The exhibition is in conjunction with the meeting on campus of the Dictionary Society of North America and was curated by Fredric Dolezal of the Department of English at UGA with assistance from Anne Myers Devine and Mary Linneman of Hargrett.

Charles B. La Hatt family papers, ms 3778

Charles Burdge La Hatt (1839-1908) was born in Muscogee County, Georgia, son of Charles Henry La Hatt (1796-1872) and Elizabeth Windham (1824-1906). He was a teacher and Methodist minister, served in Terrell Light Artillery, and married Annie Engram (1844-1901) of Eufaula, Alabama. They later lived in Gainesville, Georgia, where he founded Methodist College of Georgia. The collection consists of correspondence, writings and printed material and the majority of the letters are between Charles La Hatt and his fiancée Annie from 1861 to 1865 in which he gives detailed descriptions of the camps around Savannah, Georgia – Camp Ashby, Camp Boyle, Camp Jackson, and Camp Ogeechee. Although he was not involved in any battles, he describes some that occurred nearby at Fort McAllister (1863 January 26 and 1863 February 14), Fort Sumter (1863 April 14), and the “Nashville” explosion (1863 March 1). 

Camden Evans letters, ms 3756

Camden Evans (1838?-1864) enlisted in the 45th Alabama Volunteers, Company C in 1862. He married Susan Emma Laney in 1861, daughter of Robert P. Laney of Russell County, Alabama, and died of a wound received on July 20, 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia. The collection consists of letters Evans wrote to his wife and her father in Columbus, Georgia, from 1862 to 1864, which he wrote from numerous camps including Tupelo, Mississippi, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Ringgold and Dalton, Georgia. In his letters he complained about how badly privates were treated and the lack of food and clothing. He asked Mr. Laney to bring him a boy to wash his clothes and forage for food, and he constantly tried to arrange for a furlough or a substitute. He also gave his opinions of Generals Grant, Johnson, Bragg and Hardee, and mentioned some details of battles.

Sturges family letters, ms 3764

John R. Sturges (1827-1862) served in Co. A, 3rd Georgia Regiment, “Burke Guards” and was killed at the battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia, on July 1, 1862. His brother William U. Sturges (1816-1884) was a businessman in Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia, and was married to Georgia Anna Ward (1826-1905). The collection consists of letters written by William Sturges to his brother John beginning in 1844 while John was in college in Princeton, New Jersey and later studying law at Yale. The letters describe the social events and family life in Waynesboro with some mention of politics. After returning to Georgia, John was county surveyor for Burke County in 1852 and several letters addressed to him request his services. William’s letters to John continued while John’s regiment was in Portsmouth, Virginia in August 1861 and Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in December 1861, and contained local news of Georgia.

Samuel Mosely letters, ms 3782

Samuel Mosely was a Confederate private who served with the 58th Georgia Militia Regiment beginning in 1861. The collection consists of eleven letters written by Mosely between 1853 and 1861, addressed to various family members, but primarily to his wife, Olympia C. Mosely, and his mother. Mosely’s letters to his wife date from 1861, sent from Tennessee, and reported on his health, his travels and duties with the infantry, camp life, and discussed other relatives and mutual acquaintances. Mosely’s letters to his mother and siblings date from the 1850s and discuss family members, health, crops, and his life in Arkansas after moving from Georgia.

A number of collections documenting the Civil War have been digitized and are available online as part of America’s Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia through the Digital Library of Georgia.

The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library is open for research Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and Saturday from 1pm to 5pm, with the exception of University holidays and home football games. For more information, please visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl or call (706) 542-7123.

The goal of the exhibition is to revisit, reflect and inform on past events for a better understanding of the present day, according to Jan Levinson, an outreach archivist at the Russell Library.

The exhibition explores the interactions of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government and how the decisions made by each branch conflicted with one another, and with public opinion, in choosing a path for the U.S.

1973 was the year of the Roe v. Wade decision and the return of POWs from the war in Vietnam. It was the year President Richard Nixon proclaimed he was not a crook, even as the Watergate scandal unfolded on national television. It was the year of the Yom Kippur War, the Arab oil embargo, the launch of Skylab and passage of the Endangered Species Act.

“We originally considered an exhibit focused exclusively on the anniversary of the Watergate scandal,” said Levinson. “But after some preliminary research found that there were so many big events happening in 1973 that touched on our key collecting areas, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a look a multiple events.”

Both Levinson, who curated the exhibit, and Jill Severn, the Russell Library’s head of access and outreach, saw that the events of 1973 shared connections with current events and issues that Americans are struggling with today. “In creating the text and selecting objects from our collections, we tried to highlight the connections between past and present, as well as to prompt visitors to consider the interactions of various branches of government in dealing with public issues,” said Levinson.

The Russell outreach team will spend this summer planning a slate of public programs scheduled for the fall that will complement the key themes and topics of the exhibit. In the coming weeks they hope to launch an appeal to the public, soliciting photographs from 1973 for display in the gallery and on the Russell Library blog (www.rbrl.blogspot.com).

Construction advisory:  Lumpkin and Baxter Streets lane and road closures (Ongoing)

When: May 13, 2013 - June 13, 2013

Details: Lanes of Lumpkin and Baxter Streets adjacent to the Bolton Dining Commons construction site will be closed to traffic at various times during the period May 13 through June 13. Through traffic will be slowed, but will be maintained except for the following planned road closures: The block of Lumpkin Street adjacent to the Bolton site will be closed to all traffic on Sunday, June 2 through 5 a.m. Monday, June 3. The block of Baxter Street adjacent to the Bolton site will be closed to all traffic on Sunday, June 9 through 5 a.m. Monday, June 10. During these closures, motorists must find an alternate route.

