First Person Project Celebrates Stories of Love

Do you remember the first time you fell in love?

This February the First Person Project, an oral history series documenting the experiences of everyday Georgians, invites participants to tackle the topic of love. How did you meet your spouse? What do you remember about your worst breakup or most awkward date? Find an interview partner and join us to record stories about love, loss, and relationships in celebration of Valentine’s Day.  

Six sets of partners will be accepted for this First Person Project session, scheduled for Friday, February 8th between 9:00am and 4:00pm. Each audio recording session takes one hour to complete. Photographs will also be taken for each session. The Russell Library will archive the interviews to add to its documentation of life in post 20th century Georgia and will provide participants with a free digital download of the recording and photographs. Participants are charged a fee of $10 per group for the session.

If you have a friend or family member with a story to tell, become a part of the First Person Project. Reservations are on a first come first serve basis and can be made by calling 706-542-5788 or registering online at http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/fpp/fpp_register.html.

For more information on this event and other upcoming First Person Project days, please email russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

More About the First Person Project
Modeled roughly on StoryCorps, a national initiative partnered with National Public Radio and the Library of Congress, the First Person Project is smaller in scale but similar in concept, providing tools to would-be oral history interviewers and interviewees, including tips on how to create questions and conduct interviews. The project was inspired by the belief that everyone is an eyewitness to history, and that everyone, sometimes with a little encouragement, has a story to tell.

Free event parking available in the Hull Street Parking Deck. For more information visit:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/visit/parking.html  

To learn more about the Richard B. Russell Library, visit:
http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell

Out of Place?

The Arrangement & Description Unit at the Russell Library have been processing the papers of Congressman Ed Jenkins for the past few months. Jenkins was a Democrat who served in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1992 representing the Ninth District (Northwest Georgia). So far we have processed over half of the collection (we started out with over 300 boxes!) and have published the finding aid online.

Although the majority of the records in this collection represent the Congressman’s work on the House Ways and Means Committee and Budget Committee, we have occasionally come across folders that seem to pop up out of the blue and seemingly out of place among the rest.

Among the legislation on agriculture, water resources, and immigration laws is a folder entitled “Larry Flynt/Hustler Letters”. The contents of the folder are not as lurid as the popular adult magazine and its notorious creator.  In 1983, the editor and publisher of Hustler wrote to members of Congress offering them complimentary subscriptions to his publication (a practice which he continues today). The folder includes Jenkins’ letter politely declining the offer as well as an article written by Flynt about Larry McDonald, the Georgian Congressman who was aboard the Korean Airlines Flight 007 when the plane was shot down by Soviet interceptors.

What I find most interesting about the letters in this folder is Flynt’s tenacity for exercising free speech.

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is open for research Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm, with the exception of University holidays. For more information, please visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/ or call (706) 542-5788.

Post by Tammi Kim, Processing Assistant for Arrangement & Description Unit, Russell Library

All in the Family

Sometimes collections end up being related to each other in more ways than one! We are fortunate at the Russell Library to receive collections from different families with roots in Georgia politics. Of these “related” collections, we are proud to announce the opening of:

Walter Stovall Papers
Stovall and McKay Family Papers

E. Roy Lambert Papers
Christine D. Lambert Papers

W. Fred Orr and Fred Orr II Papers

George D. Bennett Papers

Margaret V. Clute Collection of Carl Vinson Papers

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is open for research Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm, with the exception of University holidays. For more information, please visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/ or call (706) 542-5788.

Post by Tammi Kim, Processing Assistant for Arrangement & Description Unit, Russell Library