archives

Georgia Archives Month Grant now open!

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Purpose: 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. This grant will help selected organizations fund their events during Georgia Archives Month in October.

Grant parameters: The 2024 award amount will be one award of $500 and a Hollinger Metal Edge Gift Certificate in the amount of $250; award monies are intended to be used by the selected institution to fund an in-person or virtual event to be held during Georgia Archives Month in October 2024. The event should promote archives and manuscript holdings at an archives, museum, or heritage institution. Approved expenses for the Georgia Archives Month event include publicity costs such as printing and mailing expenses; an honorarium and travel costs for a speaker; and food and drinks for the event (only 50% of the total grant award may be used for expenses associated with food and drinks). Any questions about suitable uses of the grant should be directed to the Georgia Archives Month Committee. Past winners can be found here.

Selection process: The Georgia Archives Month Committee will accept applications for Spotlight nominees through October 15, 2024. The application includes a narrative describing how the funds will be used to promote the archives and manuscript collections of the archives, museum, or heritage institution during Georgia Archives Month. Only completed applications will be considered. The grant may be used to support an existing program or exhibit, but a new program or exhibit created specifically for Georgia Archives Month is preferred. Extra consideration will be given to institutions that are promoting diverse collections and to outreach efforts directed towards underrepresented groups.  Applicants will be notified of their status by the first week of October. The GAM Committee will award the grant to the successful applicants at this time and coordinate publicity about the awards with the award recipients.

Grantee responsibilities: The grantee will use the funds for the program or event outlined in the original application. The GAM Committee realizes that some change of details can take place, but a radical departure from the original application will result in a withdrawal of funds. In program literature and program scripts, the grantee agrees to mention the 2024 sponsors of Georgia Archives Month for their support (guidelines will be provided). The GAM Committee strongly encourages grantees to send letters to the 2024 GAM Committee sponsors thanking them for supporting the Spotlight on Archives grant program. The GAM Committee will provide the appropriate contact details to the recipient. The grantee will submit to the GAM Committee a summary of their event, photos of the event (if available), and receipts that document expenses by November 30, 2024. The grantee will allow the GAM Committee to use that information in future articles and promotional materials to raise awareness about this program or Georgia Archives Month. Please download this application and send to archivesmonth@soga.org as a PDF when completed.

GAM Spotlight Grant Application 2024Download

2024 Carroll Hart Scholarship Now Open!

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The Society of Georgia Archivists is now accepting applications for the 2024 Carroll Hart Scholarship. The application deadline is March 1, 2024.

This year’s Georgia Archives Institute will be held June 3-14, 2024.

For full details, please go to https://soga.wildapricot.org/scholarships/hart

The Society of Georgia Archivists awards a scholarship for attendance at the Georgia Archives Institute held each summer in Atlanta. The purpose of the scholarship is to enhance archival education and membership. The scholarship is named for Carroll Hart, former director of the Georgia Department of Archives and History, founding member of the Society of Georgia Archivists, and founder of the Georgia Archives Institute.

Individuals eligible to compete for the scholarship are:

  • Those engaged in compensated or volunteer archival work at any level in an institution in the state of Georgia.
  • SGA members employed outside the state of Georgia.
  • Graduate students preparing for a career in archives at a college or university in Georgia, or SGA student members studying outside the state of Georgia.
  • Those who identify as members of an underrepresented community or who work with collections that document underrepresented communities or groups.

Preference will be given to applicants who do not have access to institutional support for attending the Georgia Archives Institute.

The scholarship will cover an amount equal to the non credit tuition for the Institute, but not to exceed $550, and a year’s membership in the Society of Georgia Archivists. Please note that individuals must apply separately to the Georgia Archives Institute and pay the application fee to the Georgia Archives Institute. All regular deadlines and requirements for the Georgia Archives Institute apply. After participating in the Georgia Archives Institute, the recipient will submit a brief article on the experience for use in the SGA Newsletter.

How to apply:

Please fill out the online portion of the application for the Carroll Hart Scholarship. Then, to complete your application email your resume or CV and cover letter to scholarships@soga.org. Your application is not complete until these documents have been received.

