Program News
Oakland Cemetery Opens "African American Voices"
On February 28, 2011, the Historic Oakland Foundation unveiled “African American Voices,” an outdoor exhibit and cell phone tour that interprets African American history at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Supported by grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Ford Foundation as well as a donation from a member of the Historic Oakland Foundation, the exhibit includes three interpretative panels that provide an introduction to Oakland’s African American section, discuss the cemetery’s segregated burial practices in the context of race relations in the South, and address the relocation of individuals buried in “Slave Square” in Oakland’s original six acres to the African American section. The accompanying self-guided cell phone tour includes thirteen stops that allow visitors to explore African American history at Oakland by learning more about the individuals buried there and the society that they lived in. Atlanta’s Parks and Recreation commissioner, George Dusenbury, District 5 Council Member Natalyn Archibong, and the Historic Oakland Foundation Executive Director David Moore officially opened the exhibit at an afternoon ceremony in Oakland’s African American section.As part of her internship in 2010, Dusty Marie Dye, a graduate student in the Public History program, assisted in drafting the text and choosing images for the three panels as well as helping to conduct testing and evaluation of the accompanying cell phone tour. This project contributes to Dusty’s larger body of scholarly work on mourning customs in early America. Her thesis, an examination of the impact of the American Revolution on mourning customs in South Carolina, will be completed in the spring of 2011.
Meghan Donahue Recieves National Archives Fellowship
Meghan Donahue, a student in her second year of the public history program, is one of the 2011 recipients of the National Archives Regional Residency Fellowships. The program is designed to assist students with original research in the regional branches of the National Archives with the goal of increasing awareness of little-used or overlooked records. Meghan will be working in the Atlanta branch with the records of the Atomic Energy Commission to trace the evolution of the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, from a "secret city" heavily involved in the Manhattan Project to a civilian municipality. Her project, entitlted "Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Becoming a Normal City," will draw upon the civic, educational, and recreational records of Oak Ridge to provide perspective on life in the city while it was operated by the Atomic Energy Commission until the late 1950s and its final transition into a citizen-run municipality.Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries Conference
New Agreement with Valdosta State University
The Univerity of West Georgia has signed an agreement with Valdosta State University to cross-list classes between the UWG public history program and Valdosta's Masters in Library and Information Science deparment. This spring 2010 semester, two VSU students are initiating this program by enrolling in the Material Culture class at UWG. We'll be continuing to build this relationship in coming semesters to create a stonger archives focus within our public history program.
Making Local History go "Global!"
Four UWG graduate students presented their ideas about making local history "global" at a workshop at the Georgia Association of Historians Annual Meeting in Decatur, Georgia, in February 2010. The students--Dusty Dye, Steven Eubanks, Meghan Donahue, and Eve Copeland--have all assisted the City of Bremen, Georgia, with developing a public history agenda through a class project and through graduate research assistantship work. With its rich history in the apparel industry, selling men's suits across the country and now making them around the world, Bremen makes an excellent case study. program.
Fitzsimmons Award for Public History
Congratulations to our recent winners of the Fitzsimmons Prize in Public History. Carla Ledgerwood won this award at our 2010 spring awards ceremony for her outstanding work in completing an interpretive plan and interpretive essay on the historic Williams Farm in Villa Rica. Carla had previously worked on the Rural Architecure project at the Center for Public History. She graduated with a 4.0 grade point average while working full-time, her last two years, as a student registrar at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Libary and Museum.
Rick Primuth received this award at the Spring 2009 annual history award ceremony. Primuth graduated in August 2009, after completing his Museum Studies Certificate. Besides maintaining a 4.0 GPA in the program, Rick's greatest accomplishments were in his work on the Georgia Political Heritage project, in which he helped to curate an exhibit on Tom Murphy, process the Murphy archival collection, prepare an NEH grant to develop a larger exhibit on Georga Politics, and, most recently, has researched and assisted with the development of an exhibit on Georgia politics for the Ingram Library renovation. Rick is preparing to on to pursue an M.A. in August 2010.
GHRAB award winner Catherine Hendricks!
Congratulations to Catherine Hendricks who won the graduate research award through the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board for her thesis on the African American community in Powder Springs. Catherine had helped to spearhead the research and oral history project as well as its culminating exhibit and catalog. Catherine now works at the Ingram Libray where she organizes public programs and is assissting with the development of the new exhiit on Tom Murphy, as part of the Library Renovation.
Key Ingredients in Georgia
Kristi Hartmann Ferguson, Katie Hicks, and Ann McCleary participated in the installation workshop for the Smithsonian exhibit Key Ingredients at Kingsland, Georgia on May 2, 2009. Ferguson and Hicks made presentations to the exhibit hosts on developing programs for families and for schools. The Georgia Humanities Council is hosting the exhibit for a two-year tour throughout the state.
At the end of the workshop, Ann McCleary; Arden Williams, Georgia Humanities Council program oficer and UWG alumnae; Katie Hicks; Kristina Hartmann Ferguson, and Terri Cobb, Smithsonian Institution, celebrate the opening of the exhibit in Kingsland.
Congratulatons Public History and Mueum Studies Graduates!
Stephanie Aylworth completed the Museum Studies Certificate and Carla Lederwood finished her M.A. in Public History at the December 2009 graduation. Stephanie is still working as the Main Street manager for the City of Douglasville and Carla works as a Registration Assistant at the Jimmy Carter Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.
In May 2009, Sheila Milton Cook and Katie Hicks graduated with their M.A. degrees in History and a concentraton in Public History. Also celebrating were Kristi Hartmann Ferguson, Stephanie Gedvillas, Katie Hicks, Carla Ledgerwood, and Chadwick Miller who completed their Museum Studies Certificates in May. Sally Moreland completed her second certificate, adding the Public History Certificate.
Presenting Graduate Research
Public history graduates Catherine Hendricks and Sue Verhoef presented their thesis research at the annual Celebration of Graduate Research at the University of West Georgia in May 2009.