Georgia College & State University offers new resources for exploring history and the evolution of the printed page.
 
Georgia College’s Ina Dillard Russell Library celebrated the opening of a major addition to its Special Collections & Galleries department Monday. The expanded facilities provide new space for collaborating on digital history projects; analyzing and preserving artifacts in the university’s collections; and putting history on display.

This initial phase of a two-part renovation includes new digital humanities and oral history labs, an expanded room for archival research, a larger work area for library staff to process and preserve collection materials and a rare book room with additional exhibit space.

“For its size, our institution owns some very unique and special materials,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Costas Spirou said. “Now we’re able to exhibit and make those available in this fabulous new space.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony coincided with the premier of two exhibits featuring items from collections in the university’s archive. “To Be Uninvited Guests” and “The Faces of Flannery O’Connor” interpret and display artifacts from the “Thomas F. and Janice C.F. Armstrong Antique Map Collection” and the university’s collection of materials relating to its most famous alumna, the author Flannery O’Connor, ’45.

The rare book room and connected galleries provide the public a place to experience Special Collections’ missions of documenting history and culture and ensuring the diverse communities of Milledgeville and Baldwin County receive appropriate historical recognition and representation.

The addition of the Oral History and Digital Humanities labs invites Georgia College students, faculty, staff and local community members to contribute to Special Collections’ documentation of Milledgeville and Baldwin County history.

The Oral History Lab offers a dedicated space for conducting oral history interviews with the audio and video equipment necessary to make those conversations available to future generations.

The Digital Humanities Lab students and faculty can collaborate across disciplines on projects that utilize digital tools to analyze information, process data and communicate results in new and innovative ways.

These new resources support existing, grant-funded initiatives to train and empower local community members on how to preserve history by creating digital copies of their historical documents, according to Russell Library Director Shaundra Walker. These efforts help inform library programs like “Common Heritage: Reframing and Reconsidering Community Memories from the Perspective of Those Who Lived Them,” an exhibit that presents local history from digital artifacts donated by African American community members who participated in the library’s preservation workshops.

Resources like the new Oral History and Digital Humanities labs will help the library apply for additional funding opportunities to support that mission. They also support Georgia College’s fundamental mission of training the next generation of engaged citizen leaders.

“Most importantly,” Walker said, “it provides opportunities for hands on learning for both undergraduate and graduate students, who we see as a central part of our work here at the library.”

You can learn more on the Special Collections & Galleries department website.