Build Civic Knowledge On Your Lunch Break!

This April the Richard B. Russell Library invites attendees to consider the powers and function of the U.S. Congress through an event series titled Civic Knowledge, Civic Power. This weekly program hosted from 12:30-1:30 p.m. looks to increase civic knowledge on campus and in the community with short lectures and informal discussion from speakers in UGA’s Department of Political Science. 
The powers of the United States Congress are considerable and well established. Congress can collect taxes, coin money, declare war, raise and support armies and a navy, and make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its powers – just to name a few. But understanding Congress cannot be done in a vacuum or just through a listing of powers

Hosted for the first time in 2017, the weekly lunch-and-learn series was created as a way to promote greater understanding at a time when surveys show declining levels of knowledge and confidence in Congress. “A 2016 survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that citizen knowledge of government basics is at a new low,” said outreach archivist Jan Hebbard. “At a time when many citizens seem increasingly interested in playing a more active role in politics, we wanted to create a space for informal learning about this branch of government and its history.” Last year’s events were so successful, the event series will now happen annually, hosted in tandem with the national Congress Week initiative each April.

At each event featured speakers will address a selected topic, beginning on April 3 with Dr. Anthony Madonna discussing how a bill becomes a law, with a particular focus on recent efforts to reshape the Affordable Care Act. Other topics on the schedule include how elections work; balancing the federal budget; and polarization in Congress. Organizers hope addressing issues that have garnered widespread attention since the 2016 presidential election will engage people from both the campus and community. “We try to keep our programming connected both to our collections, and to current events – helping people to draw connections between the past and present,” said Jill Severn, head of access and outreach for the Russell Library. 

Partners for the series include the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, the UGA College Republicans. For more information contact russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.

Tuesday, April 3, 12:30-1:30
Lunch & Learn, How a Bill Becomes a Law (Healthcare Redux)
Room 277, Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries)

Tuesday, April 10, 12:30-1:30
Lunch & Learn, Balancing the Federal Budget
Room 277, Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries)

Tuesday, April 17, 12:30-1:30
Lunch & Learn, How Campaigns Work: 2018 Mid-Term Elections 
Room 277, Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries)

Tuesday, Apr. 24, 12:30-1:30PM
Lunch & Learn, Polarization in Congress
Room 277, Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries)

Campus and Community Partners Host 4th Annual School Lunch Competition

Local chefs will once again take on the School Lunch Challenge March 24, creating tasty dishes that meet USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program. Attendees will have a chance to sample the creations at the cooking competition from 12-1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Whitehead Road Elementary School. 

Building on increased interest in the National School Lunch Program, and inspired by the 2014 exhibition, Food, Power,Politics: The Story of School Lunch, the Richard B.Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and others partnered in 2015 to create this fun, educational event to engage the Athens community with the past, present, and future of school lunch. “Richard Russell co-sponsored the legislation which created the National School Lunch Program in 1946. We are glad to host this event, now an annual happening that draws attention to the NSLP today,” said organizer Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist at the Russell Library. 

The 2018 event will offer 200 free tickets to the general public. The centerpiece of this event is a cooking competition which invites participating teams, advised by nutritionists from the Clarke County School District (CCSD), to create dishes in accordance with USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. A panel of student judges drawn from CCSD schools will vote to determine an overall winner. The winning team’s plate will be incorporated into the CCSD school lunch menu during the 2018-2019 school year. 

Students from the Clarke County School District serve as judges at the competition,
taking notes and voting for their favorite dish. 

Last year local restaurant Last Resort Grill was voted the overall winner by student judges. Led by chef Larry Vivian, the team won over judges with a chicken parmesan sandwich paired with honey thyme glazed carrots. This recipe debuted on the CCSD School Lunch Menu in September 2017. The Last Resort team will return in 2018 to defend their title against new competitors Taziki’sMediterranean Cafe, Dondero’s Kitchen, and the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia. 

Members of the Last Resort team celebrate their victory after being named
2017 Overall Champions by the student judging panel. 

The 2018 event will include cooking demonstrations from local chefs, focused on healthy snacks and meals that can be prepared by kids. Organizations connected to sustainable agriculture, community gardens, childhood nutrition, and farm to school programs in the Athens area will host information tables alongside a display of historical documents and artifacts related to the history of the National School Lunch Program. This year's event will also feature the Junior Food Fight, a live cooking competition in which two teams of high school students from the Athens Land Trust’s Young Urban Farmers program will compete to create dishes based on an assigned seasonal ingredient.

A family attending the event stops to learn more about
Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful (KACCB), one of the information table hosts
at the 2017 School Lunch Challenge. 

