Smithgall family papers, 1906-2008

Summary

Creator:

Smithgall, Charles A. and Smithgall, Lessie Bailey (Celestia Bailey)

Date:

1906-2008

Extent:

20 Linear Feet 15 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 22 oversize folders

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

[Item, box, folder], Smithgall family papers, ms4462, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains family photographs and correspondence, radio broadcasting scripts and fan mail, family files regarding charitable activities, real estate, and fruit farming. It also includes scrapbooks and school ephemera, plats, plans and topographic maps of various properties and buildings.

Biographical / historical:

Charles A. Smithgall, Jr. (1910-2002) was a broadcaster, businessman and conservationist. He was a graduate of Georgia Tech in 1933, then began his work in radio as an announcer. He eventually became a radio station executive then ventured into newspapers, founding the Gainesville Daily Times and a publisher of several other local weekly newspapers. He also owned several radio stations throughout north Georgia and Alabama as well as cable television franchises throughout the southeast. As a conservationist, Smithgall donated a large tract of land he had acquired along Dukes Creek in White County to the state, which became the Smithgall Woods State Park.

Celestia "Lessie" Bailey Smithgall (1911-2021) was a writer, editor and philanthropist. She graduated from the University of Georgia's Grady School of Journalism in 1933, and was connected with the creation of the Peabody Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She was the wife of Charles A. Smithgall and their children are Dr. Elizabeth "Bay" Smithgall Watts, Charles A. Smithgall Jr., John F. Smithgall, and James Thurmond Smithgall.

The Smithgalls were supporters and advocates of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Georgia Citizens for the Arts, Atlanta Zoo, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden among many other community groups.

Related

Separated material:

The audiovisual materials related to this collection are housed in the Walter J. Brown Media Archives.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Scrapbooks.
Businesspeople -- Georgia -- Photographs.
Children -- Photographs.
Families -- Georgia -- Photographs.
Families -- Georgia -- Correspondence.
Journalists -- Georgia -- Correspondence.
Radio broadcasters -- Georgia.
Farm management -- Georgia.
Family papers.

Places:

Georgia -- Radio and television broadcasting.

Preferred citation:

[Item, box, folder], Smithgall family papers, ms4462, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.