1973: A Big Year in Fashion Too!

Can't get enough of 1973? Well here's another great opportunity to learn more about this pivotal year, as featured in our Now and Then: 1973 exhibit. 

It turns out  1973 was also a big year in the fashion industry. Tonight (August 29th) the Georgia Museum of Art will host a screening of the film, "Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution" from 7-9PM (description below). For more information visit their website.

Our staff will be there -- along with some signage and promotion materials for our ongoing exhibit, and the associated programs we have lined up for September and October. Be sure to pick up some information there, or visit http://rbrl.blogspot.com/search/label/BigYear for updates on all of our events for the Big Year program series.

Description:
In November 1973, for the second time in history, the United States stormed France in an epic battle. Unlike D-Day, this one would pit the French haute couture establishment against innovative American ready-to-wear designers in a runway rumble for industry dominance. On the stage where Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette, in front of a who’s who audience of royalty, jet-set millionaires and icons including Princess Grace of Monaco, Andy Warhol, Christina Onassis and Josephine Baker, the American designers claimed victory. Filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper and a panel of influencers in fashion, history and pop culture will discuss the implications of this legendary event, the behind-the-scenes making of the film and the role of fashion in life. 2012, NR, 91 min.

This event is sponsored by Patricia Cloar Milsted in honor of Judith Ellis and the UGA Parents and Families Association.

Reflections on the March on Washington

One of our oral history initiatives here at the Russell Library is our First Person Project, where we invite members of the community to come to our oral history studio and record a 40-minute interview to be archived at the library. Interviews in the First Person Project usually focus on personal stories and memories—but they also often touch on larger national issues and events.

Last October, Dawn Bennett-Alexander and her daughter Jenniffer Jones recorded an interview in which Dr. Bennett-Alexander discussed her childhood in Washington, D.C.—including participating in the March on Washington in 1963. Fifty years later, as we look back on this historic moment in the Civil Rights Movement, Bennett-Alexander’s story of attending the march as a twelve year-old child, and her memories of discrimination and segregated facilities in Washington, D.C., gives us a personal view of this historic event.

Today, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this historic event, the Russell Library invites you to take a listen to this personal recollection of a major moment, and movement, in American history.

To hear the full interview visit: http://podcaster.gcsu.edu/podcastdata/UGA/Channel_44612786/podcast_8424243/8424243.mp3

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.

Our next First Person Project interview day is scheduled for Friday, September 13th. For more information on this event, please email russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

Post by Callie Holmes, Media and Oral History Archivist, Russell Library

First Person Project Hosts Theme Day for Big Year Series

This September the First Person Project, an oral history series documenting the experiences of everyday Georgians, invites participants to tell stories around the theme “It was a Big Year" on Friday, September 13th in room 268 of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

Was there a year that changed things moving forward for you or your family? Or maybe there was a year when national or international events made you rethink ideas about politics, religion, or social relations? The First Person Project is looking for stories about years of change, time periods that reshaped the lives of individuals, and we want to hear from you. 

Six sets of partners will be accepted for this First Person Project session, scheduled for Friday, September 13th 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. A $10 donation is suggested for each participant pair.

This day of oral history is part of It Was a Big Year, a program series inspired by the exhibit Now and Then: 1973, currently on display in the Russell Library Gallery at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. For more information on other programs in the series, visit: http://rbrl.blogspot.com/search/label/BigYear 

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.

It Was a Big Year: Russell Library Program Series Looks Back at 1973

What do you know about 1973? Join the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies for It Was a Big Year, a program series that considers how a few key events in a single year can change the culture and course of a nation for years to come.

1973 was the year of the Roe v. Wade decision and the return of POWs from the war in Vietnam. It was the year President Richard Nixon proclaimed he was not a crook, even as the Watergate scandal unfolded on national television. It was the year of the Yom Kippur War, the Arab oil embargo, the launch of Skylab, and passage of the Endangered Species Act. Forty years later, history reveals 1973 to be a pivotal year in American history with a lasting legacy.

Inspired by the exhibit Now and Then: 1973, currently on display in its Harrison Feature Gallery, the Richard B. Russell Library will host three events this October that spotlight some of the most significant events from that year and invites attendees to consider what “makes” a big year in history.

All events in the series are free and open to the public. All events will take place on the 2nd floor exhibit level in the new Richard B. Russell Building for Special Collections Libraries, Georgia’s newest cultural destination. Dates and descriptions for individual events are listed below. For more information, please contact russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.   

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

Wednesday, October 16, 2013, 5:30-7:30PM
Panel Discussion, Now and Then: The Endangered Species Act
Location: Auditorium (Room 271), Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries

Inspired by the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act, this panel discussion will help attendees engage with the legacy of this landmark piece of environmental legislation and consider both its impact and relevance forty years later. Panelists will include: Dr. Brian Drake (Department of History), Dr. Laurie Fowler (Odum School of Ecology), Dr. Michael Mengak (Warnell School of Forestry), and Dr. Terrance Centner (College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences). Following the event, attendees are invited to partake in tours of the gallery. 

Thursday, October 24, 2013, 7:00-9:00PM
It Was a Big Year: Storytellers and Scholars
Location: Large Event Space (Room 285), Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries

Inspired by the storytelling format of popular radio show This American Life, and co-sponsored by local non-profit Rabbit Box, this event will invite selected scholars and community members to tell stories around the theme “It was a Big Year.”

Three scholars drawn from departments on the University of Georgia campus will reflect on what they consider to have been a big year in their field of study – addressing music, fashion, and film. Presenters will include Professor David Barbe (Music Business Program, Terry College of Business), José Blanco F. (Historic Clothing and Textiles Collection, College of Family and Consumer Sciences), and Dr. Richard Neupert (Department of Theatre and Film Studies).

Rabbit Box, a local non-profit that fosters the art of storytelling by providing a forum for people to share true stories from their lives, will solicit three storyteller participants from the Athens community to participate in the program, composing pieces around the same theme. Storytellers and scholars will be interwoven in the program, shifting the focus from national and international events to personal stories about significant events in the lives of individuals. Light refreshments will be served during the event. 

Wednesday, October 30, 2013, 6:00-8:00PM
Reconsidering Roe: A Dialogue & Deliberation Event
Location: Large Event Space (Room 285), Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries

This event will ask attendees to engage with the legacy of the landmark court case, Roe v. Wade, and consider both its impact and relevance forty years later. Presenters Professor Lori Ringhand and Professor Randy Beck from the UGA School of Law will give brief presentations, followed by rounds of moderated conversation in the World Café format. Light refreshments will be served during the event.