 The event is free and open to the public but attendance is limited. Tickets are available beginning Feb. 24 through the Eventbrite website. Attendees are encouraged to bring donation items to benefit the Food 2 Kids program operated by the Foodbank of Northeast Georgia. Requested items include jars of peanut butter, individual oatmeal packs, beef ravioli (pop top cans), chicken and rice (pop top cans), spaghettios with meatballs (pop top cans), mac and cheese (individual dry packs), and granola bars. 

Students in the Athens Land Trust’s Young Urban Farmers program
cook on stage during the event, competing in the first ever
Junior Food Fight event. 

The 2018 School Lunch Challenge is sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the Clarke County School District, Mayfield Dairy Farms, the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department, UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Department of Foods and Nutrition, The Fresh Market, Seed Life Skills, Heirloom Café Athens, Athens Land Trust, and Athens Farm to School.


To obtain tickets visit https://schoollunchchallenge2018.eventbrite.com

For more information, contact Jan Hebbard at jhebbard@uga.edu or (706) 542-5788. 

Lunch and Learn Series to Explore How Congress Works (or Should Work!)

A new program series hosted by the Richard B. Russell Library this April invites attendees to consider the powers and function of the U.S. Congress. Titled Civic Knowledge = Civic Power, the weekly program hosted from 12:30-1:30 p.m. looks to increase civic knowledge on campus and in the community with short lectures and informal discussion with speakers from UGA’s Department of Political Science.

The powers of the United States Congress are considerable and well established. Congress can collect taxes, coin money, declare war, raise and support armies and a navy, and make all laws necessary and proper to carry out its powers – just to name a few. But understanding Congress cannot be done in a vacuum or just through a listing of powers

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, a center for research and study of the American political system, devised this series as a way to promote greater understanding at a time when surveys show declining levels of knowledge and confidence in Congress. “A 2016 survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that citizen knowledge of government basics is at a new low,” said outreach archivist Jan Hebbard. “At a time when many citizens seem increasingly interested in playing a more active role in politics, we wanted to create a space for informal learning about this branch of government and its history.” The series was also inspired by the annual Congress Week initiative, led by the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress.

At each event featured speakers will address a selected topic, beginning on April 4 with Dr. Anthony Madonna and Dr. Michael Lynch discussing how a bill becomes a law. Other topics on the schedule include Congress and the media; a short history of the filibuster; and uses of the executive order. Organizers hope addressing issues that have garnered widespread attention since the 2016 presidential election will engage people from both the campus and community. “We try to keep our programming connected both to our collections and to current events – helping people to draw connections between the past and present,” said Jill Severn, head of access and outreach for the Russell Library.

Partners for the series include the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, the UGA College Republicans, and the UGA Young Democrats. A full listing of programs in the series can be found below. For more information contact russlib@uga.edu or call 706-542-5788.

Tuesday, April 4, 12:30-1:30 (Room 277)

Lunch & Learn Program, Topic: How a Bill Becomes a Law

Speakers: Dr. Anthony Madonna, Dr. Michael Lynch

Wednesday, April 12, 12:30-1:30 (Room 277)

Lunch & Learn Program, Topic: Congress and the Media: Shaping Public Perceptions

Speaker: Dr. Audrey Haynes

Tuesday, April 18, 12:30-1:30 (Room 277)

Lunch & Learn Program, Topic: A History of the Filibuster

Speaker: Dr. Anthony Madonna

Tuesday, Apr. 25, 12:30-1:30PM (Room 277)

Lunch & Learn Program, Topic: Use of the Executive Order

Speaker: Dr. Michael Lynch

Campus and Community Partners to Host 3rd Annual School Lunch Challenge!

Local chefs will take on the School Lunch Challenge March 18, creating tasty dishes that meet USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program. Attendees will have a chance to sample the creations at the cooking competition from 12-1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Whitehead Road Elementary School.

Building on increased public interest in the National School Lunch Program, and inspired by the 2014 exhibition, Food, Power, Politics: The Story of School Lunch, the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and others partnered in 2015 to create a fun, educational event to engage the Athens community with the past, present, and future of school lunch. “Richard Russell co-sponsored the legislation which created the National School Lunch Program in 1946. We are glad to host this event, now an annual happening that draws attention to the NSLP today,” said organizer Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist at the Russell Library.

Chef Hugh Acheson demos a healthy recipe for attendees
at the 2016 School Lunch Challenge

The 2017 event will offer 200 free tickets to the general public, and offer hands-on activities and cooking demonstrations to attendees. Once again, the centerpiece of this event will be a cooking competition which invites participating teams, advised by nutritionists from the Clarke County School District (CCSD), to create dishes in accordance with USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. A panel of student judges drawn from CCSD schools will vote to determine an overall winner. The winning team’s plate will be incorporated into the CCSD school lunch menu during the 2017-2018 school year. 

