Miss Raesly

A key person in the development of the Richard B. Russell Library was Barboura Raesly, Senator Russell’s personal secretary from 1957 until his death in 1971. (Miss Raesly was in both of the images featured in the last post). In March of 1971, Senator Herman Talmadge, Chairman of the Russell Foundation, sent a letter to members of the board’s executive committee regarding the task that lay ahead: readying Senator Russell’s papers for public use.

“As I know you are aware,” he wrote, “these papers are extremely voluminous, comprising several hundred packing cases. Much work on these papers remains to be done, in terms of classifying and in determining the disposition of purely personal or sensitive materials. It was impossible to examine the papers in this light prior to their being gathered and packed for shipping.”

Above: Barboura Raesly surveying the "voluminous" papers of the late Senator Russell. Today, the Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection consists of: 3,535 boxes of manuscript materials, 2,876 titles (i.e. books), 458 Audiovisual items, over 4,500 photographs, 143 scrapbooks, and 715 artifacts. Whew!

Talmadge went on to suggest that it would serve the interests of the Russell Foundation, as well as the future library, to hire Miss Barboura Raesley to help with the initial sorting of the papers. “This work, of course, can best be accomplished by a knowledgeable person who is familiar with the Senatorial business of the late Senator Russell,” Talmadge wrote. He could think of no one better suited to the task.

Talmadge received overwhelming support for his suggestion on the new hire. A letter from Fred Davison, then President of the University of Georgia, to Talmadge on March 27, 1971 indicated that things were moving quickly. He assured Talmadge that “the employment and living situation for Miss Raesly seem to be in the process of settlement.”

And so it began that Miss Raesly came to be hired by the Foundation. Correspondence reveals that in 1973 she was offered a one year contract to continue her work, and that she played a pivotal role in organizing the dedication ceremony of the Russell Memorial Library in the summer of 1974.

Post by Jan Levinson, Assistant Outreach Archivist, Russell Library

Don't Forget!

Quick reminder on today's informal forum!

RUSSELL FORUM FOR CIVIC LIFE IN GEORGIA presents...

Democracy's Challenge: How can we reclaim our public role?
When: November 19, 2010, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Where: Russell Library Auditorium,
West Entrance, Main Library, UGA campus (detailed directions below)

For more information, just call (706) 542-5788 or email jlevinso@uga.edu.

Where We Came From

In looking forward to our move to the new special collections building, I’ve been thinking a bit about how the Russell Library got its start. I had a notion to look through some of our photograph files that document the library’s early days and found some real gems to share! As we look forward to our next big step, we’ll use the blog to take a look back to how it all began.

The Richard B. Russell Memorial Library was established in 1974; the original mission of the institution was to collect and preserve materials documenting the life and career of the late Richard B. Russell, Jr. who represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 1933 until his death in 1971. However conversations about creating the library, in some form, date back to 1958. In that year W.P. Kellam, then Director of Libraries at the University of Georgia, wrote a letter to Senator Russell thanking him for a recent donation of books and documents and suggesting that the Library, “would like very much to have your correspondence, addresses, records, etc., when you get ready to dispose of them.”

Over the course of the next decade, Senator Russell wavered back and forth over the idea of donating his papers to the University Library, committed to the idea but worried that in practice his papers might get lost in the shuffle of everyday operations. Then in 1969 William Norton, a Gainesvile attorney and friend of the Senator, suggested a new scheme for the donation: the formation of a private foundation and establishment of a separate library for the papers, affiliated with a university. Inspired by the Everett Dirksen Library, a center for congressional study in Illinois founded on the papers of Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, Norton wrote to Russell. He described that institutions like the Dirksen were dedicated to maintaining “a record of the life and influence of these individuals upon the affairs of government to better understand the times and events during which their influence were prominent.” Norton’s suggestion appealed to Russell and set in motion the establishment of the Richard B. Russell Foundation and a collaboration with the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and the Georgia General Assembly. This collaboration resulted in the Richard B. Russell Memorial Library at the University of Georgia, but we'll talk more about the Foundation and their next steps in the next post.

For now, a few photographs in November 1971:

Below: Barboura G. Raesly, Senator Russell's personal secretary, stands by the construction of the annex to the Main Library building. The bottom floor of the annex became the Richard B. Russell Memorial.

Below: Ms. Raesly stands in the interim storage area with Senator Russell's papers.

