October is American Archives Month!

In 1999, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) declared October as the official American Archives Month.

Beginning in 1979, Archives Week/Month saw steady growth at the grassroots level, supported by energetic and creative members of regional, state, and local archives associations; state historical records advisory boards; and repositories working individually and collectively. In 2002, the Council of State Archivists started its online directory of Archives Week/Month activities and resources, including a poster gallery. By 2005, Archives Week/Month was being celebrated in a variety of ways in no fewer than 35 states.

In 2014, in conjunction with American Archives Month, #AskAnArchivist Day was introduced to provide an opportunity via Twitter for archivists to talk directly to the public about what they do, why it’s important and the interesting records with which they work. This year #AskAnArchivist Day is October 1.

This October, the Russell Library will celebrate Archives Month on Twitter by highlighting our newest collections with photographs and stories each day. We'll also be participating in #AskAnArchivistDay on Thursday, October 1st. Follow us @RussellLibrary - we look forward to responding to your questions about our collections, our work, and the archives profession!

'Seeing Georgia' exhibit now open at Russell Library

Athens, Ga. - Six sites with histories of political and cultural battles help to tell the story of tourism in modern Georgia in a new exhibit at the University of Georgia's Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. The exhibit opens Sept. 18.

The sites featured in "Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism and the Modern South" represent pivotal perspectives-Jekyll Island and Southwest Georgia's Red Hills Region illustrate issues of class and race; Helen and Stone Mountain, notions of reinvention; and the Okefenokee Swamp and Talullah Falls, battles over natural resources.

"We are showcasing sites relevant
to the bigger tourism story," said Jill Severn, Russell Library head of access and outreach, "addressing concepts of identity, commerce, and advertising that shaped the Georgia tourism industry as a whole." The state established the Tourism Division, part of the Department of Industry and Trade, in 1959.

"In the early 1900s Georgia was a way station for people headed to Florida," Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist and exhibit curator, said. "Starting in the 1940s, the state started to become a destination in its own right, crafting strategies to attract tourists and developing a tourism industry that proved to be a huge economic asset."

Today, tourism continues to have a huge economic impact in the state. According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development website tourism is the 5th largest employer in the state with a total economic impact of $57.1 billion dollars, supporting more than 411,000 jobs, or 10.2 percent of all payroll employment in Georgia.

In addition to items from the Russell Library's collections, the exhibit features photographs, postcards, artifacts, and other ephemera drawn from outside institutions and private individuals. Items from a collector in Rayle will add to a recreated roadside stand inside the gallery space. "This exhibit gave us the opportunity to reach out and collaborate with some local collectors as well as collecting institutions across the state, which has been a real treat," said Hebbard. "A few of these collaborations have even led to new donations." The library recently received the collection of Bill Hardman, Sr., the first ever director of the Tourism Division.

Located at 300 South Hull Street, the library is open to the public 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 1-5 Saturday, except for home football game weekends. "Seeing Georgia" will remain on display through July 2016, with complementary programs planned for next Spring.

Growth of the Tourism Industry in Georgia

Over the past two summers Russell Library intern Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South” opening September 18th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit investigates how the state transformed itself from a way station along the route to Florida into a tourist destination during the twentieth century. It addition to highlighting six popular destinations in Georgia the exhibit considers questions of access, preservation, and economics – who could go, how they got there, and what motivated them to visit different attractions. The exhibit also explores the professionalization of the tourism industry and the roles of modern amenities in shaping the modern tourist experience. This post is one in a series where Kaylynn offers a preview of the exhibition.  

Advertisement produced by the Georgia Department
of Commerce, ca. 1960s. Courtesy of Ed Jackson.

