CSU Archives and Special Collections Awarded Grant for Major Capital Project

March 29, 2021

The Columbus State University Archives and Special Collections is pleased to announce a major grant award from the Mildred Miller Fort Foundation to support its continued growth and acquisition of historical materials.

The grant will fund the purchase and installation of a custom, high-density storage infrastructure to maximize the existing footprint of the Archival Vault. When completed, this project will approximately double the collection storage capacity of the Archives.

According to David Owings, head of Archives and Special Collections, “expanding the Vault capacity will enable the Archives to continue its mission of collecting and preserving the past for future generations and will ensure the lives and experiences of those who call this area home are preserved.” 

This has been a critical need for the Archives as it has been approaching full collecting capacity over the last two years. Owings states that without this increased capacity “families, businesses, civic organizations, and others would be unable to place their documents and other historical materials in the Archives for long-term preservation as part of the historical record. This means that important archival materials will inevitably be discarded or destroyed. Without the archival record providing documentary evidence for the past, scholars would be incapable of telling those stories.”

Thanks to the generous support of this award, the Archives will now be able to continue adding to its collections alongside existing items. Examples from the collections include newspapers reporting on the Spanish Flu outbreak and resulting quarantines and mask mandates of 1918; letters from local soldiers called to battle and writing their families back home during the Civil War, the World Wars, and other engagements; minutes from the board meetings of local businesses showing the development of industry and commerce; records of local organizations such as the Rotary and Kiwanis; oral histories with minority groups who otherwise would not have their stories documented; vintage photographs of early Columbus; handwritten recipes from the Mitchell Confectionary; and reports detailing the tri-state waterways battle over the Chattahoochee. 

The Mildred Miller Fort Foundation has also offered a challenge grant for the acquisition of two important local newspaper archives. One of these is an online database of full text searchable articles going back to 1858. The other is the newspaper’s historic photograph archive of 100,000+ vintage images of the Columbus area dating back to the 1920s. The Foundation will fund half of this acquisition and is challenging Columbus State to raise the other half. 

If you would like to contribute to the challenge match or learn more about the CSU Archives and Special Collections, call (706) 507-8674.