Barrett Collection Open

The David M. Barrett Research Files are now open for research at the Russell Library.

Barrett was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1951. He graduated in 1973 from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s in American studies. After working as a radio news director, Barrett became the Public Affairs Director for WNIT Public Television, in South Bend, Indiana for eight years. In this capacity he produced documentaries, moderated political debates, and hosted and produced a nightly interview program. Barrett occasionally contributed background information for use on "The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour," and appeared as a guest interviewer on William F. Buckley's "Firing Line" in January 1984. Barrett occasionally conducted interviews for two syndicated television series produced by Oblate Media, Golden Dome Productions and the University of Notre Dame's Institute for International Peace Studies from 1988 to 1991. In 1984, he was a candidate in the Democratic primary election campaign for the United States House of Representatives from Indiana's third congressional district.

Barrett received his master’s from the University of Essex in England in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1990. He currently serves as Professor of Political Science at Villanova University. His chief research interests are the U.S. presidency and Congress in relation to national defense and intelligence policies. The most recent of his three books—The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy—explores the confidential interactions between heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and congressional leaders. His previous books examined Vietnam: Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam Papers: A Documentary Collection and Uncertain Warriors: Lyndon Johnson and His Vietnam Advisers.

Materials in this collection were compiled by Barrett while conducting research for his book The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy. Files consist of copies of documents (such as correspondence, memoranda, telegraphs, congressional records, correspondence, clippings, statements, budget information, and reports) from other archival repositories, historical studies, and researcher notes. They provide an in depth record of the relationship between Congress and the CIA, as well as a study of the CIA itself.

The Russell Library is open for research from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. For further information on the David M. Barrett Research Files, please contact russlib@uga.edu or call (706) 542-5788.

Forum Report: Weighing the Options

On Wednesday, April 21st coordinators from the Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia met with graduate students interested in nutrition and health promotion at the University of Georgia for a discussion on childhood obesity. Nine students, two professors, and two moderators gathered in the conference room of the Gerontology Center to discuss the NIF issue guide “Weighing the Options: How Can We Encourage Healthy Weights among America’s Youth?” The guide presents the following approaches to the problem:

Approach 1: Expect personal responsibility for fitness – The crux of the problem is that our children are not getting the education and supervision they need in order to be fit and healthy. Adults need to play a stronger role in guiding young people to choose healthy foods and include enough physical activity in their daily lives.

Approach 2: Invest in overall child well-being – The crux of the problem is that we focus too much on children’s weight as the primary concern, rather than as a symptom of other issues. Investing in the overall well-being of children is the best way to help them maintain healthy weights.

Approach 3: Change our culture to encourage fitness – The crux of the problem is that our society bombards children and families with opportunities to eat more and do less. We need to drastically change our home, school and community environments to restore a healthy balance between the calories we eat and the calories we burn.

After going through the ground rules and watching the introductory video, moderators began to prompt the group with questions about personal stake. What do we mean when we use the term obese? Who does obesity affect? And, who has a role in curbing the growing trend of childhood obesity -- parents? schools? local governments? The questions lead to a dynamic discussion and RFCLG extends tremendous thanks to participants involved in the forum. To read a full report on this forum, CLICK HERE.

Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia will host its next informal forum on Friday, May 21st from 3:00-4:30PM in the Russell Library auditorium. The topic: America's Role in the World: What Does National Security Mean in the 21st Century? For more information call (706) 542-5788 or visit http://www.libs.uga.edu/russell/rfclg/. The dates for all of our upcoming public forums can be found on the Russell Forum Training and Program Calendar.

Credit Long Overdue

Below: Lorena Weeks poses with the poster advertising Thursday's screening!
On Thursday, April 22nd, thirty people gathered in the Russell Library auditorium for a screening of Lorena Weeks: Georgia Woman, Trailblazer for Justice! Russell Library's Head of Access and Outreach, Jill Severn, provided an overview introduction to the event and Kathleen Clark, Professor of History at UGA, spoke about the events that led to documenting Lorena's story on film.

Below: Kat Clark introduces the film

In 1966 Ms. Weeks applied for a promotion at her longtime employer, Southern Bell. The position, that of a switchman, promised an increase in pay and a significantly shorter commute to work. Despite her seniority with the company, she was denied the promotion because she was a woman and it was a job reserved for men. Weeks knew about the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed by President Lyndon Johnson and felt that Southern Bell had violated her rights under the law, which specified that an employer could not discriminate on the basis of sex. After years of appeals, Weeks won her case in 1972. She became a switchman at Southern Bell, a position she held until her retirement in 1981 after more than thirty years of service to the company.