Bill Hardman, Sr., ca. 1960s

In the early twentieth century, most tourists saw Georgia as a place they drove through on the way to a beach destination in Florida. There was no state run division of tourism and no annual allocation for marketing local attractions. Beginning in the 1940s, state officials set their sights on turning Georgia into a “stop over” destination in hopes of capturing some of the tourist dollars headed further south. The administration of Governor Ernest Vandiver Jr. saw tourism as integral to the state’s growing economy and in 1959 named Colbert, Georgia native, Bill Hardman director of the state’s newly created Tourism Division.

Betty Sanders, first lady of Georgia,
at a tourism event, ca. 1964.

Interior of Georgia Visitors Center.

First Georgia Welcome Center in
Sylvania, ca. 1961.

Jill Severn and I took a short drive up to Dahlonega in late July to meet Bill Hardman Jr., the son of the late Bill Hardman, Sr. He shared stories of his father and ephemera his father saved during his career with the Tourism Division. While serving as the state's tourism director, Hardman revolutionized Georgia’s image
among vacationers. He was the driving force behind the creation of Georgia’s Welcome Centers as well as clever campaigns like “See Georgia First” and “Stop and See Georgia.” Through his efforts, the state shed its reputation for speed traps, clip-joints and poor roads.

Governor Carl Sanders dedicating
Georgia Welcome Center, ca. 1964.

In 1962, Georgia opened its first Welcome Center along Highway 301 in Sylvania, near the South Carolina border. While travelers picked up maps, brochures, and souvenirs or visited the restroom, hostesses armed with southern hospitality and donated Coca-Cola, peanuts, and Royal Crown Cola would persuade them to stay and see Georgia’s many attractions. Soon thereafter, welcome centers were built at Lavonia, Ringgold, Columbus, and Valdosta.  In 1967, tourist spending in the state reached $570.7 million.

Note: The photographs featured in the blog post are drawn from the Bill Hardman, Sr. Papers, recently donated to the Russell Library. This collection should be available for research shortly. We extend temendous thanks to Bill Hardman, Jr. for this generous donation of his father's papers.  

Want to find out more about Georgia Tourism? Visit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the New South on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 18, 2015 through July 30, 2016. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

Okefenokee Swamp: A Defiant Wilderness

Over the past two summers Russell Library intern Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South” opening September 18th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit investigates how the state transformed itself from a way station along the route to Florida into a tourist destination during the twentieth century. It addition to highlighting six popular destinations in Georgia the exhibit considers questions of access, preservation, and economics – who could go, how they got there, and what motivated them to visit different attractions. The exhibit also explores the professionalization of the tourism industry and the roles of modern amenities in shaping the modern tourist experience. This post is one in a series where Kaylynn offers a preview of the exhibition.   

Postcard, ca. 1960s. Courtesy of Ed Jackson.

Williamson S. Stuckey Papers,
Russell Library.

The Okefenokee Swamp is perhaps most famous for its successful resistance of all attempts to subdue and exploit it. Occupying 700 square miles in the southeastern Georgia, it was drained by timber companies, dredged for canal construction, and its wildlife hunted to near extinction. Yet this primitive swamp remains intact, attracting tourists in spite of itself, translating a reputation for danger and mystery into a popular attraction. In the 1920s, conservation groups like the Okefenokee Preservation Society and The Georgia Society of Naturalists began stressing the importance of the Okefenokee ecosystem in hopes of protecting the swamp and its wildlife. After public outcry, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Conservation of Wildlife Resources visited the site and had the U.S. Biological Survey further investigate. In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order #7593 establishing the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge after the government spent $400,000 purchasing land from the Hebard Cypress Company.

Movie Poster and Ephemera Collection,
Hargrett Library.