Complete applications including cover letter and CV or resume must be received by March 1, 2024.

SGA Scholarship Recipient Attends GAI

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Submitted by Maranda Christy

As a recipient of the Carroll Hart scholarship from the Society of Georgia Archivists, I was able to attend the Georgia Archives Institute in June of 2023. During this two-week internship, which included daily workshops and a hands-on experience processing a collection and creating a finding aid at Emory University, I gained valuable insight into the archival profession, from the preservation of fragile audio-visual materials to learning more about the newest trends in digitization.

I appreciated the breadth of the topics covered during the Institute, which provided a firm foundation in established professional standards and principles while also speaking to the rapid changes in technology which present both advances and challenges to accessibility. Overall, I also appreciated the chance to meet and converse with other professionals and take home their valuable advice to apply at my own institution. 

The three-day internship at Emory was the most enlightening aspect of the entire experience at the Institute since we applied the theoretical frameworks from the class sessions to an actual collection in an existing repository. My two fellow interns and I processed the J. Andrew Lipscomb papers and wrote the finding aid which was then uploaded to ArchivesSpace. Since Emory just recently transitioned to ArchivesSpace, this was a unique opportunity to create one of the institution’s first new finding aids on the platform. 

We also toured Emory’s preservation lab which was particularly fascinating since I didn’t previously have a strong background in preservation or conservation. After that tour, I was convinced that not enough institutions are putting an emphasis on the importance of the art of preserving and conserving materials. 

Thank you to the Society of Georgia Archivists for providing the means to attend the Georgia Archives Institute.

Visit the SGA website to learn more about our scholarship opportunities, https://soga.org/scholarships.

SGA’s Summer Workshop Series 2023

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SGA’s Summer Workshop Series has extensive opportunities this summer and fall to learn about the value of preservation and archives in Black communities.

The SGA Summer Workshop Series: Rooted in Memory highlights the value of Archives and Preservation in Black communities. This 5-month series highlights the importance of preservation from knowledge production at the level of the body to institutional repositories. These workshops center work of HBCU archives, archivists, and Black Memory Work(ers) and will take place during the Summer and Fall quarters of this year and will be open to the public.

Learn more about the speakers here, https://rb.gy/hvxgt.


Sign up for the workshops here, https://soga.wildapricot.org/events and learn more about the scholarship opportunity to attend a workshop from SGA here, https://rb.gy/vmy76.

Call for Proposals for the 2023 SAA Research Forum, due May 1, 2023

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[MAY 1] DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR THE SAA RESEARCH FORUM 

On behalf of the 2023 Research Forum Program Committee, we invite you to submit abstracts (of 300 words or fewer) for either approximately 10-minute platform presentations or 2-minute poster presentations. Topics may address research on, or innovations in, any aspect of archives practice or records management in government, corporate, academic, scientific, or other settings. 

The 2023 Research Forum will be conducted as two Zoom-based virtual sessions, each three-and-a-half hours long, on July 12 from 1:00 – 4:30 pm CT and July 19, 1:00 – 4:30 pm CT. In addition, professional posters will be displayed online with presenters’ contact information so that one-on-one discussions can take place.

Presentations on research results that may have emerged since the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting Call for Proposals deadline are welcome, as are reports on research completed within the past three years that you think is relevant and valuable for discussion. Please indicate whether you intend a platform or poster presentation. See the full call here: https://www2.archivists.org/am2023/research-forum-2023

Special topics this year include: global challenges; equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice; collaboration across GLAM domains (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums); repository-level data; centering users; and building audiences. These topics are detailed in the SAA CORDA Research and Innovation Roadmap (beta version.)

Abstracts will be evaluated by the 2023 Research Forum Program Committee convened by Jennifer Gunter King (Emory University) and Sarah Pratt Martin (Simmons University).

Deadline for submission of abstracts: May 1, 2023. You will be notified of the review committee’s decision by June 1.

Proposals should be submitted here and must include: Presentation title, your name and affiliation, email address, whether your proposal is for a platform or poster presentation, if you are a first time presenter, and an abstract of no more than 300 words.

