Special Collections News

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.

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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.

‘Listen to reason, the season is calling’

Film footage and audio from the early days of R.E.M. and other iconic rock bands from Athens will be digitally restored to preserve the nostalgia while sharing with the next generation, thanks to donors to a University of Georgia Libraries campaign currently under way.

A $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will allow for the expansion of the Georgia Historic Newspapers website, which provides free online access to more than 1,000 newspapers across the state dating as far back as 1763.

The grant continues a decade-long effort of the University of Georgia Libraries, through the Digital Library of Georgia, to provide online access to a diverse array of journalism chronicling communities large and small, from Atlanta to Americus, and beyond.

As the University of Georgia marks the 100^th anniversary of its first swim and dive, the rich history of the program will be celebrated in a new exhibit on display at the UGA Special Collections Libraries. 

The exhibit “Sustained Excellence: A History of UGA Swim & Dive” explores the program’s decades of dominance in the pool and in the classroom. Viewers will see rarely displayed photographs and artifacts from the UGA Athletic Association archive and the personal collection of retired coach Jack Bauerle.

From UGA Today. 

The University of Georgia is reimagining learning spaces by combining resources that allow students to experiment with their ideas and bring them to life with new technologies. In the new Creative Engagement Wing at the Miller Learning Center, students can record a podcast, embroider a tapestry, 3D print a medical device prototype or rehearse a presentation using a virtual reality headset.