Local Native Americans called the Okefenokee Swamp, “Okefenoka,” which means “land that trembles when you walk on it” because of the unstable peat moss deposits that appear like floating islands. Although “swampers” or residents native to the swamp counties include hunters, loggers, firefighters and even canal diggers have long depended on Okefenokee, Hollywood didn’t “discover its unmatched charm” until the 1940s. Movie producers and Swamp Park boosters exploited the dangerous “lost world” atmosphere to tempt vacationers into a visit. Under the direction of Dr. Wilbur Clair Hafford, the Tourist Bureau of the Waycross and Ware County Chamber of Commerce organized a civic, non-profit corporation Okefenokee Association, Inc. for the purpose of developing a tourist attraction at Okefenokee.  With the approval of Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall and the U.S. department of Agriculture, the Association leased 1,200 acres to create the Okefenokee Swamp Park. Opened in October 1946, the Okefenokee Swamp Park continues today as a private tourist destination offering boat tours, educational displays, and sightseeing that capitalizes on the allure of the swamp.

Okefenokee park brochure, ca. 1950s.
E. Merton Coulter Manuscripts, Hargrett Library.

Want to find out more about Georgia Tourism? Visit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the New South on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 18, 2015 through July 30, 2016. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

Jekyll Island: From Millionaires to the Masses

Over the past two summers Russell Library intern Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South” opening September 18th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit investigates how the state transformed itself from a way station along the route to Florida into a tourist destination during the twentieth century. It addition to highlighting six popular destinations in Georgia the exhibit considers questions of access, preservation, and economics – who could go, how they got there, and what motivated them to visit different attractions. The exhibit also explores the professionalization of the tourism industry and the roles of modern amenities in shaping the modern tourist experience. This post is one in a series where Kaylynn offers a preview of the exhibition.   

Ephemera Collection, Russell Library. 

Once called the richest, most exclusive, club in the world, Jekyll Island was a playground for northern capitalists during America’s Gilded Age. Between 1888 and 1928, the likes of the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts made up the original 53 members of the Jekyll Island Club.  During the Club Era, according to a 1955 booklet, “Jekyll was not only the greatest of the country’s social islands but one so legendary in prestige that in its hey dey the claim was made that its clientele controlled one-sixth of the world’s wealth.” The Great Depression and onset of World War II caused memberships to dwindle and 1942 marked the Club’s final season.


Governor Ellis Arnall soon thereafter appointed a commission to investigate the purchase of the coastal islands for use as state parks. Georgians largely supported the proposal for the state to purchase Jekyll, eager to enjoy an accessible in-state beach within reach of the average vacationer. Though some politicians opposed the purchase, questioning whether the state belonged in the beach resort business, others hoped to capture tourist traffic headed further south.

Governor M.E. Thompson
and his wife Ann on Jekyll,
ca. 1947-48.
M.E. Thompson Papers,
Russell Library.

As state revenue commission, M.E. Thompson recommended the purchase of Jekyll Island. Acting as governor he moved forward with the state acquisition of the island on October 7, 1947 for $675,000, renaming the property Jekyll Island State Park. Although taunted by his political foe Herman Talmadge, who dubbed the project “Thompson’s Folly,” Thompson refused to give up on the creation of a state beach park for the “plain people of Georgia.”  In recognition of this work on the project, the Jekyll Island Bridge was named in his honor in 1989.

Although Jekyll is now a “fabulous family vacation spot, open to all,” the Jekyll Island Authority continues to capitalize on the island's high-class history to entice tourists. As one pamphlet advertising “Prime Ocean Front Resort Lots” noted, “Jekyll’s potential is far from being realized” yet it has “a unique identity—one that gives it an edge in the competition with other seacoast resorts.” Although the Jekyll Island Authority promoted resort type development and leased lots to increase profits and make the island economically self-sufficient by 1972 , the state legislature stipulated that no more than half of the property could be developed.

