Special Collections News

For UGA Libraries, Thomas May’s job centers around film and audiovisual work, but the archivist also enjoys the printed word. In fact, he was named one of the best authors in the state, as a recipient of a 2025 Georgia Author of the Year Award in the science fiction/fantasy category.

May serves as the audiovisual systems archivist and access coordinator with the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, one of three special collections units at the University of Georgia Libraries. He’s also a novelist, who self-published his debut fantasy novel Alan Dreams of Giants in November.

Books about racial inequality in U.S. higher education are the 2025 recipients of the Lillian Smith Book Awards, administered by the University of Georgia Libraries to honor books dedicated to social justice issues.  

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.  

Even before three books arrived on shelves this year, UGA librarians were a part of the production. Three faculty members have been credited as author or editor in books published in 2025.

“Librarians do the essential work of acquiring, preserving, and sharing knowledge,” said university librarian Toby Graham, “but our librarians also are university faculty who contribute new scholarship, themselves, as we see from the recent publications by Ruta Abolins, Melody Rood, and Sara Wright.” 

Most recently, Abolins added a chapter to the UGA Press book The Archivability of Television: Essays on Preservation and Perseverance. Edited by Lauren Bratslavsky and Elizabeth Peterson, the book was published June 1.

“UGA Athletics in Your Town,” a traveling exhibit of materials from the University of Georgia Athletic Association archives, will be coming to cities and counties around the state of Georgia this summer.

The tour will begin on May 30 in Hart County (Hartwell) and continue through Aug. 1 along the way visiting Fulton County (Alpharetta), Coweta County (Newnan), Muscogee County (Columbus), Cobb County (Marietta), Tift County (Tifton), Laurens County (Dublin), and Stephens County (Toccoa).

Jason Hasty, Athletics History Specialist for the UGA Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, will bring a collection of historic Georgia Bulldogs athletics artifacts to these public libraries as part of a statewide summer tour across Georgia.

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

Online registration is now open for the third 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. Pre-registration is required, and digitization is limited to three items per household/family.  

The newest members of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame have broken barriers across genres — from journalism to fiction to poetry — and all three have inspired the next generation of writers through teaching and mentoring.

The 2025 class includes Tina McElroy Ansa, novelist and founder of DownSouth Press; Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer; and Tony M. Grooms, poet, novelist, and co-founder of the Georgia Writers Association. Events will be held throughout the year at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries in Athens to celebrate each of the honorees.

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: 

Zachary Stiles admitted that he made some mistakes when he started working on his research paper for a history class. But as the second-year history major worked through the process, he not only earned a great grade but $1,000 — the top prize in the University of Georgia Libraries Undergraduate Research Awards.

For the award, Stiles reflected on his research process by creating an online course module that can teach other students about how to understand historical methodology, dive into the archives for resources, and build an exemplary essay.