University Library News

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

2023-2024 highlights

From labor unions to hip hop, Georgia State University’s Special Collections and Archives contains items covering a wide range of topics of interest to researchers. It holds the largest photographic collections in the state along with vast media holdings of film, audio, video and digital content. Visit: https://library.gsu.edu/special-collections/

Overview

Special Collections and Archives makes over 1700 cubic feet of material accessible to researchers by creating over 300 finding aids. In addition, we were able to regain approximately 100 cubic feet through rehousing collections into appropriate containers and discarding materials that had no research or historic value.

We provided 82 instruction sessions in 2024 for over 2,000 GSU students. GSU Faculty have been increasing their demand for instruction since 2023 and we expect to exceed these numbers again in 2025.

In 2024, a total of 129 researchers made use of our services, including 77 first-time researchers and 52 returning researchers. On average, each researcher spent four hours in the reading room, contributing to a combined total of over 500 hours spent conducting research.

• Total Reading Room Requests – 462
• Requests for Classes – 825
• Total SCA Users – 416
  • Undergraduate – 124
  • Graduate – 46
  • Faculty – 32
  • Independent Researchers – 170
  • Other – 44

Oral Histories Help Preserve Culture

Special Collections and Archives continued to capture, preserve and share Georgia’s culture through oral history. These interviews document firsthand the experiences of the people who were a part some of our region’s most significant events and happenings, including:

• DJ Nabs: American DJ and record producer has been part of the Atlanta hip hop scene since the late 1980s.
• Sonia Murray: GPB’s Digital Content Manager was a music critic with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, often covering the developing hip-hop scene in Atlanta.
• Jill Gibson Bell: daughter of Joseph Gibson, Jr. aka Jack the Rapper, who organized an annual all-inclusive Black/urban music showcase and convention in Atlanta, GA.

Collecting Area Highlights

University Archives
The Chattahoochee Review

The Chattahoochee Review records are now available online, including digitized copies of all of their publications. The Chattahoochee Review was a literary journal showcasing new works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and visual arts. Initially published by Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), the journal continued under Georgia State University Perimeter College following GPC’s merger with Georgia State University in 2016.

Southern Labor Archives
Fighting for Freedom Symposium

This one-day virtual event featured research presentations inspired by the exhibit “Fighting for Freedom: Labor and Civil Rights in the American South” and work based on the digitized AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department records.

Women’s Collection
Feminist Action Alliance

GSU Women’s/Gender and Sexuality Collections Archivist Morna Gerrard led the initiative to document the history of Feminist Action Alliance, which was established in Atlanta (1973) to make change and improve the lives of women by advancing the full participation of women in social, political and economic institutions.

Music & Popular Culture
Crunk Music Archive

Special Collections and Archives acquired the Crunk Music Archive, which focuses on preserving crunk and bounce music ephemera, vinyl, and more as a tribute to Southern culture. In 2024, Georgia State University became the official repository for this collection.

Rare Books
Moralia seu expositio in job

“Moralia seu Exposition in Job,” by Pope Gregory I, one of the most unique titles in Special Collections, has been digitized and available online for scholarship.  This book is one of only four in the world with a full provenance.

Photographic Collection
Lane Brothers Photographic Collection

Through multiple generous donations we have been able to systematically rehouse the Lane Brothers Photographic Collection, which includes digitizing images from the collections and preparing them to be moved into freezer storage in anticipation of the new Media Preservation Storage Facility that will go under construction in 2025.

New Collections

Special Collections and Archives acquired several unique collections and made them more accessible to a broader audience at https://archivesspace.library.gsu.edu/.

Film Periodicals collection: The Film Periodicals collection consists of serial publications on film and related film industry issues. It includes copies of popular magazines and industry trade publications. Coverage is from 1963 to 1999.

Hip Hop Periodicals collection: The Hip Hop Periodicals collection contains popular and underground hip hop publications. The collection includes copies of Elemental Magazine, a magazine dedicated to covering underground hip hop culture in Atlanta. It also contains copies of Ozone Magazine, which referred to itself as “the Southern voice of hip hop.” It dates from 1998 to 2012 with the majority of materials dating from 1998 to 2009. Topics include prominent and local artists, executives, producers, music industry news, graffiti and street art, DJs, breakdancing or b-boys, and emceeing.

WRAS Radio records: Through the work of an intern, the full WRAS Radio records are available for research. WRAS is the Georgia State University student-run radio station airing eclectic music programming, news, sporting events, and public service announcements with emphasis on university events. Its records, 1966-2012, document the creation and operation of the station, and include general manager files, correspondence, printed materials, station produced sound recordings (interviews, promos, drops) and sound recording submissions for the Georgia Music Show.

Endowed and Grant-Funded Work

Labor and University Records

• Processed MARTA operations records  – 92.7 linear feet
• Processed 800 maps for MARTA early system planning collection (not in ArchivesSpace yet)
• Processed The Chattahoochee Review records – 18 linear feet – reduced to 7 linear feet
• Processed/updated finding aid for College of Public & Urban Affairs publications –  2 linear feet – reduced to 1 linear foot
• Processed College of Public & Urban Affairs budget files – 3 linear feet – reduced to 0.42 linear feet integrated into G1996-09
• Processed Vice President of Urban Affairs records – 2 linear feet – reduced to 1.42 linear feet
• Processed GSU Bicentennial Committee records – 1 linear foot – reduced to 0.42 linear feet
• Processed College of Urban Life records – 3 linear feet – reduced to 0.42 linear feet
• In progress: processing the American Federation of Musicians records – 27 linear feet – reduced to approx. 22 linear feet
• In progress: processing photographs from the Public Information Office

Lonnie C. King. Jr. Collection

• The collection has been processed and the finding aid will go live in early 2025.
• The Digital Library of Georgia and the New Georgia Encyclopedia have received the narrative and images for the online exhibit about the life of Lonnie King and the Atlanta Student Movement along with new entries for the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
• The DLG/NGE exhibit along with a traveling exhibit through the Georgia Public Library Service will launch in January 2025.  These two exhibits will accompany a physical exhibit at Auburn Avenue Research Library and a small exhibit in the Library North second floor gallery.
• We expect this Georgia Humanities grant for the Lonnie C. King, Jr. Collection to be completed by March 2025.

Notable Acquisitions

Bailey Barash papers: New collections include the Bailey Barash papers. A collection of materials related to Barash’s career as an independent documentary filmmaker and producer in Atlanta, GA. The papers include scripts, releases, tapes, and digital files.

Georgia Equality Records: Georgia Equality has begun donating its organizational records to GSU. The first box of record includes board manuals, files, photographs, buttons, legislative reports, and other materials documenting the organization’s advocacy work. The remaining records are expected to be donated in 2025. Executive Director Jeff Graham has started contributing his personal papers. These materials will provide valuable insights into the history of LGBTQ+ advocacy and activism in Georgia.

M.H. Mitchell, Inc. Collection of Leo Max Frank: a collection of materials from  Rabbi Steve Lebow. These materials purport to be evidence that Leo Frank did not murder Mary Phagan.

M.H. Mitchell, Inc. Collection of “Little” Mary Phagan: a collection of materials from the great-grand niece of Mary Phagan that purport to prove that Leo Frank was Mary Phagan’s murderer.M.H. Mitchell, Inc. – Carlene M. Wilson Cookbook Collection: a collection of cookbooks consists of 104 recipe books intended for the home cook, 1867, 1921-circa 2004. The collection includes self-published as well as commercially published works, and ranges from collectively authored, community-based works to cookbooks by professional chefs and food writers, and contains books created by appliance, insurance, and utility companies.

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