Special Collections News

 The formative years of UGA’s football program is the focus of a new exhibit, “Covered With Glory: Football at UGA, 1892-1917” this fall at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Rarely seen artifacts and photographs from UGA’s earliest gridiron heroes are featured. Visitors will learn about: coaching legend Glenn ‘Pop’ Warner, the first UGA football coach to coach for more than one year; ‘War Eagle’ Ketron, who overcame parental objections to become one of Georgia’s greatest players of the 1900s; and Herty Field, the campus site of so many early battles.  The tragic story of Von Gammon, a UGA football player whose death during a game against the University of Virginia in 1897 nearly ended the UGA football program, is highlighted.

An extraordinary educator who took over operations of the family farm after his father 's death, Andrew Avery helped create the Decatur County Peanutorama, highlighting the crop and the surrounding county's contribution to its marketing.

Avery’s family has donated his papers to the University of Georgia Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, including correspondence, photographs, printed material, notes, legal documents, plats, and various ephemera.  Of note is the scrapbook documenting farm improvements he made for the Atlanta Constitution's Plant-to-Prosper contest of 1938, which he won, as well as many photographs of schools he was involved with in southwest Georgia.

A new exhibit on display in the rotunda of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries examines the history of a preservation non-profit celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2017. On display through August 25, Saving Athens: Celebrating 50 Years of the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation looks at the efforts of this local group to protect and preserve the the physical history of the Athens, Georgia. 

Gold nuggets, historic maps, photographs, postcards and other artifacts help tell the story of Georgia’s antebellum gold rush – which preceded the frenzy in California by two decades – in an exhibit at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Opening June 5, the exhibit features a complete set of Dahlonega Mint coins and illustrates how this  early development of southern industrialization, while profitable, was also destructive as it remade local economies, societies, and environments. In pursuit of wealth, miners ripped apart stream beds and hillsides, cut down forests, and erected miles of wooden flumes and towns of wooden shacks. Public and private mints sprang up to transform precious metal into currency and, with the help of the state and federal governments, speculators obsessed with the prospect of riches drove the Cherokee from Georgia.

The Hargrett Library and the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame will be co-hosting a panel discussion on the history of the NCAA Tennis Championships in Athens on Wednesday, May 3, at the University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Special Collection Libraries. The discussion is free and open to the public, and will run from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

When the NCAAs return to Athens for the 29th time beginning May 18, it will mark the 45th anniversary of the championships’ first appearance at Georgia’s tennis facility, now called the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Georgia men’s tennis coach Manuel Diaz was a Bulldog freshman playing for Magill when the NCAAs first arrived in 1972; he’s now in his 29th season as the Bulldogs’ head coach and has won three of his four national championships on the Dogs’ home courts.

The Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries at the University of Georgia will host its bi-annual reception celebrating new exhibitions April 13 at

5:30 p.m. The event will include live music, spotlight tours, light refreshments and gallery games. The reception is free and open to the public.

Exhibitions highlighted are: “Necessary Words & Images: 70 Years of the Georgia Review,” “Slavery at the University of Georgia,” “Equality Under the Law: History of the Equal Rights Amendment,” “A Championship Tradition: The NCAA Tennis Tournament in Athens,” "The Art of the Press Kit," and “On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia?” and “Olympic Lens: Exploring the 1996 Atlanta Games”

A new program series hosted by the Richard B. Russell Library this April invites attendees to consider the powers and function of the U.S. Congress. Titled Civic Knowledge = Civic Power, the weekly program hosted from 12:30-1:30 p.m. looks to increase civic knowledge on campus and in the community with short lectures and informal discussion with speakers from UGA’s Department of Political Science.  



The powers of the United States Congress are considerable and well established. Congress can collect taxes, coin money, declare war, raise and support armies and a navy, and make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its powers – just to name a few. But understanding Congress cannot be done in a vacuum or just through a listing of powers

Local chefs will once again take on the School Lunch Challenge March 18, creating tasty dishes that meet USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program. Attendees will have a chance to sample the creations at the cooking competition from 12-1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Whitehead Road Elementary School.  

Folksinger, scholar, and creative writer Dianne Dugaw, professor of English and Folklore at the University of Oregon, will give the keynote address at the Spring Book Symposium, "Living Texts" Feb. 23.

The symposium begins at 9:30 a.m. with UGA faculty participating in a roundtable discussion on "Making Archival Material Come Alive in the Classroom."

At 11 a.m., Dugaw, the author of books and articles on early modern and 18th-century literature and culture, especially exploring gender and sexuality in folksongs, literature, and history, will speak on "Fighting and Sailing Women in Anglo-American Prints, Songs, and History (1600--present)." 

A workshop with participants examining and discussing rare books will take place at 2 p.m. following a lunch break.

All events take place in Room 277 of the Russell Special Collections Libraries. 

The second Lillian E. Smith Symposium on Arts and Social Change will examine the role of public art—murals, graffiti, outdoor art installations, and more—as a form of cultural expression and inspiration for social justice.

The one-day conference will be held at Piedmont College in Athens on Saturday, March 18, and will include a panel discussion of artists moderated by author Barbara Brown Taylor. Registration is $45 and includes breakfast and a box lunch. For more information, visit piedmont.edu/symp or contact Craig Amason at 706-894-4204 or camason@piedmont.edu. The Piedmont campus is located at 595 Prince Avenue in Athens.

Speakers for the symposium will include