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Dr. Thomas A. Scott Receives GHRAC Lifetime Achievement Award

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Dr. Thomas A. Scott
From KSU Faculty Profile

Kennesaw State University is so very proud to announce that their own Dr. Thomas Scott has won the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council Lifetime Achievement Award!

The award will be presented during GHRAC’s annual Awards Program in October, which is National and Georgia Archives Month, at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, GA. 

Dr. Thomas A. Scott is professor emeritus of history at Kennesaw State University, where he taught from 1968 until his retirement in 2011. He is a former recipient of KSU’s highest faculty honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Scott has led the KSU Oral History Project for many years and is the author of three books: Cornerstones of Georgia History; Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South; and Kennesaw State University: The First Fifty Years.
In retirement, Tom continues to serve on a part-time basis as Campus Historian. He thoroughly enjoys retirement and is an avid sports fan from the Braves to KSU football to all the sports teams at his alma mater.

Fun Fact: Tom ran track and cross country at the University of Tennessee in the early 1960s and has been doing interviews of his old track coach and fellow athletes for their website, The Chuck Rohe Track Era.

GHRAC is the state’s advisory board to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia with respect to the Georgia Archives and historical records throughout our state. 


Georgia Archives Month Spotlight Grant

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This year’s recipient of the Georgia Archives Month Spotlight on Archives grant is Georgia State University’s Special Collections and Archives. Located on the Atlanta Campus of Georgia State University (GSU), the Special Collections and Archives “collects and preserves unique and rare historical materials in selected subject areas. The department promotes the use of these materials by the Georgia State University community, scholars and the public. Its goal is to advance scholarship and to further the educational, research and service missions of the university.”[1]Collecting areas include the Southern Labor Archives, Popular Music and Culture Collections, Women’s / Gender & Sexuality Collections, Social Change Collections, University Archives, Rare Books, and Photographic Collections.
 

The Gallus, photographer unknown; pre 1986.
Photo is from the LGBT Institute’s Gregg Daugherty Papers (Q162).
The event for which GSU Special Collection and Archives received the Spotlight on Archives grant is called “Mags, Bars and (Drag) Stars: A History of Atlanta’s Gay Bars and Community Magazines.” It will take place on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 from 4:00-6:00pm in the Special Collections Department at GSU.
Special Collections and Archives
University Library South, 8th Floor
100 Decatur St. SE
Atlanta, GA 30303
This event is free and open to the public. Speakers Gregg Daugherty and Ashley Coleman Taylor will talk about the impact of gay publications and bars in building Atlanta’s LGBTQ communities. To learn more about the speakers, please see the following link: https://blog.library.gsu.edu/2018/09/10/mags-bars-drag-stars-a-history-of-atlantas-gay-bars-and-community-magazines/
 

Pearl LaKisha Long, Fajita Marinara, unknown; Photographer – Mitch Grooms;
 Photograph taken for Armory Calendar; 1984.
Photo is from the LGBT Institute’s Gregg Daugherty Papers (Q162).
The Georgia Archives Month Spotlight on Archives Grant is intended to help archives,
museums, and heritage institutions in Georgia promote public awareness of their archives and
manuscript collections. The Georgia Archives Month Committee annually awards funds to a selected institution to help fund an event to be held during Georgia Archives Month, which is recognized in the month of October.

[1] “Special Collections & Archives,” Georgia State University Library, Special Collections and Archives,  https://library.gsu.edu/search-collections/special-collections-archives/(accessed September 11, 2018)

So You Want to Be an Archives Leader?

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Hello SGA members,

What do you want to know about becoming a leader in the archives world? Have questions about what it’s like behind the scenes at other Georgia archives?
The nominating committee is asking any and all members to submit questions (can be done anonymously) for the panel at this year’s conference in Athens, titled “So You Want to Be an Archives Leader: SGA Fellows on Leadership.” We are asking for questions on leadership within the profession, within SGA and general questions on the profession that experienced fellows and other past and present SGA leaders will answer during this panel.
We will be accepting questions during the panel but want to solicit some questions before hand to prepare panelists and to help guide the session. 
Please submit that question you have always had in the back of your mind and come to our session at this years SGA Conference!

Submit your question through this link, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTpIUrnnK4jCXFn4iPi7X3iqznGWYGHyXn8SljOzwBaA_dZA/viewform?usp=sf_link.

Thanks,
2018 Nominating Committee,
Wendy Hagenmaier
Kevin S. Fleming
Megan Kerkhoff

Georgia Archives Celebrates 100 Years

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Georgia Archives 100th Anniversary
Gov. Nathan Deal to speak
Atlanta— July 5, 2018 — The Friends of Georgia Archives and History (FOGAH) will host an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Georgia Archives on Saturday, August 18, beginning at 4:30 pm EST in Morrow.
The celebration will begin at the Georgia Archives lobby, located at 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow at 4:30pm with a reception, tours, and a chance to see the current exhibit on Georgia’s earliest land records. Attendees will then move next door to the National Archives at Atlanta, for a program featuring dinner and special speakers.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal will speak at the event, as will United States Archivist David Ferriero. Other speakers will include Steve Engerrand, Deputy State Archivist, and Georgia State Senator Valencia Seay, and Dr. Steve Wrigley, Chancellor for the University System of Georgia.


