Atlanta History Center

Love is in the air. Or is that bacon? Happy Valentines Day from all of us here at Atlanta History Center. : Thornton & Grubb Card, MSS 77.129

Chag Urim Sameach, Atlanta! This week’s TBT coincides with the first day of Hanukkah, so we thought we’d travel back in time to see one of our city’s iconic buildings: the Temple. The Temple-Hebrew Benevolent Congregation of Atlanta is our city’s oldest synagogue. Jews have been integral to Atlanta’s story since the city’s founding. In 1860, the Hebrew Benevolent Society was formed to obtain a Jewish burial ground and to organize relief for the Jewish Poor. The Temple was est...ablished in 1867, and at that time was Orthodox. In 1895, Rabbi David Marx brought Reform Judaism to the Temple. In 1958, the synagogue was bombed in response to Rabbi Jacob Rothschild's support of civil rights. It is located at 1589 Peachtree Street and continues to play a central role in the daily lives of Atlanta’s Jewish community. Exterior of the Temple on 1589 Peachtree Street, ca. 1946. Kenneth Rogers Photograph Collection, Atlanta History Center. VIS 82.214.02

For the love of bees! In our Goizueta Gardens, a bit of botanical detritus is good clean fun. Did you know that leaving some perennials standing through the colder months means that hibernating solitary bees will have a safe place to wait out the cold? Unlike ground nesting bees, which dig holes in the earth, or honeybees, which have hives, cavity nesting bees utilize existing tunnels in decaying wood or the hollow stems of certain plants. Once inside, they can create brood... chambers, or larva incubators. While inside the stem, these larvae are kept safe from harsh winter temperatures. When a gardener does too much tidying, they run the risk of eliminating natural materials and features that could provide nesting habitat for bees and other beneficial insects. Leave at least 15" of the plant stems to ensure the bees don’t get evicted from the garden! Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.) provides large domed flower heads with abundant nectar and hollow stems for winter habitat. Panic grass (Panicum virgatum) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) are beautiful, low-maintenance native grasses with hollow stems. All these species can be found in our Entrance Gardens and beyond at Smith Farm, Quarry Garden, and Swan Woods.

Join us (virtually) as we commemorate the service and sacrifice of all of our nation’s veterans in our annual Veterans Day Ceremony. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be livestreamed so that we can experience this moment together, while staying physically apart. The ceremony will feature remarks by Atlanta History Center staff members Sue VerHoef, Director of Oral History and Genealogy, as well as Senior Military Historian Gordon Jones, and President & CEO, Sheffield Hale. Tenor Timothy Miller will be performing. The ceremony will begin at 11:00 and can be viewed on Facebook Live and our YouTube channel. bit.ly/3ln02Ar

A date which will live in infamy. | On this day in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, an American military base in Honolulu, Hawaii. 2335 American sailors were killed, 1143 wounded, and a total of 21 American ships were damaged or sunk in the attack. The following day, Japan declared war on the United States. Congress responded by declaring war on Japan, which prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the US. Only 23 short years after the end of WWI, America was plunged into another World War. : A man sells special edition extras of the Atlanta Constitution the day after Japan bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor. Kenneth Rogers Photograph Collection, Atlanta History Center. VIS 82.139.11

The Japanese maples are showing off! Be immersed in fall colors as you wander through Sims Asian Garden. This tranquil garden, with its towering canopy, undulating topography, dappled light, and quiet brook, is home to Goizueta Gardens’ Asian Plant Collection. Three major collection groups are on display in this garden: Satsuki azaleas, mountain hydrangeas, and Japanese maples. Japanese maples are easy to grow, elegant specimen trees. Their popularity became international when Swedish doctor and botanist Carl Peter Thunberg brought back detailed drawings of this small tree from his travels in Japan. He named it Acer palmatumpalm describing the hand-shaped leaves. Enjoy a moment of mindfulness the next time you stop by for a visit!

To ensure that we are able to honor our veterans together during this unprecedented time, portions of our commemoration ceremony will be livestreamed.

The block of Washington Street that runs behind the Georgia State Capitol looks very different today than it did when someone snapped this photo ca. 1875. The Second Baptist Church (on the left) was razed and replaced with public greenspace. Central Presbyterian Church (on the right) now boasts a Richardsonian Romanesque tower. (VIS 170.3097.001)

Wondering where to begin with your garden’s design? Our Goizueta Gardens team recommends starting in winter, because it's the perfect time to see the garden without the distraction of most herbaceous plants and leaves on deciduous trees. What remains is the bones of a garden, the structural plantings that remain all year. These structural plantstrees, shrubs, hedges, topiary, and other woody elementsare used to define a garden’s shape, to create visual weight and bala...nce, and to direct a person’s eye to certain focal points, while screening unsightly views. Hedges used as walls can create outdoor roomsusing plants as architecture and creating an extension of the home. Shrubs and trees can be treated as furniture, filling the room with a mixture of evergreen and deciduous specimens. After this step, a gardener can fill in the gaps between structural plantings with the softer herbaceous layer for texture and color in the other seasons of the year. To find inspiration, we invite you to visit Swan House, which has a variety of structural plantings designed by architect Philip Trammell Shutze, including silvery Elaeagnus hedges, boxwood foundation plants and parterre, wisteria standards, crape myrtles, and redbud allées.