The footage was discovered as part of a donation to the Home & Amateur Movies Collection in the Walter J. Brown Media & Peabody Awards Archive. It is part of the Pebble Hill Plantation Footage.

If links become available to view the segments, we’ll update this post with links.

Sidney Pike papers

Sidney Pike’s (b. 1927) career in television began with producing and directing baseball programming for Boston’s WBZ-TV and WHDH-TV for 17 years. During his tenure at WHDH, Pike also produced a documentary, “American Way of Life,” using his own family for an exchange of television programming between Brazil and the U.S. from 1961 to 1963. In 1968, he moved to Atlanta to be the station manager of WQXI-TV, Channel 11. Three years later, Pike joined Ted Turner to develop the newly-purchased UHF channel, establishing a relationship that lasted for twenty-five years. He served as station manager of WTBS until 1980, when Turner created CNN. In 1984, Pike began travelling the globe selling CNN International programming and retired as President of CNN International Special Projects in 1996. The papers document the television broadcasting career of Pike at WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV, ABC, WQXI-TV, Channel 17, WTBS, and CNN. The collection includes scripts, correspondence, photographs, public domain research files, clippings, and audiovisual materials.

Aubrey Morris papers

Aubrey R. Morris (1922-2010) attended the University of Georgia and studied journalism (ABJ ’45). He began his career as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal covering the city of Atlanta and city hall. After thirteen years at the Journal, he joined WSB-TV and helped develop the first radio news department in Georgia. He served thirty years as news and editorial director at WSB, retiring in 1987. The papers include drafts, researched and written by Morris, of several WSB Radio productions including editorials (1981-1989), Dateline America (1975-1976), and Georgia Crossroads (1983). The collection includes certificates, photographs, plaques, scrapbooks, and audiovisual material related to Morris’ career. There are audio recordings of Dateline America, The World Today (1983-1984), and Georgia Crossroads (1983) and several films including Ernest Vandiver in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Furman Bisher papers

Furman Bisher (1918-2012) began his career in journalism as the editor of the Lumberton (N.C.) Voice in 1938 and later joined the Charlotte News in 1940, becoming sports editor eight years later. In 1950, he moved to Georgia to work at the Atlanta Constitution as sports editor and then joined the Atlanta Journal as sports editor and columnist on February 3, 1957. From 1950 to 1968, Bisher was also a moderator on the weekly Atlanta TV show, “Football Review.” After covering a multitude of major sporting events and writing more than 15,000 columns and articles (in addition to twelve books), Bisher retired from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2009. This collection primarily consists of notebooks created by Bisher to record sporting events, article ideas, and interviews with various athletes. The notes include coverage of the World Series, Super Bowl, Masters, Kentucky Derby, and five Olympic Games. There are clippings documenting Bisher’s column from Charlotte News, Atlanta Journal, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The research/professional files include clippings, correspondence, and printed materials about the Masters.

Ray Moore papers

Ray Moore (b. 1922) grew up in North Carolina and served in the Army during World War Two as a radio broadcaster with the Tenth Armored Division. He utilized the GI Bill to attend Columbia University and was able to train in at NBC Studios. After working in Johnson City, Tennessee, he joined WSB Radio in 1951 and then WSB-TV the following year. Moore worked for the station for 18 more years, serving as news director of WSB until 1969 when he left to join WAGA-TV (Channel 5). In 1974, he retired from broadcasting entirely. Moore produced a number of documentaries on penal reform, school desegregation, hunger, religion, and urban development. This collection consists primarily of news scripts from WSB-TV (1964-1968) and WAGA-TV (1969-1975) about a number of topics including urban development and race relations. Also included are scripts for two of Moore’s documentaries, The Search and Center of Creation.

The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library is open for research Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, with the exception of University holidays. For more information, please visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl or call (706) 542-7123.

The symposium will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Building.

Croxall’s talk is titled “Harder Better Faster Stronger: Books from the Future.” Technology is not only the subject of his work, but also the method of his research and pedagogy; his work in the digital humanities uses geospatial tools to plot literary events, and he writes about integrating digital tools with his teaching in journals such as Writing and Pedagogy and The Chronicle of Higher Education’s blog, ProfHacker.  He co-edited an issue of Neo-Victorian Studies on the subject of steampunk and is a cluster editor for #alt-academ.

The symposium also will include a workshop on futurist books led by Jed Rasula, Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor of English, and, a UGA faculty panel featuring Eileen Wallace, Mark Callahan, Elizabeth Davis, and Christopher Eaket. An exhibit curated by doctoral students in the English department will be featured in the gallery of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The event is sponsored by the Willson Center for Arts and Humanities, Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE), and the Department of English.

An exciting new initiative began today when the Digital Public Library of America launched its first six service and content hubs. The hubs promise to unleash millions of historical, scientific and cultural documents from many of America’s national and state institutions, making them easily searchable as digital records to anyone with an Internet connection.

In Georgia, the Digital Library of Georgia serves as the regional hub. The DLG is an initiative of GALILEO, Georgia’s statewide virtual library, and it is based at the University of Georgia Libraries.

The Digital Public Library of America’s common platform also provides an open programming interface and metadata structure that will allow for free and innovative use of these materials by educators, researchers, programmers and the public. Taking part in the launch as the first service hubs are state and regional libraries in Massachusetts, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Minnesota and the Mountain West region.

