UWG News Item
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Partnership between UWG and GPB
September 16, 2006
CARROLLTON, GA - An unprecedented partnership between the University of West Georgia and Georgia Public Broadcasting has become a reality.
Georgia Public Television and the Georgia’s Political Heritage Program have agreed to digitize one of the largest historical archives in the southeast.
The collection, which includes interviews of 59 prominent leaders in Georgia politics, is stored on VHS tapes in the Ingram Library Special Collections /Archives Department at UWG.
“We’re very excited,” said Dr. Mel Steely, director and founder of the GPHP and a UWG professor emeritus of history. “This collection is one of the best kept secrets in Georgia. The project will make the archives accessible to everyone throughout the state.”
Former governors Zell Miller, Joe Frank Harris and Lester Maddox, as well as the late Senator Herman Talmadge are just a few of the interviewees that will be digitized and broadcast through Georgia Public Television’s education service. The service reaches 1.5 million students and 90,000 teachers.
It is the largest undertaking of its kind for GPB, said Mike Nixon, director of Education and Technology Services for GPB.
“It’s a win-win for everyone,” said Nixon. “It’s another tool for researchers. We’ve never done anything like this on this scale.”
Georgia Public Broadcasting will lend recording equipment worth $15,000 to the university. Felicia Williams, general manager of University Television and a UWG faculty member in Mass Communications, will train university students on the project, which is estimated to take 10 months.
The historical archives will become part of Georgia’s online learning library, GALILEO, and will be accessible by state universities, public schools and libraries.
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