Best,

Jennifer Gunter King, Research Forum Chair
SAA Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment

Read the 2023 SGA Magazine Today!

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The new SGA 2023 Magazine has just been published online, visit here to read the full issue, https://soga.wildapricot.org/publications/magazine 

This year’s issue is full of professional development opportunities, words from our former and current presidents, a new member spotlight, updates on a couple of institution’s grant projects, and a post on remembering SGA’s first President Edward Weldon after his passing in late 2022.

Habersham Education and Research was founded to collect the history of Habersham County in Georgia and make it more accessible to the public. The history of the county is spread out into the Clarkesville Library, courthouse and local historians residences. The most important project Habersham Education has focused on is the digitization and indexing of local newspapers, a valuable resource for researchers and genealogists. With the help of a SGA Spotlight grant the Digitize Habersham project launched in November of 2022 after two years of work of digitizing and indexing. Peter Madruga from Habersham Education and Research details more about this project in the new SGA Magazine. If you are interested in the Georgia Archives Month Spotlight grant learn more on our website. 

Georgia State University in partnership with the University of Maryland received a CLIR Hidden Collections grant to digitize the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department Southeast Division Records. The department operated in Atlanta from 1964-1989 and was instrumental in ensuring equal job opportunities and the creation of training programs for marginalized communities. The collection has 78 linear feet of mainly documents with some audio visual material. Not only does the team want to make the documents available online, they also are collaborating with the Digital Library of Georgia to create online educational resources. Read more about how this grant project is progressing in the new magazine, available to read now!

Thanks to all of our contributors for submitting something to be featured in this year’s SGA Magazine. We have years and years of a backlog of our quarterly newsletters which were the predecessor of the SGA Magazine. If you want to learn even more about SGA as an organization take a look through our previous issues on our website, https://soga.wildapricot.org/publications/newsletterbackissues . Consider submitting an article next year or if you cannot wait, submit it as a blog post here.

SGA Scholarship Winner attends Georgia Archives Institute

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Submitted by Camilla Stegall

Hello! My name is Camilla Stegall. I am honored to be the 2022 recipient of the Carroll Hart Scholarship to attend the Georgia Archives Institute.

First, a little about myself. I am 2022 graduate from Kennesaw State University (KSU). I was encouraged by Dr. Jennifer Dickey, the Public History Coordinator at KSU, to apply for the Institute. During my time at KSU, I developed strong relationships with the archivists and had heard about the Society of Georgia Archivists. (It was through them that I learned about SGA and applied for and presented in the Student Research Showcase at the SGA 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.) I am thankful for the opportunity to attend the Institute as I go on to attend the MSLIS online Leep program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the fall.

Now to the Institute. The first six days were filled with instruction on foundational archival concepts, including appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation (physical and digital!), reference, copyright, and outreach. Everything that you need to “identify, preserve, and make available” archival materials. Pam Hackbart-Dean, Tina Mason Seetoo, and Katherine Fisher were wonderful primary instructors whose years of experience are evident in their instruction—from their lectures to their class activities to get us thinking about how we would approach challenges and daily tasks in archives. 

As mentioned, the lectures were interlaced with group activities and case studies. This was fantastic for me as I am a “hands-on learner!”  In these groups, I also learned from my peers. The twenty of us in the cohort came from a variety of backgrounds and locations. I met a community archivist and a university archivist both from California, an English professor from Alabama, a library associate from Missouri, and an archives volunteer from Atlanta along with several fellow early career archivists from Metro Atlanta. The opportunity to visit and work on assignments with members of my cohort with such a wide array of knowledge and experience was fascinating and eye-opening into how different institutions and individuals approach their work.

Additionally, we listened to guest speakers about topics on archival projects and organizations. The guest speakers for 2022 were Tamika Strong of the Georgia Archives about her work creating a community archives of African American funeral programs, Morna Gerrard of Georgia State University (GSU) about GSU’s Women’s / Gender & Sexuality Collections and projects, SGA President Cathy Miller about SGA and the benefits of it and similar organizations, and Joshua Kitchens about Clayton State University’s Master of Archival Studies program and The Academy of Certified Archivists and how to take part in them. These guest speakers contributed to the Institute by showing us poignant examples of individual and institutional projects that benefit communities by preserving and telling their stories. The overview of the archival organizations and professional development on the last day was a great way to end by providing us possible “next steps” as GAI alumni.