After its founding in 1918, the Georgia Archives occupied a small area in the state capitol.  In 1929 it moved to Rhodes Hall on Peachtree Street which housed the state’s records until Georgia opened a new Archives and Records Building in 1965.  The Archives moved to its current home in Morrow, Georgia adjacent to the National Archives Atlanta and Clayton State University in 2003.


Reservations are required and the deadline for purchasing your tickets is August 8. Tickets are $60 per person.


As the repository for official state government records, the Georgia Archives collects, provides access and preserves the permanently-valuable public records of the State of Georgia. The Georgia Archives also collects and maintains papers of private citizens and organizations which complement the government records collection and are relevant to Georgia’s history.  For more information about tickets, go to www.fogah.org.



For more information, press only: Jill Sweetapple, sweetapplej30324@gmail.com

City of Savannah Launches New Portrait Exhibit

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The Municipal Records and Archives Division of the City of Savannah will be displaying “Capturing the Soul: Portrait Photography from the W.W. Law Collection” at the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center through January 2019.

The display features thirty portraits from the W. W. Law Photograph Collection which highlight the evolving nature of photography, portraiture as an art form, as well as material culture through time. The images date from the 1870s through the 1990s, and document the lives of individuals both prominent and anonymous. 

The city received the W.W. Law Collection from the W.W. Law Foundation as a donation in 2014, and is in the midst of a multi-year archival project to process and open the collection to the public for research use and have been opening it in phases as reach certain milestones are reached.
Over the years, the department has exhibited portions of the collection at the Beach Institute, Carnegie Library and  Savannah’s City Hall and look forward to continuing those efforts around town as processing is completed. The goal is to introduce new audiences to the work of W.W. Law and his multi-faceted collection, which spans a diverse career in the Civil Rights Movement, historic preservation, museums, history, music and more.
The display uses the photograph collection “as a springboard to look at portrait photography over time,” says Luciana Spracher, Director of the Municipal Records and Archives Division. “Law’s collection is so diverse and spans such a large time period that it was a wonderful opportunity for us to select a nice sampling of images that capture the evolution of photography from the 1870s through the 1990s through the lens of portraiture. This also allows us to focus on the individual, the named and unnamed.
“With Law, we have a tendency to focus on his Civil Rights Movement and all the movers and shakers he interacted with. This exhibit allowed us to shift away from him and zero in on the faces of others and, through their portraits, shine the spotlight on them, even if we don’t know their names or what they did. Perhaps by doing this, someone will come forward and provide this information and help us fill in those gaps. The exhibit features 30 portraits selected because they spoke to us in some way — men, women, children and families — but really there are so many wonderful images in the W.W. Law Photograph Collection, we hope this exhibit will encourage visitors to explore the larger collection, the majority of which is digitized and available online at www.savannahga.gov/wwlaw.”
For more on the Beach Institute: http://www.beachinstitute.org/ 

Nominating Committee Invites Nominations

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Interested in expanding your leadership or project management skills? Want to cultivate connections with other cultural heritage professionals throughout Georgia?
The SGA Nominating Committee invites you to get involved in SGA leadership. We have several open SGA board positions for 2019. You can nominate yourself or a colleague for one of the vacant positions.
More information on serving in a leadership position in SGA and the duties of each position can be found in the Administrative Handbook, as well as in the organization’s Bylaws. Projects and work will be guided by the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan.
Nominees should also be aware of SGA’s Statement on Diversity and Inclusion. The recruitment practicesused by SGA’s Nominating Committee will uphold the principles and commitments set forth in this statement.
Here are the vacancies for ELECTED positions for 2019 (these board members vote on official SGA decisions):
Vice President / President-Elect
Secretary
Treasurer
Assistant Program Chair
Assistant Local Arrangements Chair
Archivist
Nominating Committee Members (2 positions)
Candidates for elected positions must send a short bio and brief statement of interest addressing SGA’s Core Values, including diversity, to nominating@soga.org. SGA’s Core Values are outlined on page 2 of the Strategic Plan.
——
Here are the vacancies for APPOINTED positions for 2019 (these board members do not vote but do play key leadership roles):
Assistant Communications Director
Provenance Editor
Assistant Website Manager
Assistant Outreach Manager
Assistant RAAC Liaison
Georgia Archives Month Assistant Liaison
Assistant Education Committee Chair
Assistant Mentoring Program Coordinator
Scholarship Committee Chair
If you are interested in an appointed position or have a recommendation, please email nominating@soga.org.
——
The deadline for nominations for either elected or appointed positions is 8/20/2018. Self-nominations are encouraged. If you have any questions, please email nominating@soga.org

Even More Committee Updates!

