digATL | The Digital Atlanta Portal

No one expected Atlanta to win the bid to host the 1996 Olympics, including most Atlantans. The ’96 Games would be the one hundredth anniversary of the modern games, and Athens, Greece, home of the modern Olympiad, had put in a bid. Atlanta, seen by many, was not even a long shot as host but an Atlanta lawyer Billy Payne was determined to win the bid. But Atlanta did win over Athens in September 1990. Dubbed by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Samaranch as the “most exceptional” Olympics, thirty years later, the summer’s legacy for Atlanta is still complicated. Was hosting the Games ultimately just an opportunistic business venture, or was it motivated by a real desire to show off “the city too busy to hate”? Between a serial bomber, a charismatic lawyer and a city searching for its identity, the conclusion is still mixed to this day.

During the 1970s, Georgia State University archaeologists conducted systematic excavations associated with the construction of the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail lines. This project recovered the material remains of Atlanta’s past, and these materials represent the single most comprehensive archaeological collection of Atlanta’s history. In addition, the excavations themselves are among the pioneering projects of urban archaeology in the then nascent field of CRM (Cultural Resource Management). Thus, just the excavation archive, which is part of the collection, is invaluable for the history of archaeology in the US, especially the burgeoning new field of urban archaeology. The entire collection (440 medium-sized “banker” boxes housing over 100,000 artifacts and all the accompanying documentation and excavation archive) has recently been returned to GSU. Showcasing significant “moments” in the life of the city, including several Civil War sites associated with the Battle of Atlanta, the majority of the collection corresponds to the late 19th and early 20th century, the time of Atlanta’s rebirth as a major metropolitan area, the collection opens immense opportunities for faculty and student research and public education and outreach. Furthermore, it will facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations within GSU, as well as with other universities in the Atlanta-area for the curation, conservation, study, and exhibition of the artifacts and archive.