Richard Hyatt: David Owings uses images to tell Columbus' story

David Owings doesn’t consider himself an expert on the history of Columbus, but he has produced a book that brings its story alive in 127 compact pages.

When Arcadia Publishing Co. wanted to add a book on the city to its “Images of America” series, they turned to Owings, an archivist at Columbus State University who is constantly surrounded by rare papers and grainy photographs that document the community’s past.

“The story isn’t new, but I hope the images are ones you haven’t seen before,” said Owings, a historian who presents history in venues other than the classroom.

Since 1993, Arcadia has produced more than 9,000 titles that preserve the history of communities all over the country. Theirs is a cookie-cutter approach. Each book is the same size and devotes a set number of pages to text and photographs with emphasis on old black-and-white pictures. Owings didn’t deviate from the formula, but readers familiar with local history will appreciate his effort to locate fresh pictures of stale subjects.

“Columbus” touches on events old-timers would like to forget. There are scenes from anti-union demonstrations on city streets, and he puts white-robed members of the Ku Klux Klan on the steps of the Government Center, which wasn’t built until 1968. Retrieving photos from the Library of Congress, he shares the hardscrabble faces of youngsters who once pulled shifts in local cotton mills.

“This isn’t an original work. It is a synthesis of many stories told in a compact manner,” Owings said. To tell the story, he went beyond the walls of CSU’s Schwob Memorial Library. He includes images from a variety of sources from here to Washington.

“But the image had to exist. How do you tell the story of slavery without photographs? You find ads for slave markets and pictures of Blind Tom and Horace King,” said Owings, a native son who graduated from Glenwood, CSU and Auburn University.

The book sells for $21.99 and is available at Barnes & Noble, Dinglewood Pharmacy, the Columbus Museum, Wynnton Hardware and the CSU Bookstore. A book signing will be held at 6 p.m. Oct 2 at Barnes & Noble.

Go meet him. Watch his excitement as he shows you the finer points of his cover photo. “Look at this bus,” he said. “It’s going to Wildwood Circle.”

Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: David Owings uses images to tell Columbus' story."