Thronateeska Heritage Foundation earns award for archives

ALBANY — Despite being open less than a year, the new South Georgia Archives at Albany’s Thronateeska Heritage Center is already receiving extensive praise and has even garnered the historical museum and preservation society a prestigious state award.

At Thronateeska’s annual meeting last week representatives from the Georgia Historical Society were on hand to present the organization with the Roger K. Warlick Local History Achievement Award in Archival Excellence based on the work the organization has been doing at the South Georgia Archives, which opened to the public last fall.

The Warlick awards, which are named in honor of former Georgia Historical Society President Roger K. Warlick, are given each year to honor affiliate chapters whose original projects or ideas utilize historical resources in new and interesting ways, while making local history relevant and meaningful to the community.

“We are pleased to award the Thronateeska Heritage Foundation with the Roger K. Warlick History Achievement Award,” said Georgia Historical Society President and CEO W. Todd Grace in a news release. “Because of their efforts, future generations will be able to access the records that are vital to recording our state’s history.”

Those efforts began several years ago after Thronateeska Heritage Center Executive Director Tommy Gregors had a discussion with Albany City Clerk Sonya Tolbert about the city’s need to improve its storage of important documents.

“An opportunity presented itself over at the city, where the city was looking for somebody to scan all their permanent records, all the meeting minutes, ordinances, resolutions that they have to maintain permanently as a record of the city government,” said Gregors.

That conversation led to the decision to build an archive facility at Thronateeska, funded by Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) proceeds, where not only the city and Thronateeska could properly store important documents, but other agencies as well, on a contract basis.

It also allowed the historical agency the opportunity to properly store a lot of its documents and artifacts which had been difficult without the added space. The archive facility also allowed the organization to open the doors for the public to research.

In addition to generating more traffic to Thronateeska, the archives has also encouraged more people to donate personal items to Thronateeska’s collections, Gregors said, which allows the organization to further its mission of preserving the history of the area.

“What the archives has done for us is the contributors, the folks that donate items, are certain the items will be properly cared for, so we’re getting better items that represent our history here,” said Gregors. “That improves our ability to tell these stories about our community and the people and families that live here.”

That commitment to preserving local history is the reason the Georgia Historical Society, which is the state’s oldest historical organization, chose to honor Thronateeska and the South Georgia Archives this year.

“The Roger K. Warlick award really recognizes the organization and the efforts we’ve put in to preserve the area’s history,” Gregors said. “We’re very honored to receive it.”

Gregors added that this was the second time Thronateeska has earned the award, having been an affiliate of the Georgia Historical Society for many years. This was the first time in 10 years the organization had an initiative worthy of earning the award again.

Thronateeska Heritage Center is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1974 for the purpose of historic preservation and science education in Albany and Southwest Georgia. It’s campus includes the Thronateeska history museum, the Thronateeska science museum, which includes the full HD Wetherbee Planetarium, and the South Georgia Archives,

The South Georgia Archives facility is open to the public for research Thursdays and Fridays from 1-5 p.m. or by appointment. For more about the archives and about Thronateeska visit www.heritagecenter.org.