I was messing around on youtube while on hold yesterday and I found an interesting excerpt of a 1940’s film. I did some research and found the entire movie. It is called Swainsboro Town Film. The film is 23 minutes long and gives you a sense of what life was like then and still is to some degree in Swainsboro, Ga. It is posted on a library archive page on the UGA website — http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/collections/georgiarelated/swainsboro.html
The webpage goes in to how it was saved and restored so that we can view it now. There are a few places in the film like Coleman Lake that are still around. It was like a large camping/recreation area with a pool and bowling alleys. The buildings are still there, but now it’s operated mainly as a restaurant without the bowling or swimming. I plan to do more in depth research to match up places in the film to what they are today. I know the red brick church at the end of the film is now the Emanuel Arts Center. There are a few others that I want to double check for I can say for sure.
Filed under: Everday Life in Rural America, knowledge is POWER !! | Tagged: Swainsboro, Georgia, emanuel county, Coleman's Lake, UGA, UGA Film, UGA Library, Swainsboro Town Film, Old Movie, 1940's, rural georgia, small town America, UGA library archive, Emanuel Arts Center, Black and white Film, Georgia History, history, historical film, research, historical research
