Johnson Library Archives and Special Collections
From SPSU Wiki
The SPSU Archives and Special Collections are located in the Lawrence V. Johnson Library. The Archive's mission is to collect, arrange, describe, preserve, and provide access to those items that are valuable as artifacts of Southern Poly's history, and to provide students, faculty, and staff with a space to use rare or fragile research materials. The offical page for the Archives can be found at this link.
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What's in a University Archive?
Examples of items you would find in the archive would be: papers of past faculty and adminstrators; memorabilia documenting SPSU student life and culture; items related to the history of the school; and rare books and other hard-to-find material relevent to the history of subjects that SPSU teaches. Below are some links to other university archives in our state; a complete list of archives in the University System of Georgia, along with links to collections that relate to ours can be found on the archives links page.
Columbus State University Archives ,
Emory's Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Books Library ,
University of Georgia Special Collections,
Valdosta State University Archives & Special Collections,
Can I visit the Archives? How do I use the Special Collections?
Most of the collection can not be accessed at present due to space issues. If you would like to visit the Johnson Library Archives and Special Collections, please call 678-915-7444 and set up an appointment. Currently we are looking for staff and faculty input on how they would like to see collections in the archive arranged for use. If there's a research resource you've always wanted better access to, let us know!
Because there's so much to be done to the archives and special collections, the archive has started a Progress Blog. This blog will be updated regularly so that faculty, staff, and students can watch our progress. The archives and special collections is on its way to becoming a valuable research tool for everyone at Southern Polytechnic. We also hope we can show off some of the wonderful artifacts relating to the history of our school along the way.
The SPSU archive has hired its first full time archivist to provide better access and preservation to its archives and special collections. While we've done an excellent job in the past of collecting items relevent to our history, many of these items need special attention if they are to be accessed without accidental damage. Over half of the items in special collections are currently under-documented or should have special housing needs addressed in order to be useable as a research collection. Once some of these issues are addressed, SPSU can join other institutions in the Digital Library of Georgia.
Current Projects and Collections in Process
Detailed information on current projects can be found on the official Archives webpage. The Archives and Special Collections tends to run several projects simultaneously, and announce new developments on their main page. Listed below are the four largest projects currently scheduled:
1) Gregson and Ellis Architectural Drawings (Nov. 2005 - Aug. 2006)
2) Alan and Louise Sellars Antique Tool Collection (Nov. 2005 - Aug. 2006)
3) Southern Polytechnic Photographs (starting Sept. 2006 as an ongoing project)
4) The Lawrence V. Johnson Library Rare Books (Jan. to March of 2007)
Updates on these projects are often found on the Progress Blog.
How can I help?
If you're interested in volunteering to help with any of the projects above, please contact the archive. We'll be looking for volunteers to help with the photograph collection, as well as some of the drawings and maps, starting in January of 2007.
Additionally, if you are a SPSU instructor and would like to design a student project based around any of the contents of the collection, please don't hesistate to call or email. We love working with students and faculty!
