Perry Sprawls Historical and Heritage Preservation Project
 Mission and Methods

     A major effort of Perry Sprawls is the preservation and sharing of the History and Heritage associated with the many periods of his life and professional career.  These include his birthplace and home as a youth in rural Barnwell County, South Carolina, the Class of 1956 at Clemson, his 45 year career in the Department of Radiology at Emory,  the continuing development of medical imaging science and technology, and especially working with individual families in the preservation of their personal History and Heritage.

     A major emphasis of his efforts is the urgency of taking actions now to preserve valuable information as many sources are being lost or destroyed.  This includes experiences, knowledge, and memories that individuals can share now that must be captured before being lost forever.
   
He makes use of modern technology, including digital photography, i-Phones, the internet, and satellites to develop and share resources in the preservation of Family Heritages.

 
Rural South Carolina

Perry Sprawls was born and grew up on the Sprawls Heritage Farm in Barnwell County, South Carolina. The farm has  been in the Sprawls Family since 1812 and the house where he was born escaped burning during the Civil War because there was someone ill in the house. Yankee soldiers have been quoted as saying, "we don't burn houses with sick people in them."  They just burned the farm buildings and stole Grandfather's pony.  These stories, family photos and artifacts passed down through generations stimulated an interest and a desire to preserve the history and heritage of families and society as it was many years ago and that is being achieved through a variety of initiatives.

     Barnwell County Virtual Museum: www.bcvm.org
     The creation and donation to the community of the Barnwell County Virtual Museum by the Sprawls Family provided a foundation  for several other projects.  In addition to providing links to many sources of historical significance it enabled the development of virtual components or websites for the physical museums within Barnwell County.

     The museum for Perry's hometown, Williston, on the web at: https://www.bcvm.org/williston/museum houses two exhibits he developed, the early telephone and telegraph systems from the time of his childhood.  These were developed from his memory and a collection of old equipment of the period.  Of special interest is an operating replica of an old telegraph system where young people can experiment with sending messages with Morse code and compare it to text-messaging as done today.

    The development of the website for the for the Agricultural Heritage Museum:  https://www.bcvm.org/agricultureheritage/ provided Perry with the opportunity to use some of his early experiences growing up on the farm to develop meaningful exhibits to preserve this part of our rural South Carolina heritage.


   
 Virtual Dunbarton: https://www.bcvm.org/Dunbarton/ .  Dunbarton, SC was a small rural town not very far from the Sprawls Farm.  In the early 1950s it was included in a large area taken over by the Federal Government for the construction of the Savannah River Project, a facility for the production of nuclear bombs. It was to become known locally as the "bum plant". All residents were moved away along with their homes and other property. The town of Dunbarton and the surrounding community was completely eliminated.  Perry created the Virtual Dunbarton website and works with the displaced residents to add information about families, photographs of the relocated homes, and much more. 

     Newspaper and Journal Publications:  Through a continuing series of historical articles published both in the Barnwell County newspaper and the journal of the Aiken Barnwell County Genealogical his effort is to enhance the interest and appreciation for local history, especially among the younger residents and students.  

 

Clemson University

     Clemson is very significant in Perry's life having graduated with three degrees, B.S.,M.S., Ph.D., and received the 2017 Distinguished Service Award, it is his Class of 1956 that is special. This was at the time of the transition of Clemson College from a military school to a co-educational institution soon to become Clemson University. Student life in the military cadet corps provided a special opportunity for young men to develop close relations and lifelong friendships. Living together in the military units, especially the Company, was in many ways like a family. The Class of 1956 was to become one of the last to have these special relationships that would last for lifetimes.  To preserve this special heritage Perry  provides the class website:   http://www.sprawls.org/Clemson1956/ . This included biographies of deceased classmates. 

Emory University

     Perry was on the faculty for 45 years and is now Distinguished Emeritus Professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences.  This includes the continuing service as Department Historian.  The combination of his memories and collection of documents, photographs, and other artifacts over the years contribute to the Radiology Department History website he created: https://med.emory.edu/departments/radiology/about-us/our-history/index.html .  In addition to early history of the Department a special effort is the development and publication of biographies for all Emeritus Faculty.

Radiology Science and Technology

     As a physicist specializing in the science and technology of radiology and medical imaging for over a half century Perry experienced and was often involved in many of the innovations and developments that are now history...specifically including mammography, computed tomography (CT), and earlier methods of x-ray imaging or radiography. This provided the background and knowledge to author these historical articles that are published in an internal journal and are available online.

THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN MAMMOGRAPHY: A CONTINUING QUEST FOR VISIBILITY

FILM-SCREEN RADIOGRAPHY RECEPTOR DEVELOPMENT, A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

THE MANY STEPS AND EVOLUTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY TECHNOLOGY AND IMAGING METHODS, THE QUEST FOR ENHANCED VISIBILITY THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

A special interest for many years has been the discovery of x-radiation in Germany and research work of the discoverer  Professor Roentgen.  Perry's investigation has included several trips to Germany and visits to Roentgen's laboratory and several other related sites.  Perry's visual illustrations of Roentgen's experiments are recognized as a significant contribution to the understanding of this major historical event and have been used by him in presentations both in the US and internationally, including Germany.

A  related publication:  ROENTGEN’S INVESTIGATION DETERMINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF X-RADIATION

 
Cemeteries and Columbariums

      In years past, and especially in rural communities, families often had cemeteries on the family farms or other available places. Over time many of these smaller cemeteries have become neglected and lost, overgrown with vegetation, and are becoming destroyed.  Recognizing that these often are vital links to the past that need to be preserved led to two specific activities.  The first, with the help of some local residents, was to search for and attempt to locate every old cemetery in Barnwell County, SC.  Using modern satellite technology their GPS locations were measured and posted on the Barnwell County Virtual Museum website.  It is now possible for interested persons to use that to obtain aerial photos and maps showing the location of the old, and maybe lost, cemeteries. A continuing activity is to encourage and assist families and communities to use the Find A Grave program to create  websites for cemeteries and columbariums  that will provide permanent and accessible information on internments along with the possibility of adding many family details. An example used here is the old Sprawls Family Cemetery that is physically located in a wooded and difficult to reach place on the old plantation.  However, with the website (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2386326/sprawls-cemetery) it can now be “visited” by family members from anywhere in the world.

A special project is locating, photographing, and providing permanent online memorials for abandoned and neglected African-American Cemeteries that were relocated from the Savannah River Site  including these two
: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2590778/canaan-fair-methodist .
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2598512/white-pond-cemetery

At the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church he works with the families of deceased members interred in the Columbarium to provide permanent online memorials:  https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2585495/black-mountain-presbyterian-columbarium .

Individuals and Families

An ongoing major effort is to encourage  individuals and families to take actions now, before items and memories are lost, to find, organize, preserve, and share the representations of their family history and heritage. This is best achieved with the different generations working together.  Specific details on how this can be achieved are provided in some in-class presentations, newspaper articles, with a complete summary on the website: www.sprawls.org/heritage .

Charlotte Sprawls is a major collaborator in this effort and provides this example for her maternal family: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136116408/edith-williams .