WALB television, the NBC affiliate in Albany, Georgia, donated its archives of news footage to the University of Georgia Media Archives in June 2002. The WALB Collection consists of over 1600 cans of black and white, color, silent, and sound clips of footage shot in the field circa 1961-1978. Both national and Georgia news clips are represented. Topics covered include: footage of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Albany in 1962, as well as demonstrations surrounding his visit to Albany; politicians Jimmy Carter, Sam Nunn, Herman Talmadge, Lester Maddox, Carl Sanders, George Wallace, Richard Russell, and Richard Nixon; Vietnam; Civil Rights issues (including the Albany Movement); integration and segregation; coverage of the Georgia State Legislature; 1970s gasoline rationing and meat price hikes; tobacco farming and farm-related topics; various local celebrations for the United States Bicentennial; pageants and festivals around Georgia; voter registration; local sports; birth control; as well as many topics of local concern, such as high school sporting events, floods, fires, car accidents, homicides, holiday celebrations, education, health care, taxes, factory strikes, employment issues, and housing, among others.

     The material is currently being inventoried. For further information on the material in this collection, contact Margaret Compton (706) 542-1971.