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1936 Gainesville tornado now on digital

By By Jerry Gunn
Posted 2:18PM on Thursday 28th June 2007 ( 18 years ago )
GAINESVILLE - A 71-year-old film showing the April 1936 Gainesville tornado devastation is now available to anyone with access to a personal computer.

The Digital Library of Georgia has the vintage 32-minute black and white film according to Hall Library System Assistant Director Lisa MacKinney.

The new site is,'The 1936 Gainesville Tornado: Disaster and Recovery'.

"It was shot at the time of the 1936 Gainesville Tornado that devastated so much of this area," MacKinney said

The film, now believed shot on the scene by a fire fighter, focuses on the devastation of the commercial and governmental center of Gainesville, but also includes footage of damage to nearby residential areas.

It features the damage to the public square, the county courthouse, the Georgia Power Company,the Cooper Pants Factory, and the First Methodist Church.

The tornado, part of a massive tornado outbreak across the Deep South that also heavily damaged Tupelo, Mississippi, is considered the fifth deadliest in U.S. history.

Recovery efforts involving many local, regional, state, and national resources eventually rebuilt Gainesville and led to the 1938 dedication of the new city hall and county courthouse by President Franklin Roosevelt.

MacKinney said it is available through the Digital Library or the Galileo site using a Hall County library card number and P-I-N number.

"Go to the Digital Library of Georgia or Galileo and you can access it either way with your Hall County library card or any PINES library card," MacKinney said.

MacKinney added the link to Galileo takes viewers to the '1936 Gainesville Tornado' site.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/6/87700

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