"Athens has been moving houses since before the Civil War," explained Charlotte Thomas Marshall in Wednesday's program at the Richard Russell Special Collections Library auditorium to an audience of about 150, and 11 who watched online. Her soon to be released book The Tangible History of Athens with eleven other Athenian authors started out as research for an article on moved houses in Athens and ended up a 300 page well illustrated and researched book.
Over 200 images from the book, like this one of the president's house on Prince Avenue, rotated above the heads of four of these author-historians as they talked about the houses, parts of houses, the people who lived in them, and Athens' history.
Charlotte, along with authors Milton Leathers, Gary Doster, and University Archivist emeritus Steven Brown, urged others to put their stories on paper, using documents and photos they have in their possession, they find at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library or the Athens Library's Heritage Room. "There are still many books to come out of the Hargrett," and the Athens Heritage Room, noted Steven.
"This kind of thing happens all over the U.S.," said Milton, explaining that this book could serve as a prototype for other communities.
You can learn why the color pink used to be masculine, why houses were moved, and all sorts of wonderful things about Athens, Georgia from this lively group of authors by listening to the archived program.