Driven by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the Knight Foundation has supported the project since 2011 as part of its library initiative that aims to reimagine libraries as centers for community engagement and digital access. For us, the goal of Digital Public Library of America aligns with Knight’s strong belief that informed communities are able to best determine their own interests. And we are thrilled to be part of a project that furthers this strong vision of engagement.

The Digital Library of Georgia is a massive aggregation in its own right with one million objects in more than 200 collections from 60+ institutions and 100+ state government agencies. It also provides a portal to two jewel collections: this Civil Rights Digital Library and the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries’ Civil War Portal.

Associate Director of the Digital Library of Georgia and DPLA service-hub Director Sheila McAlister is excited to see what happens when Georgia’s content mixes with other local and national collections when DPLA launches in April. “Users all over the country are going to be exposed to content that tells the story of the country in a way they haven’t been able to do before,” she explained, saying she sees  ”so much potential to help fill out that nuanced history of our country.”

The Digital Library of Georgia‘s first exhibit for the Digital Public Library of America will focus on American social movements and feature some of the collection’s unique civil rights content. Current partners span libraries, archives, museums and educational institutions of every size.

Below, McAlister talks more about her hope for the project’s future and what she sees as major challenges, including metadata alignment across the diverse institutions involved, access to materials that are not in the public domain, and keeping project momentum and interest going so that the general public becomes just as excited about digital library as librarians are.

Could tell me about your organization and how you became involved with the Digital Public Library of America?

S.M: The Digital Library of Georgia is the cultural heritage digitization initiative for the state of Georgia. We work with libraries, archives, museums,and other institutions of education, and we help them take their important historical content and put it online for everybody all over the country to use—all over the world, even.

What’s unique about the collections that you have at the Digital Library of Georgia?

S.M: Aside from the wonderful Georgia-related content, the Digital Library of Georgia also is the host of two other projects that have nationwide import, and that would be the Civil Rights Digital Library, which at its heart has about 30 hours of raw news footage of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. And then we’re also the host for the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries’ Civil War Portal. And so we’re hoping to bring all of that content along with our amazing Georgia content into national digital library.

Do you think those will be part of any of the first exhibitions for the Digital Public Library? can you give us a preview of what will be there?

S.M: As you know, each of the hubs is going to be doing an exhibit, and our exhibit is going to be on social movements and activism in the United States, so I imagine that we’re going to be featuring a lot of civil rights content.

So what local benefits do you think that your position as a service hub will end up providing?

S.M: The local benefits will be that we’re able to work with institutions that are really strapped for resources to help them bring forward their own content and share it with a larger community. And one of the things that we’re really hoping to do is work with smaller libraries in the state, so I think to me that’s particularly exciting, given the kinds of budget stresses that libraries in our state are having.

Can you give any indication of the number of different historical societies, libraries, groups that you all serve as a hub for right now?

S.M: I believe we serve as a hub for about 100 different institutions. That includes all three of the portals. Plus, we also work with over 100 agencies of the state government through our Georgia government publications database.

What different types of libraries and societies do you work with?

S.M: We work with everything from large research libraries—for example,  Emory, University of Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Tech—to small, public libraries. For example, we’ve done a number of projects with the Middle Georgia Archives, which is in Macon and is one of the Knight communities. We’ve also worked with historical societies, as well. A couple of the bigger ones like the Atlanta History Center and the Georgia Historical Society, both of which will be contributing content.

What affect do you think the Digital Public Library launch in April will have nationally—for libraries, for users, for other information providers?

S.M: I see it as a really exciting thing for libraries. The users all over the country are going to be exposed to content that tells the story of the country in a way they haven’t been able to do before. I think that only about 40 out of the 50 states have state-wide digital library initiatives, and there’s just really not one place where people can go to get content that really covers a lot of the different communities and histories. And DPLA is going to be that place. I’m really excited to see it grow in the future. There’s so much potential to help fill out that nuanced history of our country.

What challenges are you anticipating going forward after the launch, as the project grows and expands?

S.M: Some of the challenges are dealing with materials that are not in the public domain. So, that’s definitely something that I think is on the minds of not only the hubs, but also the project as a whole—how do we balance that and get people the kind of content that they want. I think another challenge is keeping the momentum going, and again, with tight budgets, our own state archives suffered really bad cuts over the last  year. Once the exciting big splash is over, how do we keep that momentum going and keep the interest going?

I hear that you’re the metadata brain behind the Digital Public Library.

Well, that’s exaggerating a little bit. I enjoy good, thorough metadata.

How has that experience been—trying to get all the metadata from all these really different types of portals aligning?

S.M: It’s a challenge, and I think really part of the challenge is balancing a boutique approach with getting as much out there as possible. So, we’re kind of working our way through that, and I think one of the things that we did with some of our constituent libraries was put a lot of effort into describing that content really, really well—from providing people with historic grounding in what’s going on in these clips, which are often unannotated; you have to go through and identify the people. It’s not useful to people unless they have that background information. For that project, we were able to do that. We’re not able to do that with all the projects, so we have to find that sort of sweet spot between the two.

For me, that’s challenging, because I wish I could do everything to that level, but the reality is that not everything can be that way. So we’ve been working a lot on automating and just thinking of new and different, faster ways to do things. I’m also really excited about some of the potential that the project is going to have to look at things like data, which at my institution, we love to do, but given the massive, massive amounts of data, and being on the ground, we don’t necessarily have the time to do that. And I’m really excited to see how the project leverages all of that together. And I’m hoping to learn new things and bring them back to Georgia’s digital library.

So what’s your hope for the Digital Public Library project going forward? What’s your big-vision dream?

