Georgia Project Records

During the 1990s, Dalton, Georgia’s growing carpet industry brought increasing numbers of Spanish speakers into the region and the local school system. In 1996, local attorney and former U.S. congressman Erwin Mitchell recognized the need for bilingual educators in Dalton Public Schools to teach the growing number of non-English speaking students. Mitchell and a small group of Dalton citizens founded the Georgia Project, a community based non-profit organization, to serve the academic needs of Latino and Hispanic students, their teachers, and their parents.

The Georgia Project developed an exchange program and brought qualified bilingual teaching assistants from Spanish-speaking countries to assist in Dalton Public Schools. The collection illustrates the partnership that developed between the Georgia Project, University of Monterrey in Mexico, and the City of Dalton and Whitfield County schools. Committee files, conference and meeting files, general files, and financial records document the administrative activities of the staff of the Georgia Project. Reference material including clippings, reports, and publications demonstrate the need in the community for bilingual education and teacher training. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, notes, reports, clippings, financial records, statistical reports, publications, photographs, and audiovisual material.

The Russell Library is open for research from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. For further information on the Georgia Project, Inc. Records, please contact russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

Post by Kat Stein, Head of Arrangement and Description, Russell Library