Dred Scott was an enslaved man in Missouri who sued for his freedom. He argued that he had lived with his master in the state of Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, places where slavery was outlawed. Other enslaved individuals had been emancipated on these grounds. But in 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court decided against him. It said he had no right to sue because he was not a U.S. citizen. The justices ruled that no Black person, free or enslaved, could ever be a U.S. citizen.... Learn more about Scott's story, as well as Black America's struggle for equality, in one of our newest exhibitions, Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. On display until February 28, 2021. . Unidentified artist Dred Scott, after 1857 Oil on canvas New-York Historical Society This exhibition has been organized by the New-York Historical Society. Lead support for the exhibition provided by National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Major support provided by the Ford Foundation and Crystal McCrary and Raymond J. McGuire. Lead local sponsors are The Rich Foundation, Victoria and Howard Palefsky, and The Thalia and Michael C. Carlos Foundation.

Don’t miss our virtual author talk tonight at 7pm with Ricky Riccardi, who will be discussing his biography of Louis Armstrong Heart Full of Rhythm with GPB’s Virginia Prescott.

She hasn’t aged one bit. Big Bethel Church was founded in 1847, making it the oldest African American church in Metro Atlanta. Originally known as Bethel Tabernacle, Big Bethel has long served an active role in Atlanta’s Black community. Its original building housed the Gate City Colored School (the first public school for African Americans in the city), Morris Brown classroom space, as well as an unemployment bureau for female domestic workers following the Civil War. The current church was rebuilt in 1922 after the former site was destroyed by fire. The church and its iconic electric sign are located at 220 Auburn Avenue downtown. (VIS 158.09.07)

We invite you to slow down and experience a moment of museum mindfulness under the canopy of the Garden for Peace. Located in Swan Woods, our Garden for Peace is surrounded by oak, pine, and hemlock trees. It offers a space for sheltered reflection in the heart of Atlanta. When Dr. Laura Dorsey Rains’s former husband was injured in Vietnam, he was airlifted to a military hospital in Japan. While there, she discovered the restorative experience of being in the gardens durin...g those difficult days. These moments of stillness are the inspiration behind the Garden for Peace. Ours is the first in a global network of spaces for meditation and prayer. The garden features a bronze sculpture by Republic of Georgia artist Georgi Jataridze. It depicts a 14-foot-tall tree with doves in its branches surrounded by five figures holding hands. The second Garden for Peace was dedicated the following year in Tblisi with a sculpture by Atlanta artist Sergio Dolfi. There are now 20 Gardens for Peace, worldwide.

Atlanta has something to say! Throughout history, Atlantans have made their voices heard at the ballot box. You are unique and so is your voteuse it! Help make history by casting your ballot today!

Following the Civil War, African Americans embraced their newly acquired citizenship and took seriously their long-denied rights and responsibilities. Black men voted in large numbers and ran for office. Men and women joined patriotic clubs and local branches of the Republican Party. Black participation in local elections and state constitutional conventions created the first interracial governments in the United States. This demonstration of Black citizenship aroused deep... hostility among those who had only a few years earlier held African Americans as slaves. Learn more about the history voter suppression and intimidation in our newest exhibition, Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. Open until February 28, 2021. Samuel C. Jollie (active 1857) Ballot box, ca. 1857 Glass, iron New-York Historical Society, Gift of George H. Dean This exhibition has been organized by the New-York Historical Society. Lead support for the exhibition provided by National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Major support provided by the Ford Foundation and Crystal McCrary and Raymond J. McGuire. Lead local sponsors are The Rich Foundation, Victoria and Howard Palefsky, and The Thalia and Michael C. Carlos Foundation.

For the first time in our 94-year history, Atlanta History Center is serving as a polling place. Drop a in comments if you’re a Georgia voter. Throughout history, voting has remained one of the most powerful tools citizens have utilized to make change. From Jim Crow to women’s suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement, we invite you to explore the history of voting in America todayon our campus or online.

It’s more important than ever to speak out and make your voice heard. Learn about the many forms of voter suppression and how to properly report and stop it at the voter toolkit on our website. Library of Congress

Know your rights! This year marks the centennial of women’s suffrage and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Do your part to help make history by voting on November 3. If you run into any problems or have questions on Election Day, call the Election Protection Hotline: English: 1-866-OUR-VOTE / 1-866-687-8683 ... Spanish: 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA / 1-888-839-8682 Arabic: 1-844-YALLA-US / 1-844-925-5287 For Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, or Vietnamese: 1-888-274-8683 Find out more at the voter toolkit on our blog. Unidentified individuals voting at a fire station in Atlanta, Georgia, ca. 1978. Boyd Lewis Photograph Collection, VIS 101.559.006