S.M: I would like to see, again, more states and regions represented. I would like to really see the general public get behind it and embrace it and also see the value of libraries, which I think unfortunately they sometimes don’t do.

So how does that happen? How do we get the public to embrace it? Is that the library’s job?

S.M: I think it’s a grassroots kind of thing. Obviously, in the library community, there’s a lot of talk about the Digital Public Library. I don’t think it’s crossed into the general public as much, although I will say we did actually have a few individuals who were super excited about having their own personal items included in the archive. So, we’ve got to get the larger community, and I’m hoping that things like these exhibits—and maybe working with teachers and that kind of thing—that’s the way you hook people in.

By Annie Schutte, a librarian, teacher and consultant for Knight Foundation

An accompanying exhibit focuses on the year 1863 and features letters, diaries and publications from that year.

Due to its fragility, the document is displayed only one day a year — on Confederate Memorial Day.

Scheduled for 2-6 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, the event will spotlight faculty members who have formed innovative collaborations with the Special Collections Libraries and showcase the exhibits and collections of the libraries.

Toby Graham, deputy university librarian, will welcome guests in the auditorium (Room 285), at 2p.m.

“UGA faculty have integrated Special Collections holdings and spaces into their teaching in exciting and productive ways during the Russell Building’s first year,” Graham said. “We welcome faculty members to the open house to hear examples from their colleagues and to consider how the libraries can help them to enrich their own research and instruction.”

The event will begin with a panel discussion from 2-3 p.m., followed by an offering of 30-minute breakout sessions further exploring archivist/faculty partnerships from 3-4 p.m. The second half of the event will feature tours of the galleries and 30,000-square-foot collections vault; opportunities to meet staff, ask questions, and discuss future collaborations; and enjoy light refreshments from Big City Bread.

To attend, University faculty and graduate students providing instruction should register online at http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/facultyrsvp.html. For more information about the event contact Jan Levinson, outreach archivist at the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, (706) 542-5788, jlevinso@uga.edu.

The 28mm home movie, part of the Pebble Hill Plantation Film Collection (c. 1917-c. 1976), was donated to the University of Georgia Libraries’ Walter J. Brown Media Archives, the only public institution in Georgia devoted entirely to preserving unique moving images and sound from the state,  last year.  Pebble Hill, a hunting plantation located just outside Thomasville, was bought in 1896 by Howard Melville Hanna of Cleveland, Ohio, as a winter home. In 1901 he gave the property to his daughter, Kate Hanna Ireland, and her children Livingston and Elizabeth “Pansy” Ireland.  Pebble Hill’s trustees donated the family’s films to the Media Archives in order to preserve their unique scenes of the family and property.

“It is believed to be the only existing moving image of a baseball game between teams made up of African-American employees on Southern hunting plantations.  The precise date of the film is unknown, but based on photographs of Pebble Hill teams and from other films wound with this film, it appears to have been made around 1919,” said Margaret Compton, moving image archivist at UGA. The opposing team in the game is from Chinquapin Plantation, also situated just outside Thomasville.

More here: http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/earliest-known-plantation-baseball-game-film-discovered/

http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/

Born in England, Russell was a stage star from a young age in Canada before moving to New York to perform on Broadway. By the 1880s, she was one of the most popular and successful stage actresses—a contemporary of Ethel Barrymore, Edwin Booth and Maude Adams. In 1905, she traveled to England where she originated the role of Barbara Undershaft in George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara.”

The films are part of the Pebble Hill Plantation Film Collection (c. 1917-c. 1976), which includes Georgia’s earliest home movies and were donated to the Brown Archives last year. Pebble Hill, just outside Thomasville, was bought in 1896 by Howard Melville Hanna of Cleveland, Ohio, as a winter home. In 1901, he gave the property to his daughter, Kate Hanna Ireland, and her children Livingston and Elizabeth “Pansy” Ireland. Pebble Hill’s trustees donated the family’s films to the archives in order to preserve their unique scenes of the family and property.

“Twenty-eight mm film is an early home movie and industrial/educational film format that was on the market in the U.S. from 1913 through the late 1920s,” said Margie Compton, a film archivist at UGA. “Thankfully, collections like this which contain 28mm films are still coming to light and we are learning more about the format. We work with Colorlab in Rockville, Md., to provide us with new film 35mm preservation prints and digital masters so the public can continue to enjoy the films for another 100 years.”

Compton consulted a privately published history of the Hanna family. The history mentioned that the Irelands met Russell through a mutual friend, and that Russell’s home in Maine was later bought by Livingston Ireland. When one of the home movies showed a couple at a shingled cottage in a setting that looked like Maine, Compton focused on whether the couple was Russell and her actor husband, Oswald Yorke. Online images from the New York Public Library and from the archives at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. (where Russell spent her last years), indicated that it was probably Russell in the films.

Compton traveled to the Olin Library at Rollins College and showed the film to archivists Wenxian Zhang and Darla Moore, who preserve Russell’s papers and photographs, and to theater professor Jennifer Cavenaugh, who has researched and written about Russell. They confirmed that the couple in the film was Russell and Yorke, probably in the summer of 1917 or 1918 at Russell’s Maine home. They had never seen moving images of Russell.

For more information about the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/.

For information about the archives at Rollins College, see the archives website, http://www.rollins.edu/library/find/findarchives.html.

For the Annie Russell Theatre’s schedule and to purchase tickets, see http://www.rollins.edu/annierussell/.

For more information on Pebble Hill Plantation, see www.pebblehill.com.

