Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection

Visitors to the new Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center in Athens can explore Georgia music, thanks to a new display installed Dec. 19 by the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries.

On a larger-than-life video board, The B-52s member and Athens resident Cindy Wilson welcomes visitors to peruse the memorabilia on display, representing more than 200 legendary artists, from Whisperin’ Bill Anderson to Run the Jewels. 

Display cases share memories of concerts, stories about the recording process, fan merchandise and interactions, behind-the-scenes moments, and more. For example, a cold medicine bottle Duane Allman used to make his distinctive slide guitar sounds is on display alongside the Gibson Les Paul he played while recording “Statesboro Blues.”

December deadlines are approaching for UGA Libraries services that will aid in instruction of your Spring 2025 classes.

Libraries Course Reserves

The UGA Libraries’ course reserves services help faculty to provide students with easy, no-cost access to readings and supplementary course materials personalized to class curricular needs whether through electronic materials that can be integrated into eLC or through physical items that can be held on reserve at one of our library locations.    

Spooky season wouldn’t be complete without watching a classic campy sci-fi show. This October, the local community can enjoy one of the 1950s B-movie bests for free while enjoying the fall weather.

UGA’s Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collections, one of the largest publicly accessibly media archives in the country, will host a screening of “The Brain from Planet Arous” on the lawn outside of the Special Collections Libraries. The event is scheduled to kickoff at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24, with the film starting at 7 p.m.

Attendees are invited to bring picnic blankets and lawn chairs for the event, which will move indoors if the weather isn’t ideal. Whether outdoors or in, free popcorn will be provided for free. The event is open to anyone from the UGA and Athens community.

The University of Georgia Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning invite full-time UGA faculty from all disciplines to apply

UPDATE: UGA Libraries will resume normal operational schedules at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. The Miller Learning Center, Main Library, and McBay Science Library will reopen at that time, and other facilities will reopen on their normal schedules. For full hours visit libs.uga.edu/all-hours. 

Previously: All University of Georgia Libraries facilities will be closed Thursday, Sept. 26, and Friday, Sept. 27, in accordance with the campus closure due to inclement weather.

The Miller Learning Center and Main and McBay Libraries will close at midnight Wednesday night and, as of now, plan to reopen on Saturday. All events currently scheduled for Thursday and Friday have been canceled, including the Special Collections Libraries' Georgia Writers Hall of Fame event featuring Barbara Brown Taylor and John Bell.

The community is invited to submit their home movies for free digitization, offered by the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards, one three special collections units at the University of Georgia Libraries.

Online registration is now open for the second edition of “Free the Tapes,” where audiovisual techs from the archives will digitize up to three old videos in any format — from Super 8 and Betamax to VHS and more — at no cost. 

Participants can drop off their materials at one of four dropoff days:

A Q&A scrawled in marker onto a white record sleeve as well as on the vinyl, a hand-painted message on the back of a shovel, a battered straw hat with fraying pink trim, and photographs of pets. These items and dozens more add to the character of the Athens’ music community on display this fall at the UGA Special Collections Libraries along with colorful portraits of the artists taken at their homes.

A documentary presented by the University of Georgia Libraries has earned a regional Emmy Award. 

INSIDE The Warren Commission, a project that has aired on public broadcasting across the United States throughout the past year as part of the 60^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, was selected as a Southeast Emmy Award recipient. 

The documentary delves into the inner workings of the Warren Commission, the blue-ribbon Congressional body charged to investigate Kennedy’s assassination.

This June, the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries will host two free film screenings about past struggles with equality that echo headlines of today.

A Tuesday, June 4 screening of Love Free or Die will mark 21 years since Gene Robinson’s consecration as the first openly gay person to become a bishop in a Christian church. Held at 5:15 p.m. at Cine, the screening is sponsored by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection.

The screening will feature a discussion with director Macky Alston and Robinson, who wore a bullet-proof vest to the consecration ceremony of the Episcopal Church Diocese of New Hampshire and faced death threats during his tenure. The events caused a split in the Episcopal Church similar to the fracturing of the United Methodist Church occurring today.

Nine­ University of Georgia faculty members are preparing new classes this May as 2024 Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows, a program designed to help instructors incorporate UGA Libraries’ archival materials and active learning strategies into courses.