Want to find out more about Georgia Tourism? Visit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the New South on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 18, 2015 through July 30, 2016. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

Note: All the uncaptioned images in this blog post were obtained from the Georgiana Ephemera Collection, courtesy of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Georgia Disability History Symposium: Stories of Advocacy and Action

We are pleased to announce that the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and the Institute on Human Development and Disability have partnered to present “The Georgia Disability History Symposium: Stories of Advocacy and Action" -- an event intended to increase awareness and understanding of disability history in Georgia, to be hosted Thursday, October 23 from 1:00-7:00 p.m. at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

The afternoon event will feature an array of speakers presenting their experiences advocating over the past several decades, and their thoughts about what still needs to be done, 25 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Dr. Zolinda Stoneman, director of IHDD, will provide the keynote. Speakers’ topics will include disability rights and justice, de-institutionalization, the power and impact of the Olmstead decision, citizen advocacy and self-advocacy. A reception will follow.

An exhibit featuring documents, photographs and memorabilia from the recently created Georgia Disability History Archive, housed at the Russell Library, will be available for viewing. Also on hand will be the ADA Legacy Tour bus, which has traveled over 23,000 miles this year to commemorate the ADA’s 25th anniversary.

To read the full press release, click HERE.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Mat Darby at matdarby@uga.edu or 706-542-0627.

The Red Hills: From Cotton to Quail

Georgia Game and Fish Magazine, Fall 1954.
John James Flynt, Jr. Papers, Russell Library. 

Over the past two summers Russell Library intern Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South” opening September 18th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit investigates how the state transformed itself from a way station along the route to Florida into a tourist destination during the twentieth century. It addition to highlighting six popular destinations in Georgia the exhibit considers questions of access, preservation, and economics – who could go, how they got there, and what motivated them to visit different attractions. The exhibit also explores the professionalization of the tourism industry and the roles of modern amenities in shaping the modern tourist experience. This post is one in a series where Kaylynn offers a preview of the exhibition.   

Courtesy of Gary Doster

The region of Southwest Georgia in the Flint River basin near Albany encompassing Thomas and Grady Counties is known as the Red Hills. In the 1874, local Thomas County physician Dr. Thomas Spalding Hopkins touted the benefits of the high elevation and dry climate for improving respiratory ailments. Soon thereafter, the New England Journal of Medicine even promoted South Georgia—particularly Thomasville—as the ideal sanctuary for those suffering from consumption. As a 1890s trade card noted, “why not spend the winter in Thomasville?" With convenient railway access, pleasant surroundings, and a dry climate, northerners flocking to the Red Hills during the winters of the late nineteenth century more than doubled the local population. Depressed cotton prices in the post-Reconstruction Era dropped property values, and soon visitors began buying up defunct cotton plantations and converting them into private hunting resorts. These exclusive seasonal visitors, many whose families still enjoy the region, came for the climate, opportunity to socialize with fellow elites, and the pleasure of hunting in the longleaf pine forests.  

Georgia Room Collection
Hargrett Library. 

Many of South Georgia’s quail hunting plantations served as the nation’s first outdoor laboratories for wildlife management and forestry research. In the early twentieth century, scientists like Herbert Stoddard (1889-1970) and Eugene Odom (1913-2002) came to the Red Hills to conduct research. By the 1950s, the Cooperative Quail Study Association was established at Robert Woodruff’s Ichauway Plantation, which continues as the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center.  As of 2013, more than 650,000 acres in the Red Hills serve as quail hunting preserves and over 165,000 acres are permanently protected.  In 2012, Red Hills hunting plantations generated $147.1 million per year and employed over 1,400 locals full-time. In that same year Georgia ranked number one in the nation for attracting out-of-state hunters.

Want to find out more about Georgia Tourism? Visit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the New South on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 18, 2015 through July 30, 2016. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788

New Tourism Exhibit Featured in Georgia Connector Magazine

We are excited to have our new exhibit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South featured as the cover story in this month's Georgia Connector Magazine! Click HERE to give it a read.

The story tells readers a bit about the exhibit - our process for developing the topic and getting into the research. There are fantastic quotes from our summer intern, Kaylynn Washnock, who acted as co-curator on the project, as well as our volunteer Bill Hugunine who has been searching through the collections for items to display for more than a year. And finally, there is also a great side piece that focuses on the amazing private collectors who we worked with to borrow items for the display, notably Gary Doster, Ed Jackson, and William Walker.

