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Athens Regional Library System, Heritage Room Archive & Special Collections

About the Archive

The Heritage Room is a special collections unit of the Athens Regional Library System which collects, preserves, organizes, and makes available on a limited basis materials for the purpose of research and/or preservation covering the Athens area, the state of Georgia, and the Southeastern United States. As one of Georgia’s larger publicly accessible and non-membership genealogy and local history collections, the Heritage Room is a regional resource. The Heritage Room seeks to serve students of all ages and experience levels in their research into Southern, Georgia, and local area history and genealogy.

About the Collections

The Heritage Room Archives preserve and make available unique records of enduring value related specifically to the history of Athens and Clarke County’s individuals, families, organizations, institutions, and select local government agencies. It also serves as the central repository for the permanent retention of the archival records of the Athens Regional Library System and its branches. The Heritage Room Archives seek to document the lived experiences of ordinary Athenians for the purposes of genealogical and historical research. These primary sources include not only textual and special media records—such as maps, photographs, sound recordings, and moving images—but also art and artifacts, rare book collections, manuscripts, architectural drawings, and textiles.

For hours of access please be sure to visit our website.

Historical Context Statement

The Athens Regional Library System and the Heritage Room recognize that users may encounter some items within the collection that contain offensive language, imagery, or other forms of objectionable content. Such materials document the past and should be viewed within the context of their original time period.

Staff members are also working to update descriptions within the archival catalog using standards of Conscientious Description, similar to the Harvard Center for the History of Medicine’s Guidelines for Inclusive and Conscientious Description, in order to appropriately and accurately describe materials for use.

Providing access to these materials does not endorse any attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors depicted within. The Heritage Room is committed to upholding the principle of equal and free access to unaltered historical information.