Reflections at 40: A Brief History of The Richard B. Russell Library
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Documents trace the start of the library back to 1958, when W.P. Kellam, then Director of Libraries at the University of Georgia, wrote a letter to U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. thanking him for a recent donation of books and documents. He then seized this opportunity to approach Russell about a much larger donation, that of his personal papers. Kellam wrote that the UGA Library would very much like to have correspondence, addresses, records, and the like when Russell was ready to dispose of them, planting the seed for what would grow into the Russell Memorial Library project.
By the time he received Kellam’s letter, Richard B. Russell, Jr. had long been known as “Georgia’s Man in Washington.” Serving in the Georgia General Assembly from 1921 to 1931, as Governor from 1931 to 1933, and most notably as U.S. Senator from 1933 until his death in 1971, he played a role in many of the pivotal moments of twentieth century history. His career in government spanned the Great Depression, the New Deal, and every conflict from World War II to Vietnam. In 1952, he ran for President. He chaired the MacArthur Hearings, sat on the Warren Commission as well as on committees that established the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A.). He debated civil rights legislation on the floor of the Senate and saw the barriers of segregation break down across the South. Russell played a role in these historic events and they shaped him, as they shaped millions of other Americans. His personal papers would provide a window into these times, and Kellam saw their value clearly. In the decade that followed this initial correspondence, Russell wavered back and forth over the idea of donating his papers to the University. Though committed to the idea in concept, he worried that in practice his papers might get lost in the shuffle of everyday operations. Then, in 1969 William Norton, a Gainesville attorney and friend of the Senator, suggested a new scheme for the donation: what if they formed a private foundation and established a separate library? Norton drew his inspiration from the Everett Dirksen Library, a center for congressional study in Illinois founded on the papers of Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen and his colleagues, dedicated to maintaining “a record of the life and influence of these individuals upon the affairs of government to better understand the times and events during which their influence were prominent.” Norton thought that this emphasis was perfectly consonant with what Senator Russell would want for his own papers. His impulse proved correct. Russell found the Dirksen approach to be the perfect model to follow for his own collection. With Russell’s approval, Norton and other longtime associates set in motion the establishment of the Richard B. Russell Foundation, a body that could fundraise and plan for a library. In 1970, Russell turned to Georgia’s junior Senator, Herman Talmadge, to spearhead the library project. Talmadge accepted the request and became the inaugural chair of the Russell Foundation, leading fundraising and collaboration efforts between the Georgia General Assembly and the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Talmadge realized that it would take more than money to get the project moving forward. The Foundation needed someone with expertise in managing the tremendous volume of materials amassed by Senator Russell throughout his life. In March of 1971, Talmadge sent a letter to members of the Russell Foundation executive committee regarding the task that lay ahead: readying the Senator’s papers for public use. He wrote: “As I know you are aware, these papers are extremely voluminous, comprising several hundred packing cases. Much work on these papers remains to be done, in terms of classifying and in determining the disposition of purely personal or sensitive materials.” Talmadge suggested that it would serve the interests of the Foundation, as well as the future library, to hire Miss Barboura Raesly, Russell’s personal secretary from 1957 to 1971, to help with the initial sorting of the papers. “This work, of course, can best be accomplished by a knowledgeable person who is familiar with the Senatorial business of the late Senator Russell,” he wrote. Talmadge could think of no one better suited to the task, and the suggestion for the new hire received overwhelming support. And so Miss Raesly came to be employed by the Foundation. Correspondence reveals that in 1973 she was offered a one year contract to continue her work, and that she played a pivotal role in organizing the dedication ceremony of the Russell Memorial Library in the summer of 1974. Since the Russell Library opened for research in 1977 much has changed. Building on the strengths and richness of the Russell Collection, the library began adding the collections of other figures in Georgia politics – members of the state legislature, governors, and other congressional representatives. From there, collecting expanded to include grassroots organizers, foot soldiers in the civil rights movement, as well as audiovisual and oral history material. With its increased holdings, the library was renamed the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies in 1994. The Russell Library became an archives center for modern politics and policymaking focused on Georgia and its national and international connections. In the fall of 2011, Russell Library staff assisted in relocating 3,535 boxes of manuscript materials, 2,876 books, 458 boxes of audiovisual items, and over 4,500 photographs, 143 scrapbooks, and 715 artifacts into moving vans. That took care of the items housed at the Main Library; thousands more boxes located in three off-site storage facilities were moved as well. In February 2012 the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries was dedicated on UGA's north campus. Replete with exhibition galleries, classroom and event spaces, research rooms, and a climate controlled, high density storage vault, this building, more than a decade in the making, is the new home of the Richard B. Russell Library. It also houses the University of Georgia's two other special collections libraries: the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection. |