Art Installation by Local Sculptor Examines the Politics of Thanksgiving

The Russell Library will cover new territory this October when the installation "WE: American Thanksgiving Conflict and Communion" opens on Monday, October 29, 2018, in the Harrison Feature Gallery of the Richard B. Russell Special Collection Library. Created by local sculptor and potter Micaela Hobbs, in collaboration with painter Jennifer Niswonger, the exhibit examines the history of the United States through the lens of the Thanksgiving dinner table. 

The concept is presented as a series of place settings and serving pieces. Each piece is decorated with images of an individual or institution that played a part in shaping American history. The tablescape is punctuated with centerpiece sculptures that reflect the artist’s synthesis of each era of history. The installation asks visitors to imagine the conversations and arguments between and among these figures if they had all sat down together around the Thanksgiving table.

Cracked ceramic platter

The idea for the exhibit grew out of a mishap in the artist’s studio. “On the morning of the 2016 Thanksgiving holiday, I pulled a ceramic platter out of my kiln that had formed a spectacular crack down the middle,” Hobbs recalled. “It looked as if a giant had tried to tear it in half, but stopped at the last minute. It seemed to me, in that moment, that I was holding America in my hands.”

Niswonger's rendering of Angelo

The question of how to represent historic figures for which a there was not a likeness available created a stumbling block for the artist. “I didn’t want this lack of an image to prevent me from talking about these figures, but also wanted to find an approach that was honorable and accurate.” Hobbs consulted with Dr. Barbara McCaskill, a professor in UGA’s Department of English and co-director of the Civil Rights Digital Library Initiative, to determine how best to represent these individuals appropriately. Hobbs then collaborated with painter Jennifer Niswonger, an MA student in UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art, to develop portraits for these individuals and to create a companion mural that brings figures from the Thanksgiving tablescape together.

Russell Library director Sheryl Vogt is excited to explore this new frontier of politics in the Russell Gallery. “At the Russell, we believe the personal is political,” said Vogt, “the debates and arguments and consensus we reach around the dinner table with family and friends shape our understanding and participation in the wider world of official politics and policymaking at all levels. This exhibit allows us to explore this dynamic with our visitors.” 

Be sure to stop by on your next visit! “WE” will be on display until December 22, 2018, in the Harrison Feature Gallery of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, 300 S. Hull Street. The Special Collections building is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays. The building is closed on home football game days.

An opening reception celebrating this exhibit, gallery tours, and remarks from the artist Micaela Hobbs will take place at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries on November 15th from 7:00-9:00 p.m. In addition to the opening and other formal events connected to the exhibit, the Russell Library welcomes requests for special tours by campus and community organizations, and groups. For more information about scheduling a tour, please contact contact Jill Severn at 706-542-5766.

The Peanut Gallery

Rep. Lindsay Thomas poses with
Georgia Peanut Princess, ca. 1980s.
Robert Lindsay Thomas Papers

What do the U.S. Navy, the National School Lunch Program, and the former Soviet Union have in common? Why, peanuts of course!

The new installation inside our History Lives Gallery explores Georgia's second largest cash crop through the lenses of our six key collecting areas: politics, public good, social relations, environment, economy, and peace and war. Assembled by volunteer researcher Bill Hugunine, the selection of items on display provides a series of stories about peanuts, from World War II through the 1990s, found in the Russell Library’s collections. Be sure to stop by on your next visit to the Russell Library Gallery!

Do you have a suggestion for what topic we should take on next in the gallery? Tweet your idea to @RussellLibrary and it may be the next to appear! 

UGA Special Collections Libraries Recruiting for Volunteer Tour Guide Program

The University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries is now accepting applications for participants in its docent program.  

The Docent Corps is made up of a group of volunteers who provide tours of the exhibit galleries to visitors, ranging from second graders to senior citizens. Docents are trained to highlight permanent and rotating exhibitions and to help increase awareness of the many resources offered by the three special collections libraries: The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The Walter J. Brown Media Archive and Peabody Awards Collections, and The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. 

“Participation in the docent program requires a substantial commitment of time and energy on the part of volunteers, but can be tremendously rewarding,” said Jan Hebbard, outreach archivist with the Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, who coordinates the program. 

