Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library
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Is it Mold?
Mold in library collections can present a serious hazard to both collections and human health. Active mold is usually obvious (wet and fuzzy), but inactive mold is easily confused with dirt, foxing, or other staining.
In order to help library and archives staff identify signs of mold (and when to contact Conservation), I created this handy infographic. Please feel free to share!
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This birdseye view of the UGA campus and parts of downtown Athens, GA was taken from the Southern Mutual Building in downtown Athens in 1914. Of note are the UGA tennis courts which were next to Broad St. on Old Campus (they are now located at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on South Campus); Charbonnier Way, a short-lived road that led through North Campus; and, in downtown, the YMCA building which stood on the current location of the world famous Georgia Theatre.
This photograph is from our collection of Athens, GA city records, MS1633. -
It’s a bit early to celebrate the Fourth of July, but it’s never a bad time to look back at one of the great rock festivals of the 1960s and 1970s, especially a festival that featured the Allman Bros., the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Richie Havens, and Bob Seeger.
The 2nd Atlanta International Pop Festival (held in the middle Georgia town of Byron, not in Atlanta) took place from July 3rd through the 5th in 1970. It was promoted by legendary music promoter Alex Cooley; anywhere from 200,000 to 600,000 people attended the event.
This promotional booklet is from our Georgia Music Hall of Fame collection, which features materials relating to Georgia’s rich musical history. -
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Harry Potter novel, we thought that we would celebrate by posting a couple of Potter-ish images from our archives.
The first isn’t Hermione and Crookshanks, but it is a lantern slide from the 19th-century. Lantern slides were small glass plates with images developed on them which were used with magic lanterns, a type of precursor to the (now itself outdated) slide projector.
The second image is from our Robert Parks North American Birds collection (ms3396). Robert Parks is a native Georgian and a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology who gained national renown as an ornithologist and an artist of birds. The owl shown is an Eastern Screech Owl, which is common to the state of Georgia. -
To celebrate #Bloomsday, this is a first edition of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. This copy in our rare books collection is number 883 from a limited initial run of 1000 copies published by Shakespeare & Co. in Paris in 1922.
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Hey, this post may contain adult content, so we’ve hidden it from public view.
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From our archives, a World War 1 gas mask with carrying case and instruction manual. This particular mask was used by Cpl. Bill McKinnon of Athens, GA.
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One of our fastest growing collecting areas here is our collection of scifi and fantasy materials. From our range of Fantastic Adventures dating from the 1930s through the 1950s, our Wonder Stories from the 1920s and 1930s, and our newly opened Ned Brooks scifi fanzine collection, our scifi and fantasy collections are out of this world!
(Okay, we’re sorry about that last bit, but the joke was just too easy to make.) -
This is the first in a new series of oral history interviews conducted by our athletics curator with legendary UGA football coach Vince Dooley. These interviews will be conducted periodically through this year in conjunction with the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies’s Oral History Project.
Vince Dooley served as the head football coach at UGA from 1964 through 1988. During that time he amassed 201 wins, six Southeastern Conference titles (1966, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982), and one national title (1980). He also coached numerous All-American football players and one Heisman Trophy winner, Herschel Walker. In addition to coaching the Bulldogs (or Bulldawgs, if you prefer) to gridiron glory, Coach Dooley served as UGA’s athletics director from 1979 through his retirement in 2004.Outside of football, Coach Dooley has built a reputation as a master gardener and a highly regarded historian who specializes in the American Civil War.
Coach Dooley also established the Dooley Library Endowment Fund in 1988. This fund provides necessary funding for the University of Georgia Libraries and is currently one of the largest endowments at the University of Georgia.
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To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into the First World War, we’ve pulled these photos from our World War I collections. The first photograph shows American doughboys on parade past King George V and Queen Mary, as well as Queen Alexandra and other dignitaries. The second photo shows African-American troops marching towards the front line in France in 1917.
These two photographs come from one of our collections of World War I photographs (ms1187). Our archives feature an array of materials relating to World War I and we will display some of this material here through the centenary of the Armistice in November 2018.
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One of our strongest (and certainly most beautiful) collecting areas focuses on costume design, specifically for Broadway and for the various Paris music halls.