Last year a team made up of family and consumer science teachers from the Clarke County School District was voted the overall winner by student judges. Led by Almeta Tuloss, program director for Seed Life Skills, a non-profit committed to revamping Family and Consumer Science curriculum, the team won over judges with a chicken and spinach pasta with lemon cream sauce alongside a mixed salad with orange vinaigrette. This recipe is scheduled to debut on the CCSD School Lunch Menu in Spring 2017. The CCSD teachers will return to defend their title against new competitors Taqueria del Sol, Last Resort Grill, and The Place.

Student judges rating dishes at the
2016 School Lunch Challenge

A variety of organizations connected to sustainable agriculture, community gardens, childhood nutrition and farm to school programs in the Athens area will host information tables at the event. A display of historical documents and artifacts related to the history of the National School Lunch Program will also be on display. 

The event is free and open to the public but only 200 tickets will be made available, beginning February 24 through the Eventbrite website. The 2017 School Lunch Challenge is sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the Clarke County School District, the Athens Land Trust, Athens Farm to School, UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Department of Foods and Nutrition, The Fresh Market, Earthfare, Seed Life Skills, and Heirloom Cafe.   

To register for tickets, visit https://slc2017.eventbrite.com 

Campus and Community Partners to Host 3rd Annual School Lunch Challenge!

Local chefs will take on the School Lunch Challenge March 18, creating tasty dishes that meet USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program. Attendees will have a chance to sample the creations at the cooking competition from 12-1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Whitehead Road Elementary School.

Building on increased public interest in the National School Lunch Program, and inspired by the 2014 exhibition, Food, Power, Politics: The Story of School Lunch, the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and others partnered in 2015 to create a fun, educational event to engage the Athens community with the past, present, and future of school lunch. “Richard Russell co-sponsored the legislation which created the National School Lunch Program in 1946. We are glad to host this event, now an annual happening that draws attention to the NSLP today,” said organizer Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist at the Russell Library.

Chef Hugh Acheson demos a healthy recipe for attendees
at the 2016 School Lunch Challenge

The 2017 event will offer 200 free tickets to the general public, and offer hands-on activities and cooking demonstrations to attendees. Once again, the centerpiece of this event will be a cooking competition which invites participating teams, advised by nutritionists from the Clarke County School District (CCSD), to create dishes in accordance with USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. A panel of student judges drawn from CCSD schools will vote to determine an overall winner. The winning team’s plate will be incorporated into the CCSD school lunch menu during the 2017-2018 school year. 

Last year a team made up of family and consumer science teachers from the Clarke County School District was voted the overall winner by student judges. Led by Almeta Tuloss, program director for Seed Life Skills, a non-profit committed to revamping Family and Consumer Science curriculum, the team won over judges with a chicken and spinach pasta with lemon cream sauce alongside a mixed salad with orange vinaigrette. This recipe is scheduled to debut on the CCSD School Lunch Menu in Spring 2017. The CCSD teachers will return to defend their title against new competitors Taqueria del Sol, Last Resort Grill, and The Place.

Student judges rating dishes at the
2016 School Lunch Challenge

A variety of organizations connected to sustainable agriculture, community gardens, childhood nutrition and farm to school programs in the Athens area will host information tables at the event. A display of historical documents and artifacts related to the history of the National School Lunch Program will also be on display. 

The event is free and open to the public but only 200 tickets will be made available, beginning February 24 through the Eventbrite website. The 2017 School Lunch Challenge is sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the Clarke County School District, the Athens Land Trust, Athens Farm to School, UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Department of Foods and Nutrition, The Fresh Market, Earthfare, Seed Life Skills, and Heirloom Cafe.   

To register for tickets, visit https://slc2017.eventbrite.com 

For more information, contact Jan Hebbard at jhebbard@uga.edu or (706) 542-5788.

Campus and Community Partners to Host 2nd Annual School Lunch Challenge

Local chefs will once again take on the School Lunch Challenge March 19, creating tasty dishes that meet USDA requirements for the National School Lunch Program. Attendees will have a chance to sample the creations at the cooking competition from 12-1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Whitehead Road Elementary School.

Building on increased interest in the National School Lunch Program, and inspired by the 2014 exhibition, Food, Power, Politics: The Story of School Lunch, the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and others partnered in 2015 to host a fun, educational event to engage the Athens community with the past, present, and future of school lunch. “Richard Russell co-sponsored the legislation which created the National School Lunch Program in 1948. We are glad to host this event that draws attention to the NSLP today, and our planning team is excited to make this an annual happening in Athens,” said organizer Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist at the Russell Library.

