Newspapers: Southern Israelite Archive expands

Did you have family in Georgia, or across the South? Here's a newly-expanded resource that may provide information on your Southern Jewish heritage.

The Digital Library of Georgia and the Cuba Archives of the Breman Museum announced the expansion of the Southern Israelite Archive to more than 48,000 images..

The Southern Israelite Archive now includes issues 1959-1983, spanning 1929-1986.

The paper began as an August temple bulletin founded by Rabbi H. Cerf Straus in 1925. it became so popular that it became a monthly newspaper. It was sold and moved to Atlanta, circulated across the state and then throughout the South.
In October 1934, a four-page weekly edition began along with a monthly already-estblished magazine. , supplemented by its established monthly magazine edition. The monthly edition was discontinued in 1973 to concentrate on the growing weekly. In 1987, the Southern Israelite change its name to the Atlanta Jewish Times and published 32-page issues. Today owned by Jewish Renaissance Media, its readership is more than 25,000.

"Even in these earliest years, the paper not only covered the news of the southern Jewry, but also the issues that involved Jewish populations throughout the nation and world, including the Holocaust and later the creation of the Jewish state of Israel."

The Southern Israelite database is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia, a GALILEO initiative that shares Georgia's history and culture online. Digitization is made possible by the Cuba Archives of the Breman Museum and the generosity of the Srochi family of Atlanta.

Other newspaper archives available through the Digital Library of Georgia include the Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (1847-1922), the Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908), the Columbus Enquirer Archive (1828-1890), the Milledgeville Historic Newspaper Archive (1808-1920), and the Red and Black Archive (1893-2006). Access these archives here.