In October 1926, the Atlanta Historical Society’s founding officers gathered at the Atlanta Athletic Club downtown to formalize their organization. Tommie Dora Baker, elected librarian, offered to store donated artifacts at the city’s Carnegie Library office where she worked, because the fledgling organization had no office space. Adjourning for dinner, the group heard from University of Georgia professor E. Merton Coulter, who admonished them that history should be revered “as a record, not a play-horse.”
Bolstered by $5 annual dues—$100 for a lifetime membership (about $1,800 today)—the group brainstormed grand plans: citywide markers, a booklet, and first-person accounts from older residents, the Atlanta Constitution reported. Thirty Atlantans were named founding curators.
A century later, the group has evolved into the not-for-profit Atlanta History Center, which occupies 33 acres in Buckhead, houses 61,000 artifacts, and is buoyed by multimillion-dollar endowments. To celebrate its centennial—which coincides with the nation’s 250th birthday—the center will unveil six ambitious new exhibitions…