Pandora yearbooks documenting pivotal years in the University of Georgia’s history now available freely online

The Pandora, the University of Georgia’s yearbook, has been published nearly every year since 1886, serving as a rich source of institutional and social history that has traced the growth and development of the country’s first state-chartered university. Through a partnership between the Hargrett Library, University Archives, and the Digital Library of Georgia, yearbooks that document campus life, students and faculty, clubs, and other events from 1965 to 1974 have been digitized, allowing free online access to Pandoras that document the years following desegregation and the first social movements for black students, women’s liberation, gay liberation, and campus free speech as they manifested themselves on the UGA campus. These editions are now available at https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/dlg_pandora.

“The Pandora is a record created by and for students, and it naturally presents their perspective first and foremost. Not all of their views reflect our institutional values today. Still, a number of students depicted in the Pandora at this time were striving to create a more inclusive and conscientious campus, as evidenced by their writings, photos, artwork, and images of protests. The yearbooks are a crucial document for capturing the early days of student dissent and activism that continues on campus to this day,” said Steve Armour, university archivist at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, one of three special collections units of the UGA Libraries.

College yearbooks can help people interested in genealogy research or sports history. They also play a role in documenting the history of UGA and, by extension, the state of Georgia and higher education in a broader sense. The project to digitize the 1965-1975 Pandoras expands the virtual collection of materials, including the first 50 years of publication, allowing alumni, other UGA community members, or anyone with interest to explore more than decades of UGA’s history online.

Larry Dendy, a UGA alumnus who worked in UGA’s Office of Public Affairs for 37 years (1972-2009) and wrote the book Through the Arch: An Illustrated Guide to the University of Georgia, published by UGA Press in 2013, noted that the time period was marked by university milestones as well as national trends.

“The decade of 1965-1975 was a critical period as the University dealt not only with national social and political upheavals but also with many major campus issues including enrollment increases, advances in research and academic quality, physical plant expansion, newfound athletic successes, and changing student attitudes and mores,” he said. “These and many more challenges and changes of this decade are documented by students themselves through their photos and narratives in Pandoras. Their perspective—whimsical, irreverent, ironic but often incisive—opens a revealing lens into the mood and mentality of college campuses in this time.”

Featured images:

Page 88 of the Pandora volume LXXXIV 1970 (page 92 of the pdf). Photograph of African American students at the University of Georgia, and part of a printed letter to Robert Benham, president of the Black Student Union at the University of Georgia, from Frederick C. Davison, president of the University of Georgia, addressing the student organization’s declaration of a moratorium on white racism. https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_pandora_pand1970 
Page 161 of the Pandora volume LXXXV 1971 (page 168 of the pdf). Students protesting the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970. https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_pandora_pand1971 

About Hargrett Library, University Archives 

The University of Georgia Archives preserves over two centuries of the University’s history in the form of official records, images, plans, publications, and artifacts. Their mission is to acquire, organize, preserve, and publicize such materials and to assist researchers in their use. Visit them at libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/. 

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Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) awards three Competitive Digitization service grants to Georgia cultural heritage institutions across the state

ATHENS, Ga. — Three institutions are recipients of the seventh set of service grants awarded in a program intended to broaden partner participation in the DLG. The DLG solicited proposals for historic digitization projects in a statewide call, and applicants submitted proposals for projects with a cost of up to $7,500.00. DLG staff will provide free digitization, scanning, and hosting services so that more of Georgia’s diverse history can be found online for free. This subgranting program was presented the 2018 Award for Excellence in Archival Program Development by a State Institution by the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC). 

The recipients and their projects include: 

Lee County Library (Leesburg, Ga.)

  • Digitization of the Lee County Library Local History Collection which contains print material dating from 1784-2000 that includes church histories, local Lee County history, and documentation of the 1994 Southwest Georgia flood.

Saint Paul’s Church (Augusta, Ga.) 

  • Description and hosting of the handwritten vestry minutes, parish and marriage registers, and commemorative materials of Saint Paul’s Church, Augusta’s oldest congregation founded in 1750.

Hargrett Library, University Archives 

  • Digitization of the University of Georgia’s Pandora yearbooks dating from 1965-1974, which include the aftermath of desegregation, the beginnings of the black student, the women’s liberation, the gay liberation, and the campus free speech movements.

Preference in the selection process was given to proposals from institutions that had not yet collaborated with the DLG. Saint Paul’s Church and the Lee County Library are both new partners for the DLG. Sheila McAlister, director of the Digital Library of Georgia notes: “Our latest slate of projects includes two new partners, a public library and a church archives. The projects document the history of Lee County, the activities of one of the oldest churches in Augusta, and student life at the University of Georgia during a period of enormous social change. With each new project, we’re able to illuminate more of the state’s history.” 

About the Lee County Library

The Lee County Library is a public library serving the Lee County, Georgia area. Learn more on their website at leecountylibrary.org/.

About Saint Paul’s Church 

Saint Paul’s Church is a community of people committed to the service and worship of Jesus Christ in their current location for over 250 years.  With their roots deeply embedded in the city of Augusta and the surrounding area they “seek and serve Christ in all persons.”  They are also rooted in their Anglican (Church of England) heritage and are an integral part of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. Visit their web site at www.saintpauls.org/.

About Hargrett Library, University Archives

The University of Georgia Archives preserves over two centuries of the University’s history in the form of official records, images, plans, publications, and artifacts. Their mission is to acquire, organize, preserve, and publicize such materials and to assist researchers in their use. Visit them at libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/.

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