Stories

The original Rich’s twin pig monorails and their iconic smiles made Christmas bright for five generations. The Pink Pig lives on in the hearts and minds of everyone who experienced it—and in the permanent collection at Atlanta History Center.

Atlanta Urban Design Commission Records are now available for public access. This collection provides valuable insights into Atlanta’s visual arts and urban development. It includes artwork, sketches, photographs, and other materials that document the city’s design and architectural evolution. These records serve as a rich resource for researchers, urban planners and anyone interested in the cultural and historical landscapes of Atlanta.

Listen to an excerpt of Chase Evans’ essay for the Forsyth Descendants Scholarship.

Listen to Patrick Phillips, author of Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America, explain the events of 1912 .

We created a guide to help Georgians prepare to exercise their right to vote, select the method by which they vote, and to identify and report instances of voter intimidation.

On October 23, 2024, the US Navy announced that after twenty-five years, a ship commissioned the USS Atlanta will once again sail the seas of the world. The last USS Atlanta, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, was retired in 1999, the fifth such ship to bear the name of the city.

Author of Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Revised and Updated  Virginia Willis shares a delicious recipe with us in anticipation of her upcoming Author Talk on October 15.

Party with the Past is a program series that travels to historic sites around the city. On Wednesday, September 18^th, we head to Concordia Hall in Downtown Atlanta. This event features a temporary exhibit that dives into the history of the rest of the neighborhood, walking tours, and more.

An East Point institution, Atlanta Utility Works is a machine shop turned event space that has served the Tri-Cities area for over a century. To get you ready for Party with the Past, we uncovered the history of Atlanta Utility Works and its role in the community that surrounded it.

Discover the intriguing story of “So Red the Rose,” a 1935 film overshadowed by “Gone With the Wind.” This forgotten film, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Old South, offers a rich narrative of Southern nobility and wartime struggles. Despite its potential, the film’s anti-Northern bias and simpler storyline led to its obscurity. In contrast, “Gone With the Wind” captivated audiences with its complex characters and balanced depiction, becoming a cultural phenomenon. Uncover how “So Red the Rose” set the stage for its successor and how both films shaped the enduring myths of the Old South.

The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution laid the foundation for the United States. Georgia’s founding fathers, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton, Abraham Baldwin, and William Few, played crucial roles in supporting and ratifying these documents, impacting both national and state history. Their contributions to independence, public education and governance in Georgia remain significant as the nation celebrates 248 years of democracy.

In the decades between the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow, Black men in the South could still hold political positions and power. One such politician was Henry Allen Rucker, whose work as Collector of Internal Revenue helped to inspire his daughter’s work as an anti-segregation and voting rights activist. This article tells their story.

Explore Elizabeth McDuffie’s journey from personal cook and maid for the Inman family and President Franklin Roosevelt to a civil rights advocate. Known for her ambition, she was considered for the role of Mammy in “Gone with the Wind.” Despite not getting the role, McDuffie championed equal rights and workers’ rights for African Americans.