Modeled roughly on StoryCorps, a national initiative partnered with National Public Radio and the Library of Congress, the First Person Project is smaller in scale but similar in concept, providing tools to would-be oral history interviewers and interviewees, including tips on how to create questions and conduct interviews. The project was inspired by the belief that everyone is an eyewitness to history, and that everyone, sometimes with a little encouragement, has a story to tell.

Six sets of partners will be accepted for this First Person Project session. Each audio recording session takes one hour to complete. Photographs will also be taken for each session. The Russell Library for Political Research and Studies will archive the interviews to add to its documentation of life in post-20th century Georgia and will provide participants with a free digital download of the recording and photographs. A $10 donation is suggested for each pair of participants.

Reservations are on a first-come first-serve basis and can be made by calling 706/542-5788 or registering online at http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/fpp/fpp_register.html.

For more information on this event and other upcoming First Person Project days, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706/542-5788.

Participants should meet in Room 268 of the Russell Special Collections Building, 300 S. Hull Street, in Athens.

To learn more about the Russell Library, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell.

Arthur W. McDonald collection of theatre engravings and playbills

Arthur W. McDonald, former chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the College of Charleston, is the author of several works about the Yorkshire theatre including The Yorkshire Stage, 1766-1803: A Calendar of Plays, Together with Cast Lists for Tate Wilkinson’s Circuit of Theatres (Doncaster, Hull, Leeds, Pontefract, Wakefield, and York) and the Yorkshire Company’s Engagements in Beverley, Halifax, Newcastle, Sheffield, and Edinburgh. The collection includes 17th and 18th century British theatre playbills and engravings documenting the Yorkshire theatre circuit and non-Yorkshire theatre. Of note are playbills and engravings related to the Kemble family, Elizabeth Inchbald, and productions at Drury Lane and Covent Gardens.

Sir John Glubb letters to Diane Hanson

Sir John Glubb (1897-1986), also known as Glubb Pasha, led and trained in the Trans-Jordan’s Arab Legion (1939-1956) and served in France during World War I. After leaving the Arab Legion, he lectured and wrote numerous books. The collection consists of letters (1971-1986) from Sir John Glubb in Mayfield, England to Diane Hanson. There are also printed obituaries and memorials, photographs, and several handwritten chapters of Glubb’s book The Way of Love. There are no letters from Hanson, but Glubb’s letters are filled with his opinions on politics, religion, women’s rights, and Middle East history.

Marie Mellinger collection

Marie Barlow Mellinger (1914-2006) was a teacher, naturalist, conservationist and scholar. She served as the first non-Atlanta president of the Georgia Botanical Society and authored the Atlas of Vascular Flora of Georgia. Mellinger led seminars titled “Incredible Wild Edibles” focused on wild flowers and plants suitable for eating as well as medicinal herbs. Additionally, she served as one of the plant advisors for the early Foxfire books. The collection consists of Mellinger’s index of flowering and nonflowering plants as well as slides, and several scrapbooks. The index includes illustrations, photographs, and cuttings from plants.

Frances Bryant Godwin papers

Frances Bryant Godwin (1892-1975) was primarily a sculptor, but also practiced sketching, photography, and watercolors. An example of her sculpture is on permanent exhibit at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. The collection consists of correspondence, journals, and other writings, notes regarding Godwin’s artistic ventures, as well as genealogical information about the Bryant and Godwin families. Photographs, estate materials, manuscripts, and sketches are also included.

The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library is open for research Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm, with the exception of University holidays. For more information, please visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl or call (706) 542-7123.

Russell Special Collections Library Room 271 (Auditorium).

Join the School of Social Work and the Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies and Research for the 2nd Annual Donald L. Hollowell Lecture, on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. The guest speaker will be Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Director General of the Foreign Service for the US State Department. A special reception will begin at 6:00 PM, followed by the lecture at 7:00 PM.  RSVP by March 27 to sswrsvp@uga.edu or by phone at 706-542-3364.

Thomas-Greenfield served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia from 2008 to 2012 prior to her appointment as director general of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources. She began her career in Foreign Service in 1982 and has served in Kenya, Nigeria, The Gambia, Jamaica, Pakistan and Switzerland. From 2006 to 2008, she was principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs and from 2004 to 2006 she was deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

In recognition of her work with refugees, Thomas-Greenfield received the 2000 Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs. She is also the 2007 and 2008 recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award.

Before joining the State Department, Thomas-Greenfield taught political science at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University and the University of Wisconsin.

The Donald L. Hollowell Lecture, which is in its second year, invites presenters to share their research in civil and human rights as well as social and economic sustainability. Obie Clayton Jr., the inaugural Donald L. Hollowell Distinguished Professor of Social Justice and Civil Rights Studies, developed the lecture to honor Donald L. Hollowell. Hollowell, a celebrated civil rights attorney, was the lead counsel in Holmes v. Danner, the landmark case that allowed admission for Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, the first African-American students to attend the university in 1961.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Social Work and the Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies.

Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (March 20) – In 23 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, Henry Aaron quietly rewrote baseball’s record books. Filmmaker Mike Tollin’s powerful, inspiring portrait from 1995 focuses particularly on Aaron’s grace, dignity and focus in the face of hate mail and even death threats as he closed in on Babe Ruth’s all-time career home run record of 714 in 1974.

Peabody Awards
The Peabody Awards, the oldest in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the Board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students, and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, visit www.peabodyawards.com.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection is one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country, with over 250,000 titles preserved in film, audio and videotape, and other recording formats. The only public archive in Georgia devoted solely to the preservation of audiovisual materials, the Brown Media Archives holds programs dating from the 1920s to the present day. For more information, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/index.html or visit our exhibit space in UGA’s Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.

