Transylvania Club (Sandersville, Ga.)

The Transylvania Club of Sandersville was organized in 1908 with a membership of 18 unmarried ladies. At the Club's second meeting, it was voted that the Club establish a public library as its primary project. The library opened May 12, 1909 in the Masonic Building, which was located on the town square. It was housed there until 1921 when a fire destroyed the building and most of its contents. Undaunted, the members began anew, and in 1925 The Transylvania Club purchased the antebellum home and law offices of Colonel Richard Lee Warthen. The Transylvania Club's continued support of the library was so successful that a new building with state of the art technology was built in 1998. The Rosa M. Tarbutton Memorial Library, located on South Harris Street, is now the official public library of Washington County. The Club continues to house its offices and collections in the Warthen house. In 1932, Louise Irwin, a Transylvania Club member, conceived and executed the design of the Georgia Historical Plates as part of the upcoming 1933 Georgia Bicentennial Celebration. She suggested the project to the Transylvania Club as a celebration of the Bicentennial and the 25th anniversary of the Club. Miss Louise Irwin's design consisted of a set of 12 dinner-sized plates each with a different event, location or person(s) in Georgia's history depicted in the center. Encircling these subjects and contained within a border of cotton, peaches, Cherokee roses and boughs of long-leaf pine are more historical Georgia subjects- The Savannah, Fort Frederica, Liberty Hall, Crawford W. Long's home, and Bethesda Orphanage. The seal of Georgia with the state motto, "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation", appears at the lower center of the border. Words taken from the State Creed, "non sibi sed aliis" (not for self but others) are entwined above the state seal. Transylvania Club website. http://www.gaplates.com/plates.html (viewed December 10, 2008)