2022 was the first time the Institute has been in-person since the pandemic began. As such, we had several educational excursions during our two weeks. The cohort toured the Georgia Archives and learned about its history; on another day we visited the Georgia Archives Conservation Lab, where we met the conservators and watched demonstrations; and, we also toured the GSU Special Collections and Archives before we attended the GAI Reception. At the reception, we had a lovely evening as we mingled with the GAI Board, our internship supervisors, and amongst ourselves. 

Week 2 centered on our three-day internships at sites around Metro Atlanta. I, along with two other attendees, interned at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. Our supervisor was Laura Starratt, the Senior Collections Archivist. For our project, we worked with one of Emory’s star collections, the David R. Scott and Anne Lurton Scott papers. David Scott is a retired astronaut and the seventh man to walk on the moon. The collection consisted of materials relating to Scott’s missions and Anne Lurton Scott’s experience as an “astronaut wife.” We processed the printed materials, correspondence, and photographs in the collection (all the while geeking out about NASA). The three of us are honored to have worked on this collection and to make it more accessible to students and researchers. Additionally, during our time at Emory, we toured their conservation lab and archives. We also met with many members of the archives staff and learned about what they do. As I am exploring what facet of archives I want to pursue, I appreciate the time that they spent with us. 

Overall, I am grateful for the amazing learning experience that I had during my two weeks at the Georgia Archives Institute. It provided me with a firm foundation of knowledge and insight into the field of archives as I take my next steps to becoming a full-fledged “Georgia Archivist!” Thank you for your support in this endeavor! 

SGA Members tour the Bartow History and Booth Western Museums

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Submitted by Marion Hudson

We had a good turnout for our SGA membership outing in August. The Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum hosted some wonderful tours to 11 of our members.

The first tour included a behind the scenes look into the Bartow History Archives, recently named for the Mulinix Family of Bartow County. Our guide, Trey Gaines, then took us over to the Bartow History Museum and discussed the history of the building. The group had time to explore the temporary exhibit of It’s All Fun & Games: Iconic Toys of the Past and the permanent collection on the upper floor.

A docent led highlights tour at the Booth Western Art Museum covered many of the museum’s permanent and loaned collection. Pat, a long time docent at the Booth, led a great tour full of interesting history and facts about art and artists housed at the Booth. A horse created from recycled materials, “Walking Horse” by Leo Sewell, was a great talking piece among the group! The piece is created from repurposed metals.

Walking Horse by Leo Sewell

After the docent tour, Marion Hudson, gave the group a look at the Booth Research Library. Marion has been the librarian/archivist for the Booth since 2020. Many of the SGA members enjoyed lunch in the Booth Café with its wonderful view of the Bartow History Museum, which is housed in the historical courthouse. 

We thank the Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum for their hospitality. For more information on the Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum visit the websites below. Both are sister museums to the Tellus Science Museum and Savoy Automobile Museum; all are part of Georgia Museums, Inc.

See their websites at www.boothmuseum.org and www.bartowhistorymuseum.org.

Archives Night at the Fox Theatre

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Submitted by Leigh Burns, Director Fox Theatre Institute

The Fox Theatre, in partnership with Atlanta History Center (AHC), hosted our first Archives Night here at the Fox Theatre on Thursday, June 16th. The evening was planned originally for 2020, then later revived in 2022, with the support of our colleagues at AHC. We had more than one hundred attend the event with members from both AHC and our Friends of the Fox. We were thrilled by the enthusiasm for the event and the attendance exceeded our expectations.