A 10-week training program, hosted from Feb. 13 through April 17, will provide an opportunity for docents to meet curators, archivists, and other special collections staff; learn about the collections and techniques for leading tours; and become familiar with all parts of the special collections libraries building. Follow-up monthly meetings throughout the year will provide continued opportunities to learn about new exhibits and programs sponsored by the libraries. All candidates selected for admission to the docent program will be required to submit to a background investigation. 

“We are looking for applicants who are enthusiastic, flexible, and open to working with visitors of all ages,” Hebbard said. “We don’t require prior experience in the arts and humanities, but a love of history and experience with teaching or public speaking is desirable.” 

For more information about the training schedule and expectations, please visit the FAQ’s page. Applications must be submitted by Friday, Jan. 12, 2018. Please direct any questions to Jan Hebbard at jhebbard@uga.edu or (706) 542-5788.  

Interested individuals can apply online by visiting: 

http://www.libs.uga.edu/scl/contribute/docentapp.html

Wrestling Temptation Examines Georgia’s History with Alcohol

Cartoon, "The New Recruit,"
Atlanta Constitution, 1908.

Say the word prohibition to most people and they think immediately of flappers and gangsters, jazz music and speakeasies -- cultural hallmarks of the 1920s. The 18th amendment to the Constitution banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol in the United States and national Prohibition (with a capital P) lasted from 1920 until 1933. A lesser known story is that Georgia was the first among many southern states to go dry long before the national measure, and it remained so even after repeal. A new exhibit opening November 9th inside the Russell Library Gallery provides a more sober, local look at prohibition in Georgia.

In Wrestling Temptation: The Quest to Control Alcohol in Georgia the period of national Prohibition is just one chapter in a much longer story tracing the struggles of state leaders in dealing with the regulation of alcohol and accompanying issues of morality, economy, and personal liberty. “We wanted this exhibit to provide a serious look at the history of alcohol in Georgia, from colonial times to the present,” said Jill Severn, Russell Library’s head of access and outreach. Shortly after Georgia’s founding, alcohol became both a mainstay of daily life and a source of conflict between inhabitants and the Trustees who governed them. James Oglethorpe reported that colonists became unruly and lazy under the influence and were corrupting the native population by trading in alcohol. In 1735, Trustees responded with the Georgia Rum Act, prohibiting the sale and use of rum and brandy within the colony and establishing an enforcement officer and a set of graduated fines. Visitors to the exhibit will find a facsimile of Oglethorpe’s original letter to the Trustees on display, part of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s collection.  

In development for more than two years, the exhibit was spearheaded by guest curator Kaylynn Washnock, a PhD candidate in the University of Georgia’s Department of History. In researching the story of alcohol in the state, Washnock spent hours reading through newspaper articles and copies of legislation to untangle the who’s and why’s of prohibition in Georgia. “Legislators in the state were driven by many of the same forces that pushed the issue on the national level. Early on, that was temperance groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union who fought for the welfare of women and children,” said Washnock.  At the behest of the Georgia chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the first Local Option Bill was presented to the Georgia legislature on July 14, 1881. The bill proposed granting localities the right to vote for or against the sale of liquor after one-tenth of registered voters in a county signed a petition requesting a special election. Though defeated initially, the bill passed when proposed again on July 28, 1885.

Governor Hoke Smith signing the prohibition bill, 1907.
Georgiana Vertical Files, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 

In the years that followed pro-temperance forces pushed for a statewide prohibition measure. The bitter gubernatorial race of 1906 fed rising racial tensions in the state and tipped the scales in favor of prohibition. That year, Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, editors of Atlanta’s two leading newspapers, faced off in a bitter campaign targeting black-owned and operated saloons on Decatur Street. On September 22, 1906, anti-black rhetoric turned deadly. For three days violence raged in the streets as white mobs battered, shot, and lynched African Americans throughout the city. News of the incidents spread across the country and around the world. Prohibitionists capitalized on the notoriety of the Atlanta Race Riot, as it became known, blaming liquor for the violence and using the episode as leverage in the fight for a statewide measure. On August 6, 1907 Governor Hoke Smith signed into law the Hardman-Neel-Covington Act outlawing the sale or manufacture of alcohol in public or at any place of business in the state. 

