In advance of Peachtree City’s 50th birthday next year, city historians are issuing a clarion call for city-related artifacts and photographs.

Historians are urging residents to dig through their belongings and photo albums and bring them by the library on any one of four separate upcoming weekend dates.

During those collection dates, volunteers will have photo scanners on hand so they can be returned to their owner.

The city is looking for letters, literature, commemorative mugs and other trinkets such as playbills.

“We’d like to see artifacts that help tell the story of an event or period of time in Peachtree City’s history,” said Rebecca Watts, library liaison to the Peachtree City Historical Preservation Society. “The lay of the land was quite different thirty or forty years ago. In fact, there are great changes in just ten years’ time! We don’t just need arrowheads and pottery shards to inform our history.”

Several artifacts already in the collection include a playbill from the 1976 drama “The McIntosh Trail,” which depicted the area of the early 1800s, a photo of the city’s first motel that was taken by county historian Carolyn Cary (the hotel was built in the 60s, later became the Drake Medical Center and was demolished 20 years ago), and a coffee mug from the This Week in Peachtree City newspaper that reprints a headline from Aug. 4, 1974 when the city’s population was 3,800.

The artifacts will be displayed at the library, and the photos will also be used to compile a pictorial history of the city they hope to publish in time for the anniversary celebration.

Donors will be asked to provide as much information about the materials as possible, and they may be asked to sign a release form. All contributors will also be asked to sign a deed of gift agreement and may be eligible for a tax deduction receipt depending on the nature of the gift.

The artifacts and photos will be accepted on Saturdays Oct. 27, Nov. 10 and Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. to noon and on Sunday, Dec. 2 from 2-4 p.m. at the library.

For more information, contact Rebecca Watts or Jill Prouty at the library at 770-631-2520.

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