Below: Ms. Weeks mingling with attendees after the screening.
Following the screening, attendees rose for a standing ovation -- turning to face Lorena Weeks, who was seated near the back of the audience; long overdue praise for her contribution to the rights of women in the workplace. Weeks informally answered questions from the crowd and mingled with attendees, many of whom thanked her individually for taking a stand for women everywhere. To the surprise of many, Weeks mentioned that until the filming of her oral history last fall, she had rarely spoken about her struggle to anyone - not even to her two daughters.

Before the conclusion of the afternoon, Severn proudly announced to the crowd that Lorena Weeks will donate her papers, which document her five year legal battle with Southern Bell, to the Russell Library! As a staff, we look forward to this new addition, and in the meantime urge visiting researchers to utilize user copies of the Weeks oral history film or stream the full interview HERE.

And speaking of the film...In the clip below Ms. Weeks describes how she began her employment with the telephone company and her application for promotion to the position of switchman in 1966. Weeks recalls that upon losing her bid for promotion she sought help from her union and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but was ultimately told that she would have to take her case to court to find justice. On May 18, 1967 Weeks filed a suit against Southern Bell.



Post by Jan Levinson, Assistant Outreach Archivist, Russell Library

Step 1: Identify

We began preparing for the move by asking the question, "What do we want to move to the new Special Collections Building?" While it seems like that question should illicit the simple answer of "everything" we quickly discovered it wasn't so easy.

Before we can move anything, we need to figure out what we have. And, since we have filled every nook, cranny, and spare closet available over the past thirty years, both in our space at the Main Library building and in our off-site storage locations, accounting for everything is a time intensive activity. Last spring we were lucky enough to have a volunteer who did a box count of fifty-seven rows of shelving in the Main Library, and I was able to do a general survey of our holdings at three off-site storage facilities. Our shelf by shelf inspection at Main led us to several conclusions:

Below: Objects on the loose! (a small sample)

• There are over 35 types of containers (which include document stor age boxes, record center boxes, and specialty and oversize boxes)

• Many of our containers are either not sturdy enough to withstand the move or their current contents are too heavy.

• There are hundreds of objects that are loose on the shelves.

• Several collections have materials that can be deaccessioned or transferred to another repository.

• In addition to dealing with actual collection boxes, we also have many items that will need to be stored in the high density storage area that are not collections, but are necessary for our operations (including exhibit materials and publications).
  
  
• According to my assessment, we have approximately 4,500 boxes of various sizes at our off-site facilities. Only brief, preliminary inventories were done on these boxes and many of them are also not sturdy enough for the move.

Taking all this into consideration, our primary focus for now is to ready the materials at the Main Library -- first the archival collections, followed by our operational files, for the move. That involves getting everything labeled and boxed properly. Once those items are prepared, we can tackle materials at our off-site locations.

The “Identify” step has pushed us through what feels like the seven stages of grief, beginning with shock and denial, progressing to guilt, anger, and bargaining, but hope and acceptance are right around the corner. This part of the move process gives us a much better idea of the road ahead and what kind of timeline we’re looking at. Fearlessly we advance toward step 2: creating an inventory of items. Stay tuned.

Above: Diligent student worker advancing the
relabeling project of Senator Russell's collection.

Post by Kat Stein, Head of Arrangement and Description, Russell Library

Star Student

This past week the University of Georgia held the annual Student Employee of the Year awards luncheon. The top 100 student workers who were nominated for the award were treated to a swanky luncheon at the Georgia Center, and the Russell Library's very own Javad Khadavi made the list! Javad is a talented graphic designer who does wonders for our website and print materials, in addition to dozens of other projects, great and small, here at the archives.

So congrats Javad! Here's hoping for many more great semesters to come!

Search Story

Someone at the UGA Libraries just forwarded a neat gadget to the rest of the staff -- Google's Search Stories Creator. I made up a quick story about the Richard B. Russell Library, highlighting a few of our programs and collections. Check it out HERE or in the window below and see what you think!