Volunteer researcher Bill Hugunine played another essential role on the exhibits team, spending time each week combing through the collections to find just the right documents to tell the story of alcohol in Georgia. His favorite find? “Definitely the diary of Marcus Wayland Beck,” says Hugunine. “He was a successful lawyer and later judge on the Georgia Supreme Court who struggled privately with alcohol addiction.” Beck’s private journals detail that during statewide prohibition he was able to obtain alcohol easily through membership in a private club, a short lived loophole in the law, and extra legally through bootleggers and at speakeasies. Temperance forces at the time saw alcoholism as a moral failing rather than a disease, and as such sought only to prohibit consumption rather than offering support or counseling. It was only in the 1930s that societal opinions about alcoholism began to shift and support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) were founded.   

Volunteer researcher Bill Hugunine examining the
Marcus Wayland Beck diaries.

Flyer, "For Your Safety, 1967."
William Armstrong Smith Papers,
Richard B. Russell Library. 

Drawing from more recent political collections, the exhibit ends with a section detailing the laws governing alcohol in the state today, including the “Georgia Beer Bill” (SB 85) which permits breweries and distilleries to sell directly to consumers as of September 1, 2017. A final text panel and series of question boards near the exit prompt visitors to consider how the issues of the prohibition debate in many ways mirror ongoing discussions about the legalization of marijuana. From colonial times to the present, Wrestling Temptation will give visitors a look at the long history of alcohol regulation in Georgia employing documents, photographs, and artifacts from institutions and private collectors around the state to tell the story. A reception celebrating this exhibit, and other new displays at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries will take place on November 9th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. For more information on the exhibit or event contact Jan Hebbard at 706-542-5788. 

Nationally Touring Exhibit Visits Russell Library

ATHENS, Ga -- During the era of Prohibition Americans could no longer manufacture, sell, or transport intoxicating beverages. Spirited: Prohibition in America, a new exhibition opening Sept. 1 at the UGA Special Collections Libraries explores this tumultuous time in American history, when flappers and suffragists, bootleggers and temperance lobbyists, and legends, such as Al Capone and Carrie Nation, took sides in this battle against the bottle.

Men and women drinking beer in rural setting, 1915.
Courtesy Culver Pictures, Inc.

Visitors to the exhibit will learn about the complex issues that led America to adopt Prohibition through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in 1919 until its repeal through the 21st Amendment in 1933. The amendment process, the changing role of liquor in American culture, Prohibition’s impact on the roaring ‘20s, and the role of women, and how current liquor laws vary from state to state are among the topics addressed.

In 1830, the average American consumed 90 bottles -- or about four shots a day -- of 80-proof liquor each year. Saloons gained notoriety as the most destructive force in American culture, where men would drink away their families’ money. Following extensive campaigning and lobbying by the Anti-Saloon League along with groups representing women’s suffrage and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, on Jan. 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and beginning January 17, 1920, Americans could no longer manufacture, sell, or transport intoxicating beverages.

On the eve of Prohibition, Detroit, 1919.
Courtesy Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

In the years following, the country was split between “wets” and “drys,” speakeasies flourished, legal authorities gave chase to gangsters, and many created inventive ways to circumvent the law. Along with rampant law breaking, Prohibition brought unexpected cultural and societal shifts from the development of mixed-gendered speakeasies to the growth of organized crime syndicated into national enterprises. The exhibition draws on the histories told from both sides of this divisive issue that riled passions and created volatile situations.

An opening event hosted by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies in collaboration with the University of Georgia Press and University of Georgia Department of History will take place on Thursday, September 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. The event features a performance of prohibition era songs and stories by noted beverage historian Elizabeth Pearce, classic cocktail demonstrations by expert mixologist Jerry Slater, and tours of the exhibition.

Spirited: Prohibition America is based on the exhibition American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, organized by the National Constitution Center, in collaboration with Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Spirited has been made possible through NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has been adapted and toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance. Founded in 1972, Mid-America Arts Alliance is the oldest regional nonprofit arts organization in the United Sates. For more information, visit www.maaa.org or www.nehontheroad.org.

