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.

New Exhibit, Now and Then: 1973

There are some moments in history that become powerful touchstones, revisited to reflect and inform a better understanding of the present day. Now and Then: 1973, the Richard B. Russell Library’s latest feature exhibit, looks back at a pivotal year in modern American history and considers the impact of events that filled the public mind for a moment in time. The exhibition explores the interactions of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government – how the decisions made by each conflicted with one another, and with public opinion, in choosing a path for the United States. 

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.

“We originally considered an exhibit focused exclusively on the anniversary of the Watergate scandal,” said outreach archivist Jan Levinson, “but after some preliminary research found that there were so many big events happening in 1973 that touched on our key collecting areas, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a look a multiple events.”

Both Levinson, who curated the exhibit, and her colleague Jill Severn, Russell Library’s Head of Access and Outreach, saw that the events of 1973 shared easy connections with current events and issues that Americans are struggling with today. “In creating the text and selecting objects from our collections, we tried to highlight the connections between past and present, as well as to prompt visitors to consider the interactions of various branches of government in dealing with public issues,” said Levinson.

The Russell outreach team will spend this summer planning an exciting slate of public programs scheduled for fall 2013, that complement the key themes and topics of the exhibit. In the coming weeks they hope to launch an interactive appeal to the public, soliciting photographs from 1973 for display in the gallery and on the Russell Library blog (www.rbrl.blogspot.com).     

The exhibit will remain on display in the Harrison Feature Gallery of the Russell Library Gallery through December 15, 2013. The galleries of the Special Collections Building are open from 8am-5pm Monday through Friday and 1-5pm on Saturdays; admission is free. For more information contact Jan Levinson at jlevinso@uga.edu or by calling 706-542-5788. To schedule a tour of the Special Collections Libraries Galleries, contact Jean Cleveland at jclevela@uga.edu or by calling 706-542-8079.