Bridging Communities

50 Years of Collecting at Georgia State University

Greetings. We’re here…as they say, to do our thing. Which being: to bitch and badger, carp and cry, and perhaps give Atlanta (and its environs, ‘cause we’re growing, baby) a bit of honest and interesting, and we trust, even readable journalism.”

Tom Coffin, Vol. 1, Issue 1 The Great Speckled Bird

Media serves as a first draft of history, recording and making sense of events as they happen. Local media outlets offer a unique opportunity for individuals to report, record, and express their opinions on events affecting their communities. Community-based media outlets can articulate interesting counternarratives, reflecting conflicts and unique local interests that would otherwise be lost in the broader stories of history. 

From its beginnings, Special Collections acquired community-based publications. In the twenty-first century, we began to digitize our media holdings and make them available anywhere. The voices of these individuals who reported, recorded, and expressed their opinions are an important part of our collections. They help us to understand how events affected people, and how communication formed communities.