On the Stump Exhibit Now Open!

A new exhibit that explores the evolution of campaigning for political office in Georgia opens today in the Russell Library Gallery. On the Stump: What Does it Take to Get Elected in Georgia? invites visitors to step into the shoes of a candidate and onto the campaign trail: from the initial decision to run, to crafting a strategy, winning the nomination, shaking hands, kissing babies, and everything in between.The display considers the social, cultural, and political history of a state in motion from 1900 until 2012.

The Russell Gallery is located inside the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries on the University of Georgia campus. The building is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Stop in to meet the changing cast of characters who have shaped and reshaped the style, strategy, and substance of political life and culture in Georgia!

Could your election season use a little non-partisan entertainment? If so, then plan to join us for Ready, Steady, Vote! a series of events inspired by our ongoing exhibit and spotlighting all things presidential during the 2016 election season. A combination of community forums, debate watch events, lectures and performances hosted with campus and community partners, Ready, Steady, Vote! is free and open to the public. For dates and descriptions visit http://www.rbrl.blogspot.com. 

New Exhibit Spotlights History of Disability Advocacy in Georgia

A new exhibit reflecting on the activities and legacy of disability activists in Georgia is now on display in the History Lives Showcase Gallery at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.

Created to highlight the establishment of the Georgia Disability History Archive at the Richard Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, the exhibit opened to coincide with the hosting of the Georgia Disability History Symposium held on the University of Georgia campus on October 23, 2015. The event focused on the history of disability advocacy in the state, including disability rights and justice, de-institutionalization, the power and impact of the Olmstead decision, citizen advocacy and self-advocacy, and what the future holds 25 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

A powerful collection of artifacts, documents, and ephemera on display tell the story of Georgia’s disability history. Topics addressed include initiatives for education and awareness to end employment discrimination; housing and transportation accessibility; and challenges facing disabled veterans attempting to receive adequate support and healthcare. The exhibit will remain on display through August 26, 2016.

The archive opened with the collections of a dozen individuals, as well as groups. Those currently open for research include The Eleanor Smith Papers, the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia Records, and the Patricia L. Puckett Papers.

For more information on the Georgia Disability History Alliance, visit:
http://historyofdisability.com/ 

For more information on donating materials to the Georgia Disability History Archive, contact Mat Darby (matdarby@uga.edu) or visit: http://historyofdisability.com/about/disability-history-donations 

'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.

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

Helen: An Alpine Invention

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.   

Welcome to Helen brochure, ca. 1970s.
Georgiana Ephemera Collection, Hargrett Library.

Nestled in the North Georgia Mountains, the Bavarian village of Helen known for fudge and beer was once a prosperous logging and mining town. By the late 1920s, the lumber industry had decimated local resources and moved on. Without logging traffic, the 1.5 mile rail line into Helen shut down in 1928. In the decades that followed locals looked for new ways to attract visitors to the area, with limited success. In 1968, after years of dwindling population and economic prospects Mayor Bob Fowler and entrepreneur Pete Hodkinson met with community stakeholders to discuss ways to revitalize the business district. When local artist John Kollock suggested that the town capitalize on the beauty of the surrounding mountains and transform itself into a Bavarian village, inspired by his time spent in Germany with the military, business owners agreed.

Helen was reborn in April 1969 with a new charter that granted the city control over the exterior appearance of buildings downtown. By the early 1970s, the European ambiance was taking shape and visitors inundated the town, taking part in hot-air balloon races or a range of festivals like Oktoberfest.  A 1971 brochure featuring Kollock sketches encouraged tourists to “leisurely enjoy the charms” and “Old World atmosphere.” Despite the popularity of Helen’s German façade, the town found many critics who bemoaned the campy commercialization detached from authentic Appalachian history. In 2003, Helen was the third most popular tourist destination in Georgia, behind only Atlanta and Savannah. The appeal continues to expand as shops and roadside stands on the outskirts of Helen attempt to allure tourist with homespun gifts, local food stuffs and several options for tubing down the Chattahoochee River.

Roadside stand on the road to Helen.
Photo by Kaylynn Washnock, July 2015.

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