Atlanta History Center
Atlanta History Center is a history museum and research center located in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. The Museum was founded in 1926 and currently consists of nine permanent, and several temporary, exhibitions. Atlanta History Center’s campus is 33-acres and features historic gardens and houses located on the grounds, including Swan House, Smith Farm, and Wood Family Cabin. Atlanta History Center’s Midtown Campus includes the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum. The History Center’s research arm, Kenan Research Center, includes 3.5 million resources and a reproduction of historian Franklin Garrett's (1906–2000) office. Atlanta  History Center holds one of the largest collections of Civil War artifacts in the United States.   Exhibitions. Atlanta History Center operates three types of exhibitions: permanent, temporary, and traveling. History. Atlanta History Center was founded in 1926 as the Atlanta Historical Society (AHS). Initially, the society operated as an institution for historical discussion and appreciation but, by the next year, began publishing the Atlanta Historical Bulletin. The periodical was later named and was published until 2006. The publication has since been digitized and is searchable on Atlanta History Center’s online database, Album. Walter McElreath an Atlanta lawyer, legislator, and  author for whom the Center's McElreath Hall is named was the first leader of the Atlanta History Center. Other founders and early officers included Ruth Blair and Franklin Garrett. In the early days the organization rented a ground floor space in the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel, and later a space in the Erlanger Theater building on Peachtree. In 1946 the group bought the Neel Reid designed Willis B. Jones home at the corner of Peachtree Street and Huntington Road as its headquarters. The Georgian mansion at 1753 Peachtree allowed the group to store and display its large collection of artifacts  and photos. Lack of parking and maintenance issues on the Jones home sparked another search for a new headquarters. In 1966 the group used money from Walter McElreath's estate to purchase the 23-acre Swan House property on Andrews Drive. This property became the current main campus of the History Center. (After it was sold by the Society, the Jones home was rescued from demolition by others and coincidentally moved to 520 West Paces Ferry Road about one mile west of the current location of the Center) In 1986 the still relatively small group received the DuBose Collection of  Civil War artifacts, donated by Mrs. Beverly M. DuBose Jr. In 1989, the Atlanta Historical Society built the current museum to house the DuBose collection. In 1990, the Atlanta Historical Society was renamed Atlanta History Center. The $15 million museum opened in 1993 with five exhibitions, including its first signature Atlanta history exhibition, Metropolitan Frontiers. An $11 million expansion, finished in 1996, added two new permanent exhibitions. The Kenan Research Center library was later expanded and the gardens reorganized, with a fourth permanent exhibition added, Down the Fairway with Bobby Jones. In 2014, the city of Atlanta announced  its intentions to relocate the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama and its artifacts to Atlanta History Center, including the antebellum Western & Atlantic locomotive, the Texas. The museum constructed an expansion to house the 360-degree panoramic painting, as well as the Texas locomotive, and other pieces in the Cyclorama collection. After a careful restoration, the Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama opened to the public February 22, 2019.