The 2016 event will expand attendance from 150 to 200 people, and offer hands-on activities and cooking demonstrations, in addition to the cooking competition. Local chef Hugh Acheson will serve as the master of ceremonies. Acheson recently launched Seed Life Skills, a non-profit committed to revamping Family and Consumer Science curriculum, supporting education that teaches skills including hands-on culinary instruction, conscious consumer economics, and D.I.Y. design principles.

Attendees at the 2015 School Lunch Challenge
enjoying samples from the cooking competition. 

Once again, the centerpiece of this event will be a cooking competition which invites participating teams, drawn from local restaurants and advised by members of the Clarke County School District (CCSD), to create dishes in accordance with USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. A panel of student judges drawn from CCSD schools will vote to determine an overall winner. The winning team’s plate will be incorporated into the CCSD school lunch menu during the 2016-2017 school year.

Last year’s student judges voted The National the overall winner. Led by Chef Emmanuel Stone, the team won over judges with a deluxe chicken burrito and a side of broccoli with cheese. Adapted into a burrito bowl to reduce preparation time, this recipe debuted on the CCSD School Lunch Menu on Nov. 1 to rave reviews. The National team returns this year to defend their title against new competitors Pulaski Heights BBQ, The Pine, and a team made up of FACS teachers from the Clarke County School District.

This event is free and open to the public but attendance will be capped at 200 people. Tickets are available beginning February 26 through the Eventbrite website. Attendees are encouraged to bring donation items to benefit the Food 2 Kids program operated by the Foodbank of Northeast Georgia. Requested items include beans-n-franks (pop-top cans) and jars of peanut butter.   

The event is free and open to the public but attendance will be capped at 200 people. Tickets are available beginning February 26 through the Eventbrite website.

The 2016 School Lunch Challenge is sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the Clarke County School District, the Athens Land Trust, Athens Farm to School, UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Department of Foods and Nutrition, The Fresh Market, Seed Life Skills, and Heirloom Cafe and Fresh Market.  

To obtain tickets visit http://schoollunchchallenge2016.eventbrite.com  

For more information, contact Jan Hebbard at jhebbard@uga.edu or (706) 542-5788.

Student judges going through the lunch line.

Dixie Highway Lecture Scheduled for April 2016

We're currently organizing public programs for the spring related to our ongoing exhibit Seeing Georgia: Changing Visions of Tourism in the Modern South, and we're glad to announce our first confirmed event for 2016.

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and the UGA Department of History will host Dr. Tammy Ingram, assistant professor of history at the College of Charleston, for a lecture titled "Driving Dixie: The Politics of Early Automobile Tourism" at 4:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries (Room 271).

Ingram's talk will focus on the ways that automobile tourism reshaped both the physical and political landscapes of the South, and Georgia in particular, from the 1910s through the 1930s. "I plan to examine both the effects of tourism on transportation policymaking in the state," said Ingram, and also "the ways in which public enthusiasm for new highway projects and tourist dollars inspired businessmen and politicians alike to sell a very specific vision of the state—and the South—to early automobile tourists." She will also explain how farmers, the most important constituency in the state, took advantage of expensive transportation networks that were built primarily to serve wealthy northern and midwestern tourists. "In the process they, too, helped to remake the state and the region by facilitating the rise of agribusiness and tourism," said Ingram, still two of the biggest sources of revenue in the state a century later.

Following the lecture, attendees are invited to a light reception and book signing for Ingram's recent book Dixie Highway: Roadbuilding and the Making of the Modern South, 1900-1930.  A screening of the Georgia Public Broadcasting documentary Down the Dixie Highway will follow at 6:30 p.m.
This event is co-sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies and the Department of History at the University of Georgia.

More about Dr. Tammy Ingram
Dr. Ingram received her PhD from Yale University in 2007 and is currently an assistant professor at the College of Charleston, where she teaches courses on the modern South, twentieth century U.S. politics, and urban history. Her first book, Dixie Highway: Road Building and the Making of the Modern South, 1900-1930, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in March of 2014. It is the first comprehensive study of the Progressive Era Good Roads Movement and the first monograph about the Dixie Highway, a largely forgotten 6000-mile network of roads that crisscrossed the South and Midwest from Lake Michigan to Miami Beach. The book has been awarded an Excellence in Research Award by the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council, the 2015 Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award by the Georgia Historical Society, and was named a 2014 Book of Interest by the Business History Conference. In July 2016, UNC Press will release a paperback edition of the book.

Professor Ingram’s new book project, The Wickedest City in America: Sex, Race, and Organized Crime in the Jim Crow South, offers a broad view of organized crime networks in the postwar U.S. but focuses on a loosely connected group of individuals in the South nicknamed the Dixie Mafia. Ingram has also explored some of her scholarly research interests in several blogs and op-eds for outlets such as the History News Network, Like the Dew, the Huffington Post, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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!

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.