Online Exhibits

Georgia State University Library, Special Collections & Archives

This exhibit explores the history and legacy of Atlanta’s pioneering underground weekly newspaper, The Great Speckled Bird (1968-1976). The paper was launched in 1968, a year of protests and political contestation around the globe. In Atlanta, the founders of the paper felt it necessary to create an outlet for news that presented a point of view unavailable in the city’s other media platforms. The Bird served as a clearinghouse for information about and as a call to action for the interconnected social movements of the…

The Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, chartered in 1898, was the first nursing school in Georgia and served as a cornerstone to the education and training of nurses in the region and across the United States. In 1917 the Municipal Training School for Colored Nurses at Grady was chartered, providing nursing education to black nursing students. These two programs were integrated in September 1964. During its tenure of 84 years, the School trained over 4,000 nurses as it grew and developed along with the…

Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern preserves the organic archive of Atlanta’s political left that has been inscribed on the walls of this local restaurant and bar over the past half century.

Atlanta, originally named Terminus, has a profound history which is extensively intertwined with transit. This project visualizes how the city's public transit system, now a shadow of what it once was, falls short of its far-reaching intentions. By highlighting the routes which have been proposed in the development of these systems, this project aims to contribute to larger discussions taking place around the topic of public transit in Atlanta. 

The Sprawling of Atlanta digital project invites the public to visualize the extensive built environment and demographic changes that have occurred throughout the metropolitan region from 1940 to the present. The project offers georeferenced and stitched together aerial imagery overlays of the five core metropolitan counties (Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton) with one aerial mosaic layer for each decade beginning with 1940. Additionally, our project incorporates census tract-level data from Atlanta Regional Commission’s annual Population and Housing estimates and from the Census Bureau’s Decennial…

This exhibit documents the history of radio broadcasting in the state of Georgia over a 50 year period from its inception in 1922 through the 1970s. Content and materials used in this exhibit were taken from the Radio Broadcasting Collections housed in the Special Collections and Archives at the Georgia State University Library and from the collections at the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

This exhibit highlights the parts of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ history that are most fully documented by the collections currently in our custody. The Gender and Sexuality Collections at Georgia State University have grown rapidly since the first donation in 2011. Currently, the manuscript collections measure over 550 linear feet. An extensive periodical collection with over 670 titles includes more than 8,700 individual items, and almost 3,000 books have been donated. Further, 110 oral histories have been conducted by GSU staff and volunteers and 46 interviews have…

This exhibit is a collaboration between Georgia State University Library and the Student Innovation Fellowship to digitally preserve the histories, aesthetics, and experiences of Kell Hall and to commemorate its place in the history of Georgia State University. You can browse the collections of digital items we've gathered, read about Kell Hall's history, and even take a virtual tour of the building.

This exhibit commemorates the legacy of Johnny Mercer.  Even if you’re not aware of it, you’re probably already familiar with the music of Johnny Mercer. His songs, with their wide range of musical styles, have been heard by millions of people all over the world on recordings, radio programs, films, television programs, and Broadway shows throughout the past century.

This online exhibit is a repurposing of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum's 2014 exhibition. It examines some historic challenges of the past 120 years in achieving health equity for all in the U.S. This exhibit is an evolving, on-going project with input, research and up-dates from GSU students and faculty as lesson plans and curriculum related to the exhibit content are developed and implemented

The Women’s Collections at Georgia State University seek to tell the stories of women who fought for equal treatment in all aspects of society. This exhibit features the century-long fight for equality in women’s sports, the legislative action required to achieve it, and the controversy that still surrounds it today.  

The Library’s Special Collections and Archives launched formally in 1971, with a mission to collect rare and unique primary source material to support teaching and scholarship.  Our first collections directly engaged the research needs of our faculty and students focusing on the people, communities, and events that shaped modern-day Atlanta, Georgia, and the New South. This focus on documenting the sometimes contentious, too often racist and sexist, but always fascinating story of modern-day Atlanta has led us to seek out and preserve the stories of everyday…

A Race Against Time features photographs and negatives from Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers, Tracy W. O’Neal, Ernest G. Welch, Tom Coffin, David Lennox, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archives. These visual treasures document daily life in Atlanta and the region during the twentieth century. The exhibit also explores the challenges of preserving photographic prints, negatives, and born-digital materials in ever-changing formats. Over time, these unique images deteriorate, endangering our ability to provide access to the unique information about the many facets of public and private life as well…