Conversation & Oral History with Timuel Black

A Conversation & Oral History with Timuel Black

When: Tonight! November 15th, 5:00-6:00PM

Where: Russell Library Auditorium

Be a part of history! Join us tonight at the Russell Library for a conversation and oral history with Mr. Timuel Black, civil rights activist, interviewed by Dr. Derrick Alridge (Director, African American Studies Institute, UGA).

A well-known Chicago activist, Mr. Black was a social worker and teacher who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Birmingham and Chicago during the civil rights movement. He later played a pivotal role in organizing the black community in Chicago to elect Harold Washington as mayor. At age 91, Mr. Black continues to be active in politics and remains one of the most respected public figures in Chicago.

This program is proudly sponsored by the University of Georgia's Institute for African American Studies, School of Social Work, The Footsoldier Project for Civil Rights Studies, College of Education Qualitative Research Program, and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies.

How to Find the Russell Library
The Richard B. Russell Library (www.libs.uga.edu/russell) is located in the University of Georgia Main Library Building just off South Jackson Street in Athens, GA. Parking is available in the North Campus Parking Deck also on South Jackson St. Athens Transit and UGA Bus Service both serve the main library via the bus boarding zone on South Jackson Street.

The Russell Library maintains its own entrance on the West side of the Main Library building. Follow the path/steps down the right side of the main library building (the west facing side) and down the stairs to access our door. If you need handicapped access, please go to the main entrance of the Library and check in at the security desk.

For more information on tonight's event, call 706-542-5197 or email afam@uga.edu. Or, download a pdf of the event flyer here.

Informal Forum (11/19/2010): Democracy's Challenge

Fed up with politics and a widening partisan divide?

Frustrated by the lack of civility in public conversation?

Feel like a spectator rather than a participant in politics?

What has gone wrong? What should we do about it?

RUSSELL FORUM FOR CIVIC LIFE IN GEORGIA presents...

Democracy's Challenge: How can we reclaim our public role?
When: November 19, 2010, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Where: Russell Library Auditorium,
West Entrance, Main Library, UGA campus (detailed directions below)

Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia (www.libs.uga.edu/russell/rfclg), a civic engagement program of the Russell Library hosts community deliberative forums on a monthly basis to explore challenging public issues in a deliberative, civil way.

About this month’s forum on partisanship and polarization...
"There's a feeling of dissatisfaction in the country. People are fed up with politics turned into blood sport and frustrated that they can't seem to make progress on public problems. Many feel besieged by a coarsening of culture and find that they are less inclined than ever to trust each other. As a result, Americans by the millions are turning away from public places like the proverbial town square where people come together to solve problems. Turning away from the public square hasn't left most Americans feeling any better. The bonds that knit us together are frayed. Whether it's Washington D. C. or on Main Street, we're pulling apart from each other. Politics has hardened into a partisan divide that fewer people are willing to cross. Polls show that people are suspicious of others' motives, and fearful of strangers. We live such separate lives that our neighbors are often strangers. " [excerpted from the National Issues Forums Institute's Democracy's Challenge Issue Guide]

A Different Kind of Talk…
In this community forum we will explore this complex issue by working together to understand the issue better. With help from trained neutral moderators we will look at several possible approaches to meeting the challenges posed by the current fragmentation of public life in the United States and consider both the benefits and consequences of each approach, as well as possible trade-offs. Finally, we will explore possible actions that might make a positive difference in our community. Throughout the forum we may find some areas of agreement among us, just as we will likely clarify areas where our beliefs and perspectives differ greatly. This robust and civil threshing of the tough public issues that we face is the foundation for vibrant and resilient community.

About the issue guide…
This forum will use the deliberative issue guide developed by the National Issues Forums Institute in association with the Kettering Foundation. If you are interested in learning more about the issue before the forum, you can watch a short overview video HERE.

How to Find the Russell Library (Parking, Bus access, walking)
Russell Library (www.libs.uga.edu/russell) is located in the University of Georgia Main Library Building just off South Jackson Street in Athens, GA. Parking is available in the North Campus Parking Deck also on South Jackson St. Athens Transit and UGA Bus Service both serve the main library via the bus boarding zone on South Jackson Street.

The Russell Library maintains its own entrance on the West side of the Main Library building. Follow the path/steps down the right side of the main library building (the west facing side) and down the stairs to access our door. If you need handicapped access, please go to the main entrance of the Library and check in at the security desk.

For more information about this forum, please contact Jill Severn at 706-542-5766 or jsevern@uga.edu. For more information about Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia, visit www.libs.uga.edu/russell/rfclg