Hargrett Exhibit Connections

By Rufus Adair - Staff Writer

Sometimes seemingly mundane items can trigger connections -- sometimes unexpected connections.

Such was the case last Friday when the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscripts brought some of its collections to the Eatonton-Putnam Library and next door to The Plaza and its Old School History Museum.

Visitors at the library saw and touched UGA athletic items ranging from a 2021 national football championship ring (and maybe even tried it on – for size, of course) to Coach Kirby Smart’s visor to a 1930s leather helmet.

The exhibit was part of an outreach tour of a half-dozen north Georgia libraries, and Eatonton’s was the only one that also featured a separate exhibit of Putnam-related maps, documents and a variety of miscellaneous and sometimes unusual items.

These Putnam items included the likes of a typed copy of Putnam’s 1850 census, a bound 1896 copy of Eatonton’s city ordinances, the 1826 “day book” at Rees’ general store in downtown Eatonton, Michael Dennis’ account book during the Civil War and Reconstruction, a 1916 map of Georgia railroads featuring a maze of main lines and short lines in the heyday of railroading, and Renza Paschal’s World War II dog tags.

One that drew considerable attention was four copies of the “Putnamite,” a one-page, single-sided, mimeographed sheet that few, if any, visitors had ever heard of before. The four copies were dated during the summer months of 1944, and it could only be described as half-news, half-gossip but filled with names and the doin’s of the boys away in the service.

One exception to the Putnamite’s generally upbeat tone came in a terse single sentence in the July 23, 1944, issue: “George and Florence Scheer have received word from the War Department this week that Private Frederick Scheer has been taken prisoner since July 17.” The Scheers were Jewish.

(The Scheers ran the Rosa Jarmolusky dry goods store, and George wrote a column for the Messenger. Frederick survived a German POW camp and returned to live in Atlanta, where he wrote a book about his captivity.)

Otherwise, the issue had items like Paschal’s name and APO address on a list of local servicemen asking people back home to write a letter and like the announcement of the local (women’s) “Rifle Corps celebrating its second birthday with a barbecue at Davis Lake last week.”

Visitor reactions to the two tables of items varied. Carole (Spivey) Thomas was thumbing through a photo book when she nudged her daughter, smiled, and pointed to a mid-20th century photo of a Tom Thumb wedding at the Phoenix School. “That’s me,” she said.

The daughter, Caroline (Thomas) Davis summarized their experience. “I learned a lot. It was fun,” she said.

More on the unexpected side was Bill Carman’s response to a question about what stuck out to him.

“The railroad map,” he said.

“Were you a railroad man?”

“No, but my grandfather was. He was the head brakeman for the N.C. and Saint L. (Nashville, Chattanooga, and Saint Louis) . . . for the whole system, from Atlanta to Saint Louis. He invented the air brake. Well, George Westinghouse invented it, but my grandfather rode underneath a car with Westinghouse to test and observe (the air brake).”

Six-year-old Sutton Van Dusen was asked the same question. She immediately responded, “I really liked the necklaces,” pointing to Renza Paschal’s dog tags.

Contributed by: Rufus Adair

Board Member and Docent of Old School History Museum

Retired Newspaper Reporter and Teacher