Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection

As history unfolds during the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries are collecting experiences and responses from Georgians to preserve for generations to come.

Georgia residents can contribute to the project by sharing how the crisis has impacted their family, business, education, and well-being. Digital submissions may include personal reflections, photos, poetry, recordings or any other means that demonstrate how the pandemic affects people’s lives.

“Georgians who contribute to the coronavirus collection will help to build our collective understanding of the kaleidoscope of human experience in this unusual circumstance,” said Toby Graham, university librarian and associate provost. “Even as we live through the COVID-19 crisis, we should begin to document this critical time for the benefit of future students and scholars.”

Twelve University of Georgia faculty members have been chosen as 2019-2020 Special Collections Fellows. The fifth cohort of the program represents six schools and colleges with interests ranging from art and education to social work and population health.

Sponsored by the University of Georgia Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning, the program guides faculty members as they develop courses that apply archives-centered pedagogy and allow their students to engage with the rich array of materials held in UGA’s three special
collections libraries.

The exhibition hall in the University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries will be named in honor of CNN founder, environmentalist and longtime Atlantan Ted Turner, subject to UGA Cabinet approval, thanks in part to a $550,000 donation made by WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner), an entertainment and media conglomerate that merged with Turner Broadcasting in 1996.

The Athens branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the University of Georgia Libraries, and the UGA Institute for African American Studies will present the Athens premiere of Talking Black in America on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019 at the Athens-Clarke County Public Library.

“The Athens branch of ASALH is honored to present the film,” said Maurice Daniels, dean emeritus of the UGA School of Social Work and president of the Athens branch. “We look forward to a robust discussion about the journey of African Americans and their influence on language and culture in America."

The UGA campus will not have internet for most of the day on Saturday, March 9th.

At the Special Collections Libraries, this means we will not be able to provide access to materials. If you would like to view materials on Saturday, please contact us sclib@uga.edu or 706-542-7123 by 12pm on Friday, March 8th.

For the other campus Libraries, this means that you will not be able to login to our computers, and our systems (e.g., websites and other resources) will be inaccessible. You will still be able to check out books.

UGA will conduct network maintenance during this time. We apologize for the inconvenience.

In 2019 Sesame Street, the longest running children’s show in television history, celebrates 50 years of educating and entertaining kids. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection celebrates the achievement this spring with a new exhibit highlighting this familiar address, along with other shows that pioneered excellence in children’s programming.

A University of Georgia collaboration that presented Georgia’s incarceration history in an exhibition and on stage is being honored as one of the top public history projects in the nation.

Archivists with UGA’s special collections libraries partnered with theatre and dance faculty on campus and at Spelman College to engage students in an exploration of reports, correspondence, newsfilm, photographs and other original materials from archival collections documenting the history of convict labor in Georgia. Over the course of three semesters, students and faculty created a devised theatrical performance grounded in that history.

In accordance with the University's late opening on Tuesday, Dec 11th, due to possible bad weather, the UGA Libraries will be opening at 10:00 a.m. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

The Russell Special Collections Libraries will be closed Thursday and Friday in observance of Thanksgiving. We will be closed Saturday for the home football game vs Ga Tech. 

We will resume our regular hours Monday, Nov. 26 8 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday and Saturdays 1-5 pm. 

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

(News 12 First at 5)

ATHENS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Over the past 64 years, many of you or your family have appeared on News 12, as well as countless stories and events. All those memories are now being preserved for future generations.

The WRDW archives show everything from old anchor signoffs, to James Brown interviews, to Masters coverage decades back. Now, we’ve donated those tapes to the University of Georgia in hopes of preserving all our history.

Margaret Compton is a media archivist at UGA. Her job is to keep these cherished records safe for years to come.

“As stations have been saving their tape, that really compares to a family's home movies. The home movies of Augusta are at the TV station,” Compton explained the value, both educational and sentimental, of these ¾” tapes.