How can you share your story?

1. Help add items to the timeline of Columbus, Georgia history by contacting us at Genealogy@cvlga.org.

2. Create an oral history.

Image reads: Oral histories can contain irreplaceable first-hand accounts of our local history. If you are inspired by the oral history on our Mildred L. Terry page, you can create your own! Email us at Genealogy@cvlga.org or stop in our Genealogy and Local History Room located at Columbus Public Library for an oral history kit. The kit contains: Insights and educational information on oral histories, Question prompts, How to record an oral history and How to share your story with us.

Record your Oral History at Columbus Public Library:

Reserve a time to be assisted by genealogy staff in recording an oral history. Technology will be set up for you, so all you have to do is press record. After the recording, we'll assist you in creating an account and uploading the oral history to StoryCorps. Recordings can be done alone or with a loved one, and questions are available to help guide the conversation. Call us at (706) 243-2681 for a reservation.

3. Submit Items for Digitization

Do you have items that contribute to the preservation of Columbus, Georgia history? We can help you digitally preserve and provide access to them for our community.

What are we looking for? See below:

The image is of a Civil Rights march where the central figure holds up a fist.

Black Lives Matter March 2020

The item on the right is a great candidate for digitization because:

It follows Chattahoochee Valley Library's Collection Development Policy
Contributes something that isn't already part of the Chattahoochee Valley Library's holdings at the Digital Public Library of Georgia
It is of significant value to local history
The item is something our community would be interested in viewing and preserving
The quality of the picture itself is high
We obtained the permission of the owner to digitize the item
The rights to the item have been clarified

Staff will evaluate any submitted item and contact you about whether or not we can have it digitized. Selected items will be housed at the Digital Library of Georgia as part of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries holdings. Find out more information below about how to determine the appropriate rights status of your item.

If you are not the author of the item, please get in touch with our staff, and we will assist you in evaluating whether or not we can legally digitize the item.
If you are the author, you have several rights or licenses you can apply to the associated item(s). These rights determine where people can display your item, if they can adapt or change your item, if they have to give you credit, and if they can use it in any way or for educational and commercial uses. Choosing a license can be difficult, and our staff can make the process much easier. The form below will help our team start the conversation of choosing what license is best for you.
For more detailed information, please see "About Creative Commons Licenses Website"

If you’d like to donate materials for digitization anonymously or have questions about the process, please call our service desk at (706) 243-2681 or email us at Genealogy@cvlga.org.