Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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”

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

“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. 

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.”