Contact: Noel W. Holston, (706) 542-8983, nholston@uga.edu

For this film festival in brief, Peabody archivists will assemble a program of roughly two hours duration from a newly announced list of winners that will include examples of TV, radio and internet entertainment, news, documentaries and public service campaigns. Last year’s winners, for instance, included “Portlandia” and “Parks and Recreation,” news coverage of the Japanese tsunami, the website TED.com, and a South African public-service soap opera about the young, the restless and the threat of HIV infection.

The 10 a.m. winners-announcement webcast will be available at www.peabodyawards.com. A complete list of this year’s winners with short descriptions will be posted on the Peabody site after the webcast concludes.

The Peabody Awards, the oldest in broadcasting, are among the selective and coveted prizes in electronic media. The awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, see www.peabodyawards.com.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection is one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country, with over 250,000 titles preserved in film, audio and videotape and other recording formats. The only public archive in Georgia devoted solely to the preservation of audiovisual materials, the Brown Media Archives holds programs dating from the 1920s to the present day. For more information, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/index.html  or visit the exhibit space in the Russell Special Collections Building.

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (March 13, 7:00PM) – A grand slam, it captures a game, a time, a place and an extraordinary life. Greenberg became baseball’s first Jewish star in the 1930s even as anti- Semitism flared at home and raged in Europe. Playing for the Detroit Tigers, he won the American League’s MVP award twice and came within two home runs of tying Babe Ruth’s single-season record in 1938. A 2001 Peabody winner, the film by Aviva Kempner includes rare footage and excerpts from a 1984 interview by Dick Schaap with the original “Hammerin’ Hank” himself.

Peabody Awards
The Peabody Awards, the oldest in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the Board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students, and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, visit www.peabodyawards.com.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection is one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country, with over 250,000 titles preserved in film, audio and videotape, and other recording formats. The only public archive in Georgia devoted solely to the preservation of audiovisual materials, the Brown Media Archives holds programs dating from the 1920s to the present day. For more information, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/index.html or visit our exhibit space in UGA’s Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.

Contact: Noel W. Holston, (706) 542-8983, nholston@uga.edu

When It Was a Game (March 6, 7:00PM) – A 1991 Peabody winner from HBO Sports and Black Canyon Productions, it’s a lyrical and loving remembrance of the big leagues in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s assembled largely from footage shot by players as home movies. For anyone who’s nostalgic for the days before multi-millionaire salaries, corporate skyboxes and Astroturf, it’s a must-see.

Peabody Awards
The Peabody Awards, the oldest in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the Board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students, and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, visit www.peabodyawards.com.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection is one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country, with over 250,000 titles preserved in film, audio and videotape, and other recording formats. The only public archive in Georgia devoted solely to the preservation of audiovisual materials, the Brown Media Archives holds programs dating from the 1920s to the present day. For more information, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/index.html or visit our exhibit space in UGA’s Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.

Contact: Noel W. Holston, (706) 542-8983, nholston@uga.edu

“When It Was a Game” will be shown on March 6. A 1991 Peabody winner from HBO Sports and Black Canyon Productions, the film is a remembrance of professional baseball in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s assembled largely from footage shot by players as home movies.

“The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” will be shown March 13. The film looks at baseball’s first Jewish star in the 1930s— a time when anti-Semitism flared in the U.S. and raged in Europe. Playing for the Detroit Tigers, Greenberg won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award twice and came within two home runs of tying Babe Ruth’s single-season record in 1938. A 2001 Peabody winner, the film by Aviva Kempner includes rare footage and excerpts from a 1984 interview by Dick Schaap with the original “Hammerin’ Hank” himself.

“Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream” will be shown March 20. Aaron played 23 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves. Filmmaker Mike Tollin’s 1995 documentary focuses particularly on Aaron’s grace, dignity and focus in the face of hate mail and even death threats as he closed in on Babe Ruth’s all-time career home run record of 714 in 1974.

The films are all part of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country, with over 250,000 titles preserved in film, audio and videotape and other recording formats. The only public archive in Georgia devoted solely to the preservation of audiovisual materials, the Brown Media Archives holds programs dating from the 1920s to the present day.

For more information, see http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/index.html or visit the exhibit space in the Russell Special Collections Building.

A broadside is a sheet of paper generally printed on one side only and typically used as a poster to announce some event, proclamation or other matter. The Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library holds a collection of more than 2,000 historical broadsides dated 1746-1980s. The Broadsides Database serves as a finding aid for Hargrett’s broadsides holdings and provides digital versions of most broadsides. Researchers can search by title or date or simply browse the holdings by clicking here.

Broadside (1887) from the E. Merton Coulter Collection, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library

February 12, 2013 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Second Floor, Rm. 285
Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries

How should we build a strong vibrant community?
What are the challenges to achieving this goal?

The Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia invites you to participate in a community forum to share ideas and concerns about how communities work (and don’t work) together to tackle tough public issues.  Trained, nonpartisan moderators will guide the forum discussion.  The ideas gathered during the program, along with others happening around the country, will inform the development of a new National Issues Forums discussion guide that  will offer commonsense approaches  to transcending partisanship, breaking gridlock, and finding common ground  at the community level.  All are welcome; this program is free; there will be snacks! The Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia is the civic engagement program of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

Can’t make the program?  Share your 2 cents online… http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ACSCquestionnaire

Sponsored by: Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Contact: Jill Severn Director, Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia 706-542-5766

The charter is displayed annually on Founder’s Day, Jan. 27. Since Founder’s Day falls on a Sunday when the Russell Building is closed, it will be on view Monday. This is the 228th anniversary of UGA becoming the first state-chartered university in the nation, making the Charter one of the most significant documents in this country’s history.

