Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies

The first major biography in 20 years on Jeannette Rankin, written by historian Lorissa Rinehart, was released on Election Day 2025. Winning the Earthquake (St. Martin’s Press, November 2025) reintroduces Rankin, the national icon and longtime Georgia resident, who defied all odds to be elected the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m., the annual Jeannette Rankin Legacy Lecture held at the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia will feature a conversation with Rinehart discussing Rankin’s legacy and how her fearless leadership shaped the women’s rights and peace movements of the 20th century. Winning the Earthquake will be for sale at the event, and Rinehart will be signing copies.

Building on their award-winning faculty fellows program, University of Georgia Libraries in partnership with the Office of Instruction and EITS will offer two opportunities for faculty to design new courses centered on unique resources that drive active learning and student engagement.

The Creative Engagement Wing Faculty Fellows program launches in the spring, preparing faculty to use the cutting edge spaces of the new MLC Creative Engagement Wing to facilitate student innovation, collaboration, and hands-on learning.

Former Los Angeles Times Publisher and CNN President Tom Johnson will discuss his new book Driven: A Life in Public Service and Journalism from LBJ to CNN as part of the University of Georgia’s Fall 2025 Signature Lecture series on Wednesday, October 29. The public conversation with Red and Black Executive Director Charlotte Varnum will begin at 4 p.m. at the UGA Special Collections Libraries Building, with a light reception and a book signing to follow.

In a landmark donation that underscores the importance of Latino voices in Southern history, Mundo Hispanico/MundoNOW —Georgia’s longest-standing Spanish-language news organization—has gifted its complete print archives to the University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

The collection, representing over 40 years of uninterrupted publication from 1979 to the present, provides an extraordinary, detailed chronicle of Latino life, leadership, and community-building in Georgia and the Southeast. As a primary news source for Spanish-speaking residents for decades, Mundo Hispanico offered vital information, advocacy, and cultural affirmation to generations of immigrant families and new Americans.

Deborah Blum, celebrated author of The Poisoner’s Handbook and The Poison Squad, will return to Athens, where her investigative journalism career began, for a discussion about the science and safety of food.

The Sept. 23 event, which has been designated as a University of Georgia Signature Lecture, will serve as Blum’s induction into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, as well as the annual Food, Power, and Politics Lecture sponsored by the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

University of Georgia Associate Provost & University Librarian Toby Graham has announced the appointment of Dr. Ashton Ellett as the director of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

Ellett, who has served as the Russell Library’s politics and public policy archivist since 2018, will also oversee the Georgia Capitol Museum in Atlanta as part of his new role. He succeeds Sheryl Vogt, who recently retired after marking 50 years with the Russell Library, one of three special collections units within the University of Georgia Libraries.

Three decades after the original photography exhibit toured the South, David Zeiger’s Displaced in the New South is on display at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries. 

The exhibit traces the stories of Asian and Hispanic immigrant communities in Metro Atlanta in the mid-1990s, featuring quotes from individuals featured in Zeiger’s documentary of the same name. Through black-and-white photographs, negatives, and other artifacts, the exhibit documents the region’s shifting demographics and emerging communities through the experiences of immigrant families.  

Nine­ University of Georgia faculty members have been chosen as 2025 Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows, a program designed to help instructors creating active learning courses that allow students to engage with UGA Libraries’ archival materials.

The new cohort reaches a broad spectrum of academic areas, from African American Studies, history, music, religion, Spanish, to geography, political science, and statistics.

“We are delighted to welcome our 10th cohort into the Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellows program,” said university librarian and associate provost Toby Graham. “Since 2015, SCL Fellows have developed about 100 archives-based courses and reached thousands of students with hands-on experiences that embody UGA’s commitment to active learning.”

The 2025 Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows are: 

This April, the University of Georgia Libraries will mark Congress Week with events featuring a former senator and political journalists.

Congress Week is an annual program sponsored by the Associations of Centers for the Study of Congress. The Russell Library, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year, is a founding member of the association. 

“Through our Congress Week programming, the Russell Library seeks to promote a better public understanding of Congress as the branch of government closest to the people,” said Russell Library Director Sheryl Vogt. “Focusing on civic education, the two events this year will give us perspective from a former Member of Congress and observations from two experienced political journalists.”

An author and historian will discuss his latest book at the building where he researched the true story of Margaret “Muriel” White Seherr-Thoss, an American wife of a Prussian count who saved a Jewish family during World War II.

 Richard Hutto will share his research and writing process for The Countess and the Nazis: An American Family’s Private War, published in February by Lyons Press. The event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries Building.