Beyond collaborating with AHC staff on the event, we also enjoyed hosting many of their devoted members here to discover our own Fox Theatre archival collections. The special event gave our guests an opportunity to discover firsthand dozens of artifacts, many for the first time, from the Fox’s archives by rotating presentations from three archival experts. Our experts included Paul Crater, Debra Freer, and Josh Kitchens. These individuals have worked in our archives in different capacities throughout the years and have exceptional archival experience. In their individual, rotating presentations, each highlighted some the Fox’s original furniture, lighting, artwork, movie and show posters, and our 1970s Save the Fox campaign memorabilia. Before the rotating presentations began, Paul Crater gave an informative and enjoyable opening address. Paul’s personal interest in our own collections and his devotion to preserving Atlanta history is admirable. We are so grateful that Paul helped us lead this first-time effort. Well beyond that evening, Paul continues to support all our archives through consulting as needed.

The Fox Theatre Archives is located onsite here at the Fox Theatre. Our archives space was formally integrated into the Restoration department of the Fox Theatre in 1996. Following the 1996 fire that began in the adjoining restaurant, our Fox Theatre leadership established a permanent, climate-controlled designated area for our irreplaceable items. The archives were built out of a previous administrative area and established to protect the various artifacts important to legacy of the theatre. Beyond thousands of paper artifacts, our collections within our “living museum” includes historic furniture, historic lighting, our Moller “Mighty Mo” organ, and other artwork including architectural features. The Fox Theatre funds the ongoing care of the collections through a restoration fee added to all ticketed, public events. Every time one of our patrons join us at the Fox, they are contributing financially to the care of our collections, including our Fox Theatre archives. In addition to the physical objects, we maintain our collection electronically through the Access to Memory database. The database was implemented in 2018 and we use this to assist with external and internal requests from the public and staff as needed. We maintain architectural drawings, historical photographs and other historical documents that support the work of our marketing and facilities and restoration team members.

We look forward to hosting additional public events relating to our Archives and we hope potentially another Archives Night in early 2023. We are grateful for the support of many archivists from the metro-Atlanta area for attending this first special event. For more information about the history of the Fox Theatre please feel free to visit our website at https://www.foxtheatre.org/about/fox-historystory

For questions about the archives please feel free to reach out to me at leigh.burns@foxtheatre.org

VSU Indexing the Equal Rights Magazine

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Submitted by Douglas R. Carlson, Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections

The Valdosta State University Odum Library Archives and Special Collections acquired a run of the Equal Rights magazine published from the 1920’s – 50’s when the National Women’s Party (NWP) disposed of its surplus. The magazine covers four decades of worldwide women’s issues. The NWP publication highlights then current events in the areas of fair representation, voting and the fight for equal rights. The magazine has been a key addition to our collection of publications for traditionally underrepresented groups that includes The Southern Patriot Civil Rights Newspaper and the Black Panther Party Newspaper.

The archive has increasingly tried to identify and collect materials that support the university curriculum. Collaborating with the History Department, the VSU Archives has built a successful student volunteer program offering history class credit for participation in indexing projects. The magazine collection has enabled the archives to expand this effort to include students and interns from the Women’s and Gender studies program who index Equal Rights.  This is a challenging task for students because writing in the 20’s and 30’s was so different than the way we use words and arguments today.  Such writing often “talks around” an issue rather than addressing it succinctly. Pulling out details and summarizing often requires careful reading.   

Since the magazine still has copyright restrictions, we chose to create access by indexing the articles into a searchable database. Students read the text and then record specific metadata for issue, date, subject, people and a summary of the article for entry into an in-house created My-SQL database. Published online, the database allows researchers to browse and then request fair use reprints of specific articles. The archives staff tracks entries for accuracy, completeness, and level of student participation. While indexing, students have begun to research and compile more information on people mentioned frequently in the magazine.

The Equal Rights indexing is part of our vital efforts at increasing collection outreach, student involvement and access to primary sources. We hope access to the collection will increase scholarly research at the university. The indexing activity has also been included in new efforts to increase experiential learning by offering students an opportunity to participate in a public history project. The Equal Rights Newsletter Collection may be accessed at https://archivesspace.valdosta.edu/repositories/2/resources/473 . The index may be searched at https://archives.valdosta.edu/equal-rights/ .