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Atlanta Archives: Decades of Culture, Music, Food & Civic Life

About the Creative Loafing Archives

Creative Loafing celebrated its 50th anniversary in June 2022, marking five decades of independent journalism and cultural coverage in Atlanta. As part of that milestone, we launched a long-term effort to bring the newspaper’s full archives online for public access.

From our first issue in 1972 through decades of change, relocations, and reinventions, Creative Loafing has documented the city’s evolving identity — through music, politics, art, food, and the people who shaped it. While some digital content from the 2000s is available online, most of the paper’s history remained stored in bound volumes, loose files, and outdated platforms.

Thanks to an ongoing partnership with the Digital Collections department at Georgia State University, the process of scanning, tagging, and restoring the archives is now underway. It’s a slow, careful effort that may take several years to complete. As of now, the digital collection includes issues published between June 1972 and May 1974, with more to be added over time.

This project is not just about preserving the newspaper’s history — it’s about offering a window into Atlanta’s last 50 years of cultural life. To explore more, visit the Atlanta Music Archives, Arts Archives, or Critics' Columns for stories that helped define the city.

Atlanta Music Archives

See our Atlanta Music Archives Page

50 YEARS: An interview with LiveNation's Peter Conlon

07/12/2022 5:53 PM

Peter Conlon has been an integral part of Atlanta's music scene since the days of CL's founding.

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BLUES BEYOND: 50 years of mojo workin’

06/20/2022 8:50 AM

The blues was happening in Atlanta in 1972 - for those who knew where to look

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Parrot Heads began with an ad in 'Creative Loafing'

06/20/2022 8:36 AM

The personal ads brought more than sex partners together

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Atlanta Arts Archives

CREATIVE ARTS: Black Arts in Atlanta

06/20/2022 10:20 AM

From Benny Andrews to Miya Bailey, the city's Black creatives continue to innovate in a variety of ways

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PHOENIX RISING: An ATL arts institution evolves

06/20/2022 10:02 AM

Like the city itself, the Woodruff Arts Center has risen from tragedy to triumph

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LISTENING POST: Five decades rewound

06/20/2022 7:54 AM

"An especially fertile period of cultural activity"

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Atlanta Food Archives

Best Of Atlanta 2005 Oral Pleasures

Creative Loafing's 2005 Critic's and Reader's picks for Best Oral Pleasures

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Best Of Atlanta 2011 Oral Pleasures

Creative Loafing's 2011 Critic's and Reader's picks for Best Oral Pleasures

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Best Of Atlanta 2017 Oral Pleasures

Creative Loafing's 2017 Critic's and Reader's picks for Best Oral Pleasures

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Atlanta Festival Archives

SCREEN TIME: To have and have not

06/20/2022 6:36 AM

How Atlanta moviegoing has transformed over the decades

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Atlanta Festivals 2006

12/31/2006 1:46 PM

Our Atlanta Festival recap for 2006

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Review - 1972 Atlanta Jazz Festival

07/01/1972 11:00 PM

Jazz Atlanta Style: Atlanta Jazz Festival, Hal Buice, July, 1972

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Atlanta Culture Archives

50 Years of loafing ... creatively

06/20/2022 11:53 AM

How far we've come

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Andrew Young - "More than its name implied"

06/20/2022 10:31 AM

Ambassador Young joins us in our look back

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Return to Forsyth County

06/20/2022 10:30 AM

Blatant racism in North Georgia

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Featured Critics and Writers

The Blotter

06/21/2024 11:59 PM

Lauren Keating, our Blotter Diva, compiles reports from official Atlanta Police Department files and area media.

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Thank you, Debby

06/20/2022 10:28 AM

Grazing, liberalism, and a paradigm shift

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STREET TALK: What was going on?

06/20/2022 9:39 AM

Atlantans recall their history during our history

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