To protect the ink of the parchment manuscript from further fading it is displayed to the public only once a year.

The history of the document, an editorial by John Olin Eidson that was published in The Georgia Review in 1951, images of the manuscript and a transcription can be found at:

http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/exhibit/charter/

The Docent Corps is a skilled group of volunteers who provide tours of the library galleries to visitors, ranging from fifth graders to adults. Docents are trained to highlight permanent and rotating exhibitions and to help increase awareness of the many resources offered by the three special collections libraries: The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The Walter J. Brown Media Archive and Peabody Awards Collections, and The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

“Participation in the docent program requires a substantial commitment of time and energy on the part of volunteers, but we think it is tremendously rewarding,” said Jan Levinson, Outreach Archivist with the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, who coordinates the program.

A 10-week training program provides an opportunity for docents to meet curators, archivists, and other special collections staff, learn about the collections and techniques for leading tours, and become familiar with all parts of the Special Collections Building. Follow-up meetings throughout the year provide opportunities to learn about new exhibits in the galleries and programs sponsored by the three special collections libraries.

“We are looking for applicants who are enthusiastic, flexible, and open to working with visitors of all ages,” Levinson said. “We don’t require prior experience in the arts and humanities, but a love of history and experience with teaching or public speaking is desirable.”

For more information about the training schedule and expectations, please visit the FAQ page. Interested individuals can apply online by visiting: http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/contribute/docentapp.html

Applications must be submitted by Friday, February 8, 2013. Please direct any questions to Jan Levinson at jlevinso@uga.edu or (706) 542-5788. Note: All candidates selected for admission to the docent program will be required to submit to a background investigation.

A poet and novelist, Mitcham—the only two-time winner of the Townsend Prize for Fiction—was not formally trained as a writer. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Georgia and spent his career as a psychology professor at Fort Valley State University where he taught for 30 years. His debut novel, The Sweet Everlasting (1996), and his second, Sabbath Creek  (2004), were both published by the UGA Press. He also twice has been given the Georgia Author of the Year Award, for his first novel and his book of poems Somewhere in Ecclesiastes (1991).

“In his novels and his poetry, Mitcham’s elegiac voice looks backward with fondness and discernment on a personal and regional past slipping rapidly beyond reach,” said Hugh Ruppersburg, senior associate dean of the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

A resident of Macon, Mitcham began teaching writing workshops at Mercer University in 2002. He also has served as adjunct professor of creative writing at UGA and Emory University, where he has directed the Summer Writers’ Institute.

Bambara is well known for her teaching and community service, in addition to her award-winning writing, which focused on African-American culture. Her first novel, The Salt Eaters, won the 1981 American Book Award and the Langston Hughes Society Award.

Born in New York City, Bambara lived in Atlanta several times during her career, including being writer in residence at Spelman College (1978-79), visiting professor in Afro-American studies at Emory University (1975) and instructor at Atlanta University (1979). She died in 1995.

Bambara did not separate civil rights from the fight for women’s equality. In 1970, she published The Black Woman, an anthology that made connections between the two struggles and included fiction, non-fiction and poetry by herself as well as such writers as Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker.

Mitcham and Bambara were elected to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame by a board of judges appointed by the University of Georgia Librarian. The board includes academicians, civic leaders and librarians, the heads of the University of Georgia Press and The Georgia Review, and recent Hall of Fame inductees. The board votes following the conclusion of the annual ceremony.

Making its debut at this year’s ceremony in September was a special issue of The Georgia Review, the university’s award-winning 65-year-old literary magazine, which features work by and commentary on 33 of the 43 Hall of Fame members.

“We really ought to call this group the ‘Georgia Writers in the World Hall of Fame,’ because there is nothing merely local or regional about so many of their achievements,” said Stephen Corey, editor of The Georgia Review. “One of my greatest pleasures in having produced this issue is the thought of copies going out across the United States, and in more limited fashion into many other countries around the world, to show readers what a universal group of writers is gathered here.”

The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame is administered by the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which holds the most comprehensive collection of books by Georgians in existence along with the papers of many Georgia writers.

A date for the 2013 induction ceremony has not been set. For more information, see here.

This February the First Person Project, an oral history series documenting the experiences of everyday Georgians, invites participants to tackle the topic of love. How did you meet your spouse? What do you remember about your worst breakup or most awkward date? Find an interview partner and join us to record stories about love, loss, and relationships in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Six sets of partners will be accepted for this First Person Project session, scheduled for Friday, February 8th between 9:00am and 4:00pm. Each audio recording session takes one hour to complete. Photographs will also be taken for each session. The Russell Library will archive the interviews to add to its documentation of life in post 20th century Georgia and will provide participants with a free digital download of the recording and photographs. Participants are charged a fee of $10 per group for the session.

If you have a friend or family member with a story to tell, become a part of the First Person Project. Reservations are on a first come first serve basis and can be made by calling 706-542-5788 or registering online at http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/fpp/fpp_register.html.

For more information on this event and other upcoming First Person Project days, please email russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

More About the First Person Project
Modeled roughly on StoryCorps, a national initiative partnered with National Public Radio and the Library of Congress, the First Person Project is smaller in scale but similar in concept, providing tools to would-be oral history interviewers and interviewees, including tips on how to create questions and conduct interviews. The project was inspired by the belief that everyone is an eyewitness to history, and that everyone, sometimes with a little encouragement, has a story to tell.