The heart of our costume design collections are the papers of Freddy Wittop (b.1911- d.2001). Wittop designed for many venues, including the Folies Bergère. Our collections of Wittop’s designs include not only an extensive holding of his original design artwork, but also his sketchbooks and slides of designs and productions, research material, awards, playbills, and genuine costumes from several of Wittop’s productions.
Beyond the Wittop materials, our extensive Paris Music Hall collection encompasses over 6,000 original renderings of costume designs and 1,000 original renderings of curtain designs from the fabulous music halls of Paris from the first decades of the 20th century. Included in this collection are original designs from such eminent designers such as Erté, Serge Kojan, Alex Shanks, José Zamora, and Zig, as well as more materials from Freddy Wittop.
Both the Freddy Wittop collection (MS2727) and the Paris Music Hall collection (MS714) are open for research and study. The designs featured with this post are both from the Freddy Wittop collection.
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These baseball bats were manufactured by the Hanna Manufacturing Company of Athens, GA. Hanna produced baseball and softball bats for 50 years, from 1926 through 1976. During this time, they were one of the major suppliers of bats to both college and major league teams.
Hanna was also known for giving away miniature versions of its bats as promotional items. UGA historian Dan Magill (b.1921-d.2014) recalled in 2008 an incident he witnessed in 1935 when a group of LSU football fans intent on tearing down the goalposts in UGA’s Sanford Stadium were dissuaded from doing so and then escorted to the Athens train station by a group of UGA students (and a 14-year-old Magill) wielding these miniature bats.These particular bats come from our UGA Athletic Association Archives.
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These photographs are of workers at the Georgia Brick Company, a sizable brick-making concern that operated here in Athens from its incorporation in 1903 until a devastating fire closed the brickworks in 1922. Georgia Brick Company supplied building materials for many projects in Athens and Atlanta. The ruins of the brickworks are still visible in the popular Sandy Creek Nature Center, which is run by Athens-Clarke Leisure Services.
The Georgia Brick Company collection is one of our newest manuscript collections. It is open for research and study and can be requested through our website.
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Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy was first published in 1768.
This 1779 edition incorporates both Sterne’s first two volumes and the continuation written by his friend, John Hall-Stevenson.
The 1936 edition here features etchings by Denis Tegetmeier. The typeface, Bunyan, was designed especially for this edition by Eric Gill.
These two selections are from our rare books collection.
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Case Study
The Robert Nix Historic Photograph Collection at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library provides an excellent resource in the study of the earliest photographic methods: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. The very beginning of photography was a quickly-evolving exploration in the chemistry and processes for the preservation and collection of images. Capturing the likeness of ourselves and loved ones became wildly popular after the introduction of the daguerreotype in 1839. In true pioneer fashion, photographers continued exploring other photographic and housing methods to ensure they would maintain their clarity and brightness. Daguerreotypes were mostly popular in the 1840s-1850s, being swiftly replaced by the ambrotype in 1854, which was then succeeded by the tintype in the 1860s-1870s.
The main difference among the dag, ambro, and tintypes was their durability. Daguerreotypes were created on silver coated plates, which tarnished often, compromising the image. Ambrotypes were created on glass plates, making them susceptible to breakage. Out of the three early types, tintypes were the most durable method, as their images occupy an iron sheet. For the first time in history, people were able to carry memories in tangible, yet delicate forms, and they needed protection from the elements.
Protective cases were developed to house these three types of early photography. Often they were lightweight, wooden cases with hinges and clasps, covered in a leather, papier mache, or mother of pearl exterior. Most cases had decorative relief patterns on the outside and stamped velvet interiors with floral, historical, and geometric motifs. They usually consisted of a preserver, a sheet of glass, and a mat to protect the print from exposure.
(Image from www.phototree.com)
In 1856, a new type of case, the Union case was patented to provide a tougher, more sturdy exterior as it was made from a mix of sawdust and shellac. This case also included the mat and protective elements of the wooden cases, but was much more durable. Cases are helpful in the attempt to date the early photographs, but can be misleading due to the fact that the photos can be moved to different cases.
These are a few examples of cases from the Nix Collection:
Leather Case
Papier Mache Case
Union Case
Mother of Pearl Case
