Kate Daly, from the Metro Atlanta area, is a Master of Heritage Preservation student with a concentration in Public History. She received her Film and Video B.A. from Georgia State in 2012, with a minor in Photography. Before enrolling in the Public History program, she worked as a freelance photographer and filmmaker. The historic aspects of film and photographic technologies and materials motivated her to pursue a degree in Public History.

She currently works in the Digital Library Services department at Georgia State and is helping to digitize the “Planning Atlanta – A City in the Making, 1930s-1990s Photographs” project. She volunteers at Fernbank Museum of Natural History, assisting in the creation of a photograph catalog for internal marketing purposes. She also volunteers at the Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection division within the Special Collections Library at the University of Georgia, where she is working to organize and digitize the Avery Home Movie Collection in order to provide greater accessibility to the materials.

Her interests in public and digital history have their roots in the relationship between media and history by looking at photographs and films (home movies and town films, specifically) through a sociological and historical lens. Other interests include the chemical preservation of film materials to elongate their lives and to prevent further decay, and the use of digital means to provide accessibility for potential audiences that may not have otherwise had the opportunity to view original collections which remain in fragile or otherwise inaccessible states. Her current research project is the preservation and digitization of the Avery Home Movie Collection as it is a rare and diverse look into the lives of residents of towns in southern Georgia.

Posts by Kate Daly include:

“Interactivity of Digital Media at the Forefront of Scholarship”

“Scholarly Sustainability and Use on the Digital Platform”

“Dissemination of Digital History”

“Tagging Assignment: Archives”

“Atlanta Beltline Collections”

“Online Exhibit Show & Tell”

“Research Tool Review”

“Digital Site Review: The Roaring Twenties”

Research topic:

Kate’s research topic will focus on The Wren’s Nest in the West End and it’s original owner, Joel Chandler Harris, who reproduced many famous Uncle Remus stories, and also popularized the original Br’er Rabbit stories.  The Wren’s Nest now acts as both a house museum and a place for young writers to hone their work.  The Atlanta Beltline runs through the Historic West End neighborhood, only a few blocks from The Wren’s Nest, which has opened up the area to greater numbers of people to discover this hidden gem.  The Beltline West End trail falls on the Westview Cemetery, where Harris is currently buried.  The house museum has been in the area since 1870, has participated in events put on by The Beltline, and a mural along the West End trail features the character of Uncle Remus.  This project will include information regarding Harris’ influence through the recording of these oral stories, as well as his contributions to the Atlanta history through both these stories and his journalistic endeavors with the Atlanta Constitution.