Politics and Domestic Life in the Russell Library Collections

Herman and Betty Talmadge holding a ham in their smokehouse, ca. 1947,
Herman E. Talmadge Collection, Richard B. Russell Library for Political
Research and Studies

Political gossip and scandal have always played a part in politics, be it from illegal campaign contributions to persistent rumor-mongering. Before the age of career politicians, public servants maintained separate lives from their Washington D.C. alter egos. During breaks from legislation, many returned to their day jobs as farmers, doctors, and lawyers and while away on the nation’s business, their wives and children ran these enterprises.

The selection of letters and photographs in “Politics and Domestic Life in the Russell Library Collections” highlights the personal side of politics. Virginia Rusk’s annual Christmas letters share feelings of excitement when her husband Dean was named Secretary of State by President John F. Kennedy but also record her feelings of shock and dismay two years later after Kennedy’s assassination. In 1900, Dudley Mays Hughes lovingly addressed a letter to his niece, nicknamed “Miss Empire State of the South,” and told her that “the Senate is hard at work” but he would be home soon. While her husband Herman was in Washington D.C. representing Georgia as a Senator, Betty Talmadge ran Talmadge Country Cured Hams based in their hometown of Lovejoy. In 1960 she submitted a recipe for the 1961 Congressional Club Cookbook for Baked Country Cured Ham, which informs cooks that they can soak the ham in water, wine, ginger ale, orange juice, apple cider, pineapple juice, peach pickle juice, Coca-Cola, or champagne and achieve a delicious meal.

The Russell Library lobby gallery is open from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. For more information about this exhibit, History Lives in the Russell Library (an exhibit of the Russell Library’s greatest hits) or the Russell Library collections, please visit www.libs.uga.edu/russell or call 706-542-5788.

New Russell Library website

Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies would like to announce the debut of our their new website at http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell. Among the variety of improvements added to the site are links to a news and events weblog, dynamic collection search capabilities, and forms to allow users to subscribe to e-updates or offer suggestions.

A Place for Us, Exhibit and Reception

Join us for a reception in honor of the opening of the new exhibit, A Place for Us: The Challenges of Housing in Athens and Surrounding Areas. This spring, as part of the Russell~Roosevelt Public Policy Institute, volunteers from Athens and surrounding counties took photographs that reflected their sense of housing challenges present in their communities. These images form the basis of the exhibit, A Place for Us. New and historical footage of the Athens area from 1946 and from 2007 complement these visual reflections. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection provided the 1946 footage and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies provided the new 2007 footage. This exhibit will be on display from June 22 through August 31, 200. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

History Lives in the Russell Library

Opening Friday, June 22, 2007 an exhibit featuring the greatest hits from the Russell Library’s rich politicial collections including information about Watergate, Civil Rights, historic political campaigns, environmental and agricultural history, and international relations. Through Friday, December 21, 2007 in the Richard B. Russell Library Main Gallery.

"Integrated in All Respects"

Ed Friend's Highlander Folk School Films

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and the Digital Library of Georgia are pleased to announce that Ed Friend's historic Highlander film is now accessible online via the Digital Library of Georgia. "Integrated in All Respects" consists of Ed Friend's film of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee during Labor Day weekend in 1957, and the Georgia Commission on Education's propaganda broadside that features Friend's photographs and stills from his film. Together the film and broadside demonstrate how policymakers in the late 1950s perceived, and attempted to cast, the civil rights movement.

Russell~Roosevelt Public Policy Institute

The National Issues Forums (NIF) discussion model has strong connections to the University of Georgia. After several years of the UGA PPI taking place in Atlanta at the Jimmy Carter Library, in 2006 the Richard B. Russell Library, a political archives and center for research and study of politics and policy, in conjunction with the Roosevelt Institution at the University of Georgia, part of a national network of student think tanks dedicated to influencing national policy through the avenues of public policy and advocacy, have joined together to provide the Russell-Roosevelt Policy Institute.

This institute fosters civic engagement and deliberation among diverse audiences and gives participants the skills to tackle important issues in their own communities. The Russell Library will serve as a repository for materials related to developing civic engagement programming, which will be available to groups interested in developing civic education programming. The 2007 Public Policy Institute in June will be the inaugural program for this joint venture

Carter Exhibit

From Plains to Washington and Points Between: Jimmy Carter’s Political Work in Georgia, 1962-1976

The collections in the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies hold a wealth of material connected to United States President and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. The beginning of what has become an admired political career is chronicled through the papers of Senator Herman Talmadge, Senator Richard B. Russell, U.S. Representative John Davis, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and many others. Letters, photographs, original editorial cartoons and campaign memorabilia are on display in the Russell Library lobby through March 30.