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The Scholarship Committee would like to congratulate Brittany Newberry on being selected to receive the Ed Weldon Scholarship for early-bird registration to the Society of American Archivists Conference.  Good luck in D.C.!

We look forward to hearing about your experience in a future blog post, and congratulations again!!



The Program Committee has been working diligently over the last six months to release the theme and program earlier in the calendar year, allowing attendees more time to determine their travel schedules for the Annual Meeting. 
After extensive review of member feedback in previous Annual Meeting surveys, the Committee chose this year’s theme of Practical Pathways: Applied Tools and Creative Approaches. The selection is in direct response to the expressed need for hands-on, pragmatic suggestions and solutions for the problems archivists are facing in the workplace. A complete description of the theme can be found here.
Additionally, the Program Committee is extremely excited that the 2018 Annual Meeting Program Draft is now available, and believes the quality and diversity of session and poster topics and speakers will be a boon to attendees. Preparations for the final draft of the program–including the popular “At a Glance” schedule debuted last year–are currently underway.

The SGA Nominating Committee — Kevin Fleming, Megan Kerkhoff, and Wendy Hagenmaier — has been working on annual activities related to SGA Fellows and nominations, as well as two important strategic plan goals focused on diversity and communication.
We publicized the call for Fellows nominations (thanks to those of you who submitted nominations!) and will be announcing the results at the 2018 Annual Meeting. We’ll soon be recruiting candidates for open leadership positions. Please consider throwing your hat into the ring.
This year, we’re focusing on two strategic goals:
1) Increasing outreach to students, new members, and those who haven’t considered SGA leadership roles and encouraging them to get involved.
We’re just kicking off this outreach. Please let us know if you have any questions about leadership opportunities, would like us to chat with your class, or want to recommend members for leadership roles.
2) Exploring opportunities to cultivate interaction among the SGA Fellows cohort and the SGA membership.
We’re planning a fun forum for this at the Annual Meeting — stay tuned!
Please feel welcome to reach out to us with any ideas or questions at nominating@soga.org.

Committee Updates!

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The Nominating Committee is currently seeking nominations for this year’s Society of Georgia Archivists Fellows Award. Now is your chance to recognize individuals for their outstanding achievements in our profession and for their valuable contributions to SGA!
To be eligible, nominees must have been members of SGA for at least five years and demonstrate dedication to education, leadership, advocacy, and/or scholarly activities that impact the Georgia archival community.
The nomination form and award procedures are available on the SGA Fellows webpage: https://soga.wildapricot.org/membership/fellows
The deadline to submit a nomination is April 30, 2018.
Please contact the Nominating Committee with questions about the program or procedures: nominating@soga.org
Thank you,
2018 SGA Nominating Committee:
Kevin Fleming
Wendy Hagenmaier, Chair
Megan Kerkhoff



The SGA Membership and Outreach and Advocacy Committee hosted a joint tour of “A Fire That No Water Could Put Out”: Civil Rights Photography at the High Museum of Art, March 11, 2018. Six members attended.

The committee also organized a joint SGA/Special Libraries Association-Atlanta Chapter Networking Night and Tour of the Breman Museum’s new exhibition on display from the National Archives and Records Administration, “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage,” April 10, 2018. Jeremy Katz, Director of the Cuba Family Archives also led a tour of the archives. Twenty-seven members of both organizations attended.










Georgia Archives Month Spotlight Grant

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We are now accepting applications for the Georgia Archives Months Spotlight Grant. 
The Georgia Archives Month Spotlight on Archives Grant is intended to help archives, museums, or heritage institutions in Georgia promote public awareness of their archives and manuscript collections during Georgia Archives Month in October. This year, there will be one award of $500; award monies are intended to be used by the selected institution to fund an event to be held during Georgia Archives Month in October 2018 and the money can be used for the event’s expenses. Our 2018 theme is “Faces and Places: Documenting Diversity during Georgia Archives Month”
You can get your application and specific details HERE:
Find the link for the GAM 2018 Spotlight on Archives Grant Application, and apply today. The deadline is June 15. 
While you are there, check out events hosted by 2017’s winners!  Good luck!
Georgia Archives Month Committee

Catherine Hendricks has joined the University of West Georgia’s Special Collections as Processing Archivist.

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Catherine Hendricks has joined the University of West Georgia’s Special Collections as Processing Archivist. She earned the M.A. in History and a Graduate Certificate in Public History from the University of West Georgia in 2008, and a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Georgia in 1991.  In addition, she holds undergraduate degrees in English and sociology and journalism. Catherine’s previous work at the University of West Georgia has included serving as project director for the Thomas B. Murphy State Capitol Office Replication Project, co-director of the Powder Springs Project, and as coordinator of numerous programs and travelling exhibits.  Prior to her employment at the University of West Georgia, Catherine worked for ten years as Academic Assistant to the Provost at Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia, and, previous to that, was assistant director of the Savannah Science Museum, Savannah, Georgia, for six years, also serving for a year as the acting director.