About the Project
In the summer of 2007, Mr. James L. Gillis, Jr., president of the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA), contacted the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies about the possibility of duplicating the organization's surviving minute books. Subsequently, ATFA and the Russell Library agreed to a project to ensure preservation and access to the records. ATFA donated the original minute books to the Russell Library, and the Library scanned and produced print reference sets for itself and for ATFA.
The Russell Library collaborated with the Digital Library of Georgia to develop this web site for the ATFA Minute Books to provide online access to the books in context of their provenance, physical arrangement, and descriptive information. The site also provides the history of ATFA with supplementary photographs and a relevant University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service film, Suwanee Pine, directed by J. Aubrey Smith housed in the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia. The site links to ATFA related holdings at the Georgia Agrirama, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, and Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies in addition to various other sites.
The following University of Georgia staff and others contributed to the production of the American Turpentine Farmers Association Minute Books:
- Sheryl Vogt, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Kat Stein, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Abby Griner, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Ruta Abolins, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
- Mary Willoughby, Digital Library of Georgia
- P. Toby Graham, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Javad Khadivi, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
- Jim L. Gillis, Jr., American Turpentine Farmers Association
- Grady Williams, American Turpentine Farmers Association
- Kathy Simons, American Turpentine Farmers Association
- Johnny Johnson, Georgia Agrirama, State Museum of Agriculture