DALTON, Ga. — An historic scrapbook documenting the history and progress of the city of Dalton has been digitized and added to the Digital Library of Georgia. Funding for this project was provided by Georgia HomePLACE, the digitization unit of the Georgia Public Library Service, in partnership with the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System.

The scrapbook, which can be viewed at https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zgk/text/pdfs/csb.pdf, is a window into Dalton’s past. Created by representatives of civic organizations and community leaders, the scrapbook was part of a submission package to the Georgia Power Co.’s 1949 Champion Home Town Contest. The book includes many black-and-white photographs of Dalton during the late 1940s, as well as hundreds of newspaper clippings, typescript documents and original illustrations all boosting the city’s prolific textile industry. Emblazoned in chenille on the cloth-bound scrapbook cover are the words, “Dalton, Ga., Bedspread Center of the World.”

“The textile industry and the mill village culture unites many Georgians,” said Darla Chambliss, director of the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System. “We are delighted to partner with HomePLACE to provide greater access to this ‘fuzzy and irreplaceable piece of history’ for many, many neighbors and friends.”

The scrapbook provides details about Dalton’s business and industry, education, agriculture, tourism and municipal development. Researchers, historians and genealogists will find rich source material, including economic reports, club rosters and before-and-after shots of building and infrastructure improvements around town. K-12 students and educators can use these local, historical materials to supplement social studies curricula.

“The scrapbook a reminder of the broader, national sense of lively small town pride and civic engagement endemic to the post-war years,” HomePLACE director Angela Stanley said. “Viewing artifacts such as this through the lens of history, we can ask important questions about which citizens are included in its pages — and which aren’t.”