News

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

“A Championship Tradition: The NCAA Tennis Tournament in Athens,” an exhibit marking the 29th time the NCAA Tennis Tournament has been held in Athens since 1972, opens Jan. 27 at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. The exhibit is being co-sponsored by the ITA Tennis Hall of Fame at the University of Georgia.

This exhibit will explore the teams and players who have shaped the rich tradition of collegiate tennis in the Classic City through photographs and objects relating to the NCAA tournament using materials from archives of the UGA Athletic Association and the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The UGA charter is on display during Founders Week, now through January 27 in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library gallery of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

The Charter of the University of Georgia is one of the most significant documents in the history of America . Dated January 27, 1785, nine years after the Declaration of Independence and two and a half before the Constitution of the United States, it marks the earliest American example of the putting into practice of the principle that education is the responsibility of the state and should be state controlled.

To protect the ink of the parchment manuscript from further fading it is displayed to the public only once a year, during Founders Day activities.

Happy 232nd birthday UGA!

The Georgia Review, the University of Georgia’s acclaimed literary magazine, is being feted on its 70th anniversary with an exhibit at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries through May 12.

“Necessary Words & Images” illustrates the history of The Georgia Review from its 1947 inception as a small regional magazine to its maturation as one of the country’s leading literary journals. The story is told through correspondence and other archival material from the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library and from the Review’s archives.

In 1986 and again in 2007, the Review bested other finalists such as the New Yorker, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, and the Atlantic to win a National Magazine Award. 

The UGA Russell Special Collections Libraries will be closed Monday, Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will be open Sat., Jan. 14 from 1-5 p.m. and re-open Tuesday at 8 a.m.

The Main and Science Libraries will be operating with reduced hours for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Libraries hours will be:

Sunday, January 15 - 1pm to 9pm

Monday, January 16 - CLOSED

The Libraries will resume regular hours on Tuesday, January 17.

An exhibit on the history of the Equal Rights Amendment will be on display at the Russell Special Collections Libraries Jan. 19-May 12. 

The exhibit documents the rights of women under the law from the 17th century to present with a focus on the state of Georgia. Highlights include original suffrage pennants and letters from Susan B. Anthony; the origins of the National Women's Party; ephemera from the ERA campaign at the local, state, and national level; and materials from the anti-ERA movement and Phyllis Schlafly.

A scholar of southern culture, two poets, and an historical novelist will be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame at its 2017 ceremony in November.

Established by the University of Georgia Libraries in 2000, the hall seeks to honor Georgia writers past and present.

“It is always exciting to share the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame judges’ selections each year,” said P. Toby Graham, university librarian and associate provost. “And each year it is our privilege to remind Georgia readers of the wealth our state’s literary heritage.”

Cinema Politique, a program which aims to introduce and discuss international and national political developments on the basis of documentaries and movies, will begin a trial run at the University of Georgia Jan. 18.

Led by Cas Mudde of the School of Public and International Affairs, and Mary Miller, Peabody Awards Collection archivist with the UGA Libraries, the series will draw largely from the vast Peabody Awards Collection, and will take place once a month. A UGA faculty member will introduce each film, lead a discussion afterwards and make additional reading suggestions. January’s selection is the 1939 classic Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

The University of Georgia community will honor the life of Judith Ortiz Cofer, extraordinary writer, poet, teacher, colleague, and friend, Friday, Jan. 27 at 3 p.m.

The memorial service will be held at  the UGA Chapel, with a  reception to follow at Demosthenian Hall.

For more information, contact Lisa Bayer, University of Georgia Press, 217-369-3166 or lbayer@uga.edu.