To learn more about the Richard B. Russell Library, visit:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell

Witness history in the making! As the campaign season comes to a fever pitch and Election Day draws near, join the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies for Debate Watch 2012 today, Tuesday October 16th, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. Visitors will gather to watch the candidates go toe-to-toe on the big screen in the library’s second floor auditorium (Room 271). Dr. Jamie Carson, Associate Professor of Political Science at The University of Georgia, will introduce the town-hall style debate and facilitate discussion. This program is free and open to the public; light snacks and coffee will be served.
Doors will open at 8PM, followed by discussion at 8:30 and the debate at 9:00.

Debate Watch is part of the Ready, Steady, Vote! Fall Program Series hosted by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. For more information on this event and other programs in the series please contact russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

Free event parking available in the Hull Street Parking Deck. For more information visit:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/visit/parking.html

To learn more about the Richard B. Russell Library, visit:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell

Also, the fall issue of the Georgia Review is devoted to the GWHF and features works by and commentary on the 33 members. Many of the authors in the Hall have been published by the UGA Press.

Pebble Hill Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia, was the winter home for the Howard Melville Hanna family of Cleveland, Ohio. Elizabeth “Pansy” Ireland Poe, granddaughter of Howard Melville Hanna, was the last family member to live at the plantation’s main house until her death in 1978. She earlier created a foundation to ensure the property become the historic house museum and environmental preserve it is today. Pebble Hill’s trustees donated the family’s films to the university in order to preserve their unique scenes of the family and property.

“We are pleased to have forged this partnership with the University of Georgia Libraries Walter J. Brown Media Archives. Pebble Hill is intertwined with the history of southwest Georgia in so many ways and these films are a part of that history. We are confident the library will preserve the Pebble Hill films and that they will be available for generations to come,” said Warren Bicknell III, speaking for the Pebble Hill Foundation Trustees.

“We are extremely fortunate to have received these important early home movies from such a prominent South Georgia family,” added Ruta Abolins, head of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection. “These may be the earliest moving images shot in Georgia. We will be funding their preservation over the next couple of years so that they can be shared across the state and, of course, Pebble Hill will use the images to expand its story of the Hanna family in Thomasville. The addition of ‘The Sportsman’s Club’ television programs is a bonus since we house the third largest broadcasting archives in the country–the Peabody Awards Collection.”

Always on the lookout for films which depict Athens, UGA, Georgia, and the Southeast region to add to the visual history of the South, the Media Archives will be hosting one of the national Home Movie Day screening events on Oct. 20 at the Russell Special Collections Building from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Another Home Movie Day event will be held in Cleveland on Nov. 3.  For more information, contact Ruta Abolins at 706-542-4757 or see www.homemovieday.org.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection (http://www.libs.uga.edu/media/) is one of the three special collections libraries housed in the new Russell Building http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/index.html.

For more information on Pebble Hill Plantation, visit their website, www.pebblehill.com.

UGA President Michael F. Adams will speak, along with University Librarian and Associate Provost William Gray Potter. Representing the University System will be Chancellor Hank Huckaby, and regents Larry Walker and W.H. (Dink) NeSmith, who also chairs the Russell Foundation. Mallory L. Davis, president of the Student Government Association, also will speak.

A reception will follow. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to the event hall in the building.

For more information, see: News Release

Hours are M-F 8:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sat. 1:00 pm -5:00 pm.

All collections are available for use except the Georgia Room materials, which are temporarily closed for relocation.

For more information, contact the Hargrett Library after Jan. 2 at hargrett[at]uga.edu or (706) 542-7123.

We look forward to serving you in our new facility.

As a result of the move, the Historical Manuscripts and University Archives collections will be unavailable for public use for a period of approximately 6-8 weeks effective 5:00pm October 21, 2011.

The Rare Books collection will remain open until approximately November 1, 2011, when it also will close temporarily for relocation.

The Georgiana collection will remain open until approximately November 18, 2011, when it will close temporarily for relocation.

To reduce the impact of the special collections move on researchers, the Libraries will partially open the Special Collections Libraries building in the late fall to provide prearranged access to materials once they have arrived at their new home.

The Special Collections Libraries building plans to open fully to the public with normal service in January 2012.

To inquire about the availability of a specific collection or item during the October-December closings, please contact the Hargrett Library at (706) 542-7123 or Hargrett (at) uga.edu.

Saturday closings: Hargrett has ceased Saturday hours October – December due to the move.

The library also subscribes to the Ancestry Library Edition (on campus access only), a version of ancestry.com.  This searchable database includes census records (1790-1930), military records, the social security death index, emigration records, and many other collections of information.

The Heritage Room at the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street is another excellent local resource for history and genealogy.  They regularly have free  information sessions and special programs about doing genealogical research; see the program schedule for dates and times.

Georgia Quilts : Piecing Together a History. Edited by Anita Zaleski Weinraub for the Georgia Quilt Project. (University of Georgia Press)

Archaeology of the Lower Muskogee Creek Indians, 1715-1836. By H. Thomas Foster II, with contributions by Mary Theresa Bonhage-Freund and Lisa O’Steen. (University of Alabama Press)

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Giff Beaton. (University of Georgia Press)

We Are the Ones We have Been Waiting For : Inner Light in a Time of Darkness. Alice Walker. (The New Press)

Race, Social reform, and the Making of a Middle Class : The American missionary Association and Black Atlanta, 1870-1900. Joseph O. Jewell. (Rowman and Littlefield)

Perfect 10: The UGA Gymdogs and the rise of Women’s College Gymnastics in America. Suzanne Yoculan and Bill Donaldson. (Hill Street Press)