In Tribute

The Russell Library remembers Aubrey Morris, who died today at the age of 88. Morris was born in Roswell, Georgia, and grew up writing for the local newspaper. He attended the University of Georgia and studied journalism. He worked as an intern for the Atlanta Journal, and edited the UGA yearbook. On the day of his college graduation, he started as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal, and covered Atlanta and city hall. He also started the first public information office at the state transportation department. After thirteen years at the Journal, he joined WSB, and helped to develop the first radio news department in Georgia. He covered the major events, state-wide, national, and international, of the day, including desegregation, the Vietnam War, and Martin Luther King, Jr. He served for thirty years as news and editorial director at WSB. In 1987, he retired.

In 2009 Aubrey sat down with Bob Short, for the Russell Library's Reflections on Georgia Politics oral history series, and talked about his experiences covering politics, including this story Martin Luther King, Jr's rise in Atlanta.

5 Easy Steps

After some thoughtful brainstorming, one of my colleagues in the Russell Library came up with the following steps to moving an archival repository:

Step 1: Identify the items you want to move.

Step 2: Create an inventory of said items.

Step 3: Pack fragile materials to protect against breakage.

Step 4: Barcode all containers and oversize loose objects so you can track/locate them later.

Step 5: Move all containers and objects to the new Special Collections Building.

After these, all that's left is the unpacking and hosting a series of fights to see who gets which cubicle, right? Well, we all wish it was quite that simple. But in truth, each of these small steps can take months to complete depending on the current state of collections. For our next trick, we'll begin addressing each of these proposed steps -- peering further into how they will be accomplished at the Russell Library in the next several blog posts on our move. We've also made the decision to solicit some help with a series of posts called "How Do You Move This?" - presenting some of our most challenging objects that have to make the trip to the new building and asking for thoughtful suggestions on how to accomplish this feat.

If there is anyone out there who can't wait to hear more about archival moves (I know you're out there!), you can check out, Moving Archives: The Experiences of Eleven Archivists. This book is a good resource full of horror stories about archival moves gone wrong, and it provides some good food for thought. Hopefully we won't have to add any negative experiences to the next edition!

Post by Jan Levinson, Assistant Outreach Archivist, Russell Library

Trailblazer Screening

What: Screening of the Oral History Film, Lorena Weeks - Georgia Woman, Trailblazer for Equity!

When: Thursday, April 22, 2010, 2:00-3:15PM

Where: Russell Library Auditorium, West Entrance to Main Library Building, University of Georgia

The Russell Library at the University of Georgia is proud to present the premiere screening of Lorena Weeks - Georgia Woman, Trailblazer for Equity! an oral history documenting an amazing woman who played a pioneering role in overturning unfair labor practices towards women in the United States in the 1960s. Dr. Kathleen Clark, Associate Professor of History at UGA, will introduce the film. Ms. Weeks will be a special honored guest at the event.

In the 1960s, Weeks courageously challenged the discriminatory practices of her employer, Southern Bell. After a several-year long struggle, Weeks won her case, successfully arguing that Southern Bell’s longstanding practice of excluding women from many higher-paying positions was a violation of Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Her case, Weeks v. Southern Bell, rendered a precedent-setting decision that helped to overturn “protective legislation” and related policies that had long excluded women from desirable and well-paid work.

Following the program there will be a light reception and time for questions and discussion. The program is free and open to all. Parking is available nearby in the North Campus Parking Deck on South Jackson Street. Campus and city buses serve the main library location at the South Jackson Street stop. For wheelchair or limited mobility access to the Russell Library, please enter the main entrance for the Main Library and check in at the security desk in the lobby.

For more information about this program, please contact Jill Severn at 706-542-5766 or jsevern@uga.edu

Informal Forum (4/16/2010): Breaking the Habit of Deficit Spending

The Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia (RFCLG) is hosting National Issues Forums on a monthly basis at the Russell Library. Our next informal forum will take place this Friday, April 16th from 3:00-4:30PM in the Russell Library auditorium.

This month's deliberative forum considers the consequences of our mounting national debt. The bad habit of deficit spending is more apparent than ever, and pressures on the federal budget will soon get worse. It is not enough to support deficit reduction in principle. The challenge is to see what changes most Americans are willing to accept as the best way out of a difficult situation.

Using the National Issues Forums guide, The $9 Trillion Debt: Breaking the Habit of Deficit Spending, the group will consider several approaches to tackling this complex issue. A trained neutral moderator will guide the discussion. The event is free and open to all. More information is available by contacting Jan Levinson at 706-542-5788. For more information about Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia, visit www.libs.uga.edu/russell/rfclg

How to Find the Russell Library: The Russell is located on the bottom floor of the Main Library building on UGA's north campus. Follow the path down the right side of the main library building (the west facing side) and down the stairs to access our door!