ATLANTA, Ga. — Groundbreaking Georgia LGBTQ television programming now available online
The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is pleased to announce the availability of the Mike Maloney Collection of Out TV Atlanta Video Recordings at http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/outtv. The collection, which contains about 240 digitized tapes of raw footage created in the process of making the show, belongs to Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives. It is available thanks in part to the DLG’s 2018 Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects.
Out TV Atlanta, which ran from 1999-2000, was a half-hour weekly news and entertainment show focused on LGBTQ life that aired in Atlanta and Savannah. The show was supported financially by its creator, Michael B. Maloney, along with his family and friends. As producer of the show, Maloney saw that most press coverage of LGBTQ life involved night clubs and drag queens; he sought to widen media focus on “ordinary” gay people who were firefighters, attorneys, and regular members of the community. Events covered include Governor Roy Barnes’ address to the Atlanta Executive Network, a gay professional organization (the first in the state), the first gay pride parade in Savannah, political events, art exhibitions and performances, and much more.
Kathryn Michaelis, Digital Projects Coordinator, Digital Library Services, at Georgia State University notes: “We anticipate that the videos will be of interest to a wide variety of users, including researchers of LGBTQ and Atlanta history, members of the local and national LGBTQ community, media scholars, gender studies scholars, and the general public. The videos are unique primary sources that vividly document many aspects of LGBTQ life in Atlanta at the turn of the millennium. Once the videos are discoverable, they can be used for teaching, research, and entertainment, and could potentially be used by filmmakers for documentary purposes.”
Ryan Roemerman, Executive Director of the LGBT Institute of the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta,states: “We believe that Mr. Maloney’s groundbreaking work is of immense historic value. As the dawn of the new millennium approached, Mr. Maloney and his reporters were capturing events and preserving the moments that allow us to dig deeper into the cultural and emotional landscape for LGBTQ people at that time. The potential for use, especially amongst Georgia State University students, can provide young LGBTQ people today with a better understanding of a bygone era. These historic video recordings can convey what written words cannot always do, and are sure to be utilized in even greater numbers as time passes on.” Roemerman played an important role in facilitating the acquisition of the videos, directing Mr. Maloney to donate to the GSU Library’s Gender & Sexuality Collections.
About Georgia State University Library Special Collections
Located on the Atlanta campus, Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives collects and preserves unique and rare historical materials in selected subject areas. The department promotes the use of these materials by the Georgia State University community, scholars and the public. Its goal is to advance scholarship and to further the educational, research and service missions of the university. Visit Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives at https://library.gsu.edu/search-collections/special-collections-archives/
About the Digital Library of Georgia
Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia https://dlg.usg.edu is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia’s libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources. DLG also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper microfilming project.
