Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Books chronicling the suppression of Black literacy in the American South and highlighting the leadership of Black women in battling for human rights around the globe are the 2026 Lillian Smith Book Awards, recognizing the best writing on social justice in the United States.

The 2026 awards, administered by the University of Georgia Libraries, recognize:

• Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy (Yale University Press), by Derek W. Black

• Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton & Company), by Keisha N. Blain

Bulldog fans from every corner of Georgia can relive the history of University of Georgia athletics this summer. Sports memorabilia and other artifacts will be on display at local libraries as part of the “UGA Athletics in Your Town” tour, featuring a traveling exhibit of materials from the UGA Libraries archives.

Featured in the traveling exhibit is the famed “Silver Chalice,” the oldest piece in the UGA Athletics archive. The trophy was awarded to the Georgia football team in 1894 — before they were known as the Bulldogs — after a victory over Auburn University. In addition to tickets and a program from the first game played at Sanford Stadium in 1929, visitors can get a look at a hand-written playbook from the Wally Butts era and football helmets from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1980s. Plus, the exhibit will include memorabilia from UGA’s baseball, women’s tennis, and track & field teams.

Clarke Central High School in Athens, GA, has announced a Summer Book Club for student athletes featuring The Crimson and Gold: Football and Integration in Athens, Georgia (UGA Press, 2024) by local author Mark Clegg (Economics A.B., University of Georgia). What started as a conversation in August 2025 with Assistant Head Football Coach Damien Gray and Clarke Central High librarians Angela Pendley and Naomi Craver evolved into a desire to educate students and the community about the history of integration at Clarke Central.

Twelve­ University of Georgia faculty members will reimagine historical pieces into active-learning opportunities for students as part of UGA’s Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows program, now in its 11^th year on campus.

While projects are in the beginning stages, the newest Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows are planning unique class activities in fields from English and history to international affairs, fashion, chemistry, and physics, incorporating a broad array of materials from the UGA Libraries three special collections departments.

University of Georgia faculty are invited to apply for seed grants that can fund humanities research projects that engage with the tools and resources available through the UGA Special Collections Libraries or Creative Engagement Wing at the Miller Learning Center.

The UGA Libraries’ Fairchild-Holcomb Awards for Innovation in the Humanities will fund two awards up to $5,000 each for summer salary, travel, supplies and student support costs that will assist in original research and outreach or instructional activities that share this new knowledge.

With tools like virtual reality headsets and 3D printers, the University of Georgia’s inaugural Creative Engagement Fellows are designing active learning experiences that immerse students in a full sensory understanding of subjects from anthropology to engineering.

Twenty fellows across nine schools and colleges began working in February to engage with technologies in the new Creative Engagement Wing at the Miller Learning Center to create hands-on assignments students will never forget.

Award-winning writers whose poems, novels, and plays have been lauded across the country have been named to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, based at the University of Georgia Libraries.

The inductee class of 2026 honors Alice Friman, Charlie Smith, and Shay Youngblood. The three writers' literary legacies have been felt across the Peach State, from Friman’s tenure at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville to Smith’s roots in Moultrie and Youngblood’s connections to Atlanta.

Unique Southern cuisine and book club worthy conversations are on the menu for a University of Georgia Libraries event, featuring influential cookbook authors from the state.  

“The Long Table: Southern Cooking, Memory, and Meaning,” will serve up food and discussions with award-winning food writers and chefs Valerie Frey, Nicole Taylor, and Virginia Willis, along with moderator Rebecca Lang. The panelists will share their secrets from the kitchen and provide tastes of their writing and recipes.  

The $25 event is scheduled for Thursday, March 12 at the UGA Special Collections Libraries Building. To register, visit our website. 

James Brown’s eel skin boots have been replaced by Little Richard’s iconic silver lamé cape in a rotating display of Georgia musical greats curated by the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries. 

The change comes as part of an annual rotation at the Georgia Music Collections exhibit at Akins Ford Arena, part of the Classic Center in Athens, which opened last year.  

Researchers can now use a modernized search tool to find unique materials preserved at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries (SCL).

The updated technology allows for easier location of materials from hand-written journals, letters, and business ledgers, textiles, political papers, and other unique items from the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. (A separate search tool is in place for the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, the third unit comprising the UGA Special Collections Libraries.)

The revamped search tool known as SCLFind allows for more detailed descriptions and filtering of results, allowing researchers more insight into their searches.

To search for special collections materials, visit libs.uga.edu/scl/research/collections