We hope you'll give the article a read and come and check out the finished product at our opening on September 18th! In the meantime, keep up with Kaylynn's series here on the blog - new installments coming next week. And, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more sneak peek photos of the exhibit during installation. 

Stone Mountain: A Complex Attraction

Over the past two summers Russell Library intern Kaylynn Washnock assisted in curating the new exhibit, “Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South” opening September 18th in the Russell Library’s Harrison Feature Gallery. The exhibit investigates how the state transformed itself from a way station along the route to Florida into a tourist destination during the twentieth century. It addition to highlighting six popular destinations in Georgia the exhibit considers questions of access, preservation, and economics – who could go, how they got there, and what motivated them to visit different attractions. The exhibit also explores the professionalization of the tourism industry and the roles of modern amenities in shaping the modern tourist experience. This post is one in a series where Kaylynn offers a preview of the exhibition.   

Stone Mountain Materials,
Hargrett Library.

Since the 1850s, people have come to marvel at the world’s largest mass of exposed granite at Stone Mountain. In 1909, at the height of Civil War memorial construction in the South, the United Daughters of the Confederacy proposed a monument on the site. The Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association hired renowned sculptor Gutzon Borglum, creator of Mount Rushmore, to construct a carving of well-known Confederate figures Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Following ongoing disagreements, Borglum left the project in the 1920s with the carving incomplete.

Given recent events in the media concerning Confederate flags and monuments, it is interesting to reflect on the origins of the carving at Stone Mountain. In 1924, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) announced “the people of Georgia are confronted with the opportunity of having the greatest memorial in the world erected within their borders—a piece of sculpture so heroic in size, so magnificent in conception that the temples of Thebes pale into insignificance in comparison and the rock city of Petra can offer no equal.” Hoping to raise $250,000 to finance the carving, SMMA chairman Hollis H. Randolph urged “when will the people of Georgia awake to a realization of their priceless opportunity?”  The 1920s vision for Stone Mountain was a product of its time, steeped in notions of Lost Cause ideology.

The Civil Rights Movement revived attention in the unfinished monument among pro-segregationists. In 1958, Governor Marvin Griffin led efforts to establish the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) to purchase the property and oversee the development of Stone Mountain Memorial Park. The 1959 Master Plan completed by Robert and Company Associates of Atlanta hoped to transform Stone Mountain with the construction of a lake, dam, scenic drives and trails, fishing pier and open-air theater.

Master Plan for the Stone Mountain Memorial, 1959.
S. Ernest Vandiver, Jr. Papers, Russell Library.

Since the 1970s, Stone Mountain has attempted to move beyond promoting a romanticized and largely conflict free vision of the Old South. Although the Confederate carving remains prominent, and an interpreted antebellum plantation is among the featured attractions at the site, developers have created a more marketable identity for the park as a whole to appeal to a culturally diverse audience. In 1998, Herschend Family Entertainment, owner of Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, signed a contract to operate Stone Mountain as a joint public-private family friendly theme park, which now attracts 4 million visitors annually. The park offers a host of attractions, including a laser light show, sky lift, scenic railroad, in addition to hiking trails, a golf course, and fishing and picnicking areas. Though not without controversy, the modern site is more than just Confederate memory.

Interested in talking more about issues of memory? Our pick for September's Rest of the Story Book Club is Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz. I'll be helping to lead the discussion, so if you're interested in further exploring the topics touched on in this blog post, check out the book and join us on Tuesday, September 22nd at 5:30PM for light refreshments and good discussion.

Want to find out more about Georgia Tourism? Visit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the New South on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries from September 18, 2015 through July 30, 2016. The Russell Library gallery is free and open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. For more information, email russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788