Exhibit on the Atomic Age Opens Jan. 28th @ Russell Library

 Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow: Living with the Atomic Bomb Opens January 28, 2014 at The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
 
On August 6, 1945, a specially-equipped American B-29 Superfortress dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, another atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. For most Americans, the immediate reaction to the atomic bomb was relief: it had ended the war. But as the United States celebrated, it also braced itself for the uncertain future of the Atomic Age. For the next two decades, the looming threat of Atomic war dominated American society.

Traveling exhibition Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow: Living with the Atomic Bomb, 1945-1965, which opens January 28th  at The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, explores the ways in which Americans experienced the Atomic threat as part of their daily lives—at school, in the home, and even at play. The show features more than 75 original objects from the era, as well as large-scale graphics, radio broadcasts, and film. Visitors will experience how Americans were flooded with messaging through images and media that depicted the dangers of atomic energy. Although the threat of Atomic annihilation eventually drifted to the background of American consciousness in the late 1960s, the Atomic Age left a legacy of governmental response and civic infrastructure that remains relevant today.

Inspired by the exhibit, the Russell Library will host a series of eleven public programs during the spring semester, in collaboration with partners across the UGA campus, that spotlight some of the most significant events of the time period and invite attendees to reflect on life in America during the Atomic Age. Programs will include panel discussions, film screenings, community forum and storytelling events, and a day of oral history. More information on the program series is available on the Russell Library website at www.libs.uga.edu/russell/programs/events.

The Russell Library Gallery is located inside the Russell Building for Special Collections Libraries; the exhibit is free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 8:00am-5:00pm Monday through Friday and from 1:00-5:00pm on Saturdays. Guided tours of the gallery are available on Tuesday afternoons from 2:00-3:00pm; meet in the 2nd floor rotunda. For more information on the exhibit or program series email russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788. 

 Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow is curated by Michael Scheibach, an independent collector in Independence, MO, and Leslie Przybylek, Curator of Humanities Exhibitions at Mid-America Arts Alliance. The exhibition is toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance. ExhibitsUSA sends more than 25 exhibitions on tour to more than 100 small- and mid-sized communities every year. Mid-America is the oldest nonprofit regional arts organization in the United States. More information is available at www.maaa.org and www.eusa.org.

Thank you to our sponsors...
The display of this exhibit at The Russell Library is supported in part by the President’s Venture Fund through the generous gifts of the University of Georgia Partners and other donors, and by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.

The program series was made possible by contributions from several UGA campus partners including The Center for International Trade and Security, The School of Public and International Affairs, the Department of History, the Department of English, and Film Studies.