Across Time and Carroll County in World War II.

The Williams-Mitchell Farm collection is composed of research documenting a once prosperous dairy and cotton farm that is representative of Carroll County’s rich rural history. The site includes a 1890s farmhouse, a collection of farm buildings, historic gardens, and a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. The collection includes oral interviews, research and architectural analysis of the home and buildings, a GIS map and accompanying documentation of the CCC camp, as well as an interpretative plan synopsis for the site.

A collection of mill-related objects formerly belonging to the family of Yvonne Pate. The collection includes spools of thread, loom tools, technical books, service pins, and other assorted tools.