UGA plans new collections library

ATHENS, Ga. - A snippet of Jefferson Davis' hair, hundreds of old Georgia Bulldog football films and Sen. Richard Russell's political papers soon will get a new home, along with millions of other items now in the University of Georgia's main library on North Campus.

A 110,000-square-foot building planned for Waddell Street will give librarians state-of-the art rooms to store and preserve UGA's special collections - an ever-expanding vault of rare books, manuscripts and films.

But the public also will get to see more of the historical treasures once the new Special Collections Library opens.

"This is the place where Georgia's history and culture are preserved," said Toby Graham, interim director of UGA's Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.

The Hargrett is one of three special collections slated to move into the new building.

The Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, a vast collection of radio, TV and other recordings will move, as well as the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, another huge collection of books, manuscripts and recordings.

Hundreds of old UGA football films and about 120,000 rare books are stored carefully -- the football films in freezers to prevent degradation.

For more than a decade, library administrators have been planning the new building and raising money to cover $15 million of the $45 million cost. This year, the state government may provide the rest.

Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed budget includes about $27 million for the special collections library, and the legislature last year appropriated about $3 million in planning money.

The new library could open as early as 2011, said UGA Libraries Director William Potter.

Besides room to store the collections, the library on Waddell Street will feature reading rooms for each of the collections, classroom space, a 200-seat lecture hall and -- maybe most importantly -- room to show off some of the treasures.

The display space will give the university the opportunity to share with the public in a way it's never had before, said Ruta Abolins, director of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection.

Each of the three collections -- now housed in tight space in the main library -- has its own kind of special treasures.

Potter's favorite: a sketch of Savannah from 1734, a year after the colony was founded. The black-and-white drawing shows colony founder James Oglethorpe's home -- a tent.

Graham showed off another Hargrett treasure recently: a letter from Abraham Lincoln to Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens after a secret meeting to talk about ending the Civil War in 1865. The two leaders didn't manage to end the nation's bloodiest war early, but Lincoln did agree to release Stephens' nephew, imprisoned in a Union POW camp, in exchange for the release of a Union soldier.

Stephens' nephew carried Lincoln's letter back to his uncle.

While the Hargrett's main focus is Georgia and the Southeast, the Russell Library chronicles political history, mainly in Georgia.

"It's really a great place to study 20th-century politics, and by extension, 20th-century history," Potter said.

Abolins looks forward to the day when groups of school children come to the special collections building for classes and events. They may watch old home movies, for example, learn why they're important as a way to document everyday life, then go home to record their own home videos.

And people will be able to get a better idea of just how deep and broad the special collections are, Abolins said.

"I think we'll be a real destination for events," she said.