Expert suggests historical documents from Shannon be housed at UGA
There probably aren’t but a handful of Floyd County residents who know the area near the intersection of Ga. 53 and Ga. 140 was once known as the McGuire community.
An old ledger book from the McGuire store was on display for residents of the Shannon community during a meeting of the Watters District Council for Historical Preservation on Monday.
Leaders of the group are now trying to determine how to best preserve the ledger book and scores of other artifacts significant to the Model and Shannon communities for future generations.
David Mitchell, CEO of the M.H. Mitchell Inc., suggested they donate many of the items to the University of Georgia and the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library for safe keeping. In this way, historians in the future would have access to the items.
“By doing this you can give these people a voice that is long overdue,” Mitchell said of the families whose names are listed in the ledger book. “These people gave us our identity today.”
Jennifer Kearns and Rome historian Dan Roper have determined the book to be from a period of time just prior to the Civil War.
Mitchell explained that the UGA Special Collections Library is well equipped to handle rare documents and artifacts and, at the same time, make them available to anyone who would want to see them.
Mitchell assured residents of the Shannon community that if donated to UGA, the items
would never be sold or discarded.
“Someone will benefit from these 100 years from now,” Mitchell said.
Many of the items relate to the old Brighton Mill and are currently stored at various locations throughout the Shannon community.
The Watters District executive commission will study Mitchell’s proposal and then make a recommendation to the full council membership.