What’s New at the GSU Zach S. Henderson Library

A rather plain-looking light rocker, backed and seated with woven cane, is now located in the Special Collections reading room. When it was first donated, by Dr. Robert M. Benson, Jr., it was in seriously damaged condition, the seat broken and some parts only a bundle of sticks. But carpenter Leroy Whitley of Physical Plant, with some help from Terry Hart and Michael Waters, restored it to intactness. It is still not for sitting, though.

The chair’s provenance makes it interesting. Bulloch County native R.J.H. DeLoach (1873-1964), after stints as principal of Statesboro High (1903-1905) and a botanist at the University of Georgia, had by 1917 become the Director of Agricultural Research at Armour and Company in Chicago. During this time he was a member of an exclusive club of a handful of intellectuals and businessmen known as the Vagabond Club. The group went on upscale camping trips across the North American Continent. His camping buddies included Harvey Firestone, John Burroughs, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. It was Ford who gave him this chair, ca. 1930. Ford occasionally visited DeLoach at his home on Savannah Avenue. Neighbors said they always knew when the generous Ford had been to town, because a new Ford car stood in the DeLoach driveway afterwards. Professor DeLoach began teaching Economics in 1932 at South Georgia Teachers College. He ended his career here in 1943. The chair was among items bought at an estate sale by Robert Benson, Sr. after Professor DeLoach’s death.

The Vagabond Club:  Professor DeLoach sitting at bottom of waterwheel, & above (l-r), Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Jr., John Burroughs, Henry Ford, & Harvey Firestone, Sr.

This article was contributed by Marvin Goss, Head of Special Collections.  Photographs of the chair are by Steve Hooley, Technical Support Specialist.

As we had announced, yesterday we held the launch party for EagleSpace and the Waddie Welcome Archive.  A roomful of people, many of them students, were here to learn more about Mr. Welcome and the collection of murals and other hand-painted signs representing Savannah community artwork.  The exhibit on the first floor of Henderson Library includes some actual signs, as well as photographs of others and accompanying explanations.

So what is EagleSpace, you ask?  Some of you are already familiar with the idea of institutional repositories, which are free online archives (see some frequently asked questions about IR’s here).  EagleSpace, which uses the DSpace software, is Georgia Southern’s new repository.  Now, in our soft launch, you can access EagleSpace at http://eaglespace.georgiasouthern.edu (the main URL will stay the same, although the links to the individual collections & items might change soon with a new server).  Try searching for “waddie welcome” and then browsing the collection by title to see the images.  (There are more images being added, so keep an eye on it!)  EagleSpace is Georgia Southern’s component of a statewide project, the GALILEO Knowledge Repository, or GKR, which is in its early stages.  (Sneak a peek here!)  The repository can be used to archive, and make freely accessible, our electronic theses and dissertations, faculty publications, multimedia files, etc., in order to provide seamless access to the digital intellectual product of the University System of Georgia.

Stay tuned for future developments, including discussion forums here on the Georgia Southern campus.

Come join us to celebrate Henderson Library’s newest acquisition!

The Waddie Welcome Archive is a photographic archive of hand-painted African American signs from Savannah, Georgia. The archive will be housed in Special Collections at Georgia Southern and online with the new EagleSpace database.

Authors and photographers Tom Kohler and Susan Earl will be present to talk about their photographs and their book Waddie Welcome and the Beloved Community. An exhibit accompanies the talk. Refreshments served.

Thursday, April 30, 4 PM

Library Exhibition Room, 1st floor

(through the main entrance and up the stairs past the main desk,

returning to the first floor from inside the security gates)

Contact: Robert Batchelor, batchelo@georgiasouthern.edu

Dr. Karl E. Peace has donated the papers of his late wife, Dr. Jiann-Ping Hsu, for whom the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health is named, to Henderson Library’s Special Collections.

Dr. Hsu (1947-2004) was born in China. She received her initial degree in Mathematics at National Taiwan University, her Master’s degree at Columbia University, and her Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. She conducted tests on the effects of new drugs for the US Food and Drug Administration and for such firms as SmithKline and French Labs and Parke-Davis. She was a member of many organizations in the field of pharmaceuticals and public health and was posthumously awarded the President’s Medal for outstanding contributions to the International Chinese Statistical Association, 2004. For more information about her, consult this website.

The collection consists of handouts, examinations, and class notes from courses in Biostatistics, especially at University of California, Berkeley, 1972-1976; data on tests performed at U.S. Food and Drug Administration on such new drugs as Desyrel, Halcion, Lopid, Tagamet, and Zantac; other tests performed at SmithKline & French Labs, Parke-Davis, and Schering-Plough Corp.; and some publications by and about Dr. Hsu, including her doctoral dissertation (Berkeley, 1977).

The inventory of the papers is available on request; for a bibliography of other publications by Dr. Hsu’s publications, please visit the Karl E. Peace Library website.

Brought to you by Marvin Goss, Special Collections Department Head.

On October 29th, a painting by local artist Elaine Wheeler Chambers was unveiled in the reading room of Special Collections, where it now hangs on the 4th floor of the Zach S. Henderson Library.  Later, on November 11th,  it was exhibited at the Veterans Day celebration at the Emma Kelly Theater. This painting shows three veterans of World War II who became professors here at Georgia Southern, done from photos of the three during the War.  These are Dr. Kemp Mabry (1925-2007), Professor of Education; Roxie Remley, Professor of Art; and Dr. Georgia Watson (1912-1993), Professor of Psychology.  Ms. Remley was present and spoke of her experiences as a member, like Dr. Watson, of the Women’s Army Corps in England.

–Brought to you by Marvin Goss, Special Collections Department Head.

Here’s a handy guide for you!  This is the information from the signs we’ve posted around the building.  When in doubt, please ask!  The main places to get help are on the 2nd floor, at the Learning Commons desk (near the computers; ask here for help with research or computing, or chat with a librarian here) or the Circulation/Reserves desk (near the Learning Commons Desk; come here to check out books and reserve items, and to pick up items from the ARC or interlibrary loan).

ZACH S. HENDERSON LIBRARY DIRECTORY

Public computers are available on all floors except fourth, and wireless connectivity is available on all floors.

FIRST FLOOR

Center for Excellence in Teaching

Classrooms 1300, 1302, 1308

Group Study Rooms

Government Documents Collection – Assistance available 2^nd floor

Microform Reader/Printers

Magazines, Journals & Periodicals from 2000 to the present

Photocopiers

Presentation Practice Room

SECOND FLOOR

ADA Adaptive Technology

Microform Reader/Printers

New Books and Leisure Reading Collection

Newspapers

Photocopiers

Zach’s Brews Coffee Shop

Circulation and Reserve Desk: Check out or return books, laptop computers,

reserve readings

Information Technology Services Help Desk

Reference and Learning Commons Desk: Computers; multimedia production

Equipment; reference materials; Government Documents, research and production assistance; scanners and Scantron readers

Department Offices:

Access Services – Circulation, Reserves, Interlibrary Loan, Shelving

Collection and Resources Services – Ordering, Cataloging, Materials

Processing

Information Services – Reference, Government Documents

Information Technology Services Help Desk Personnel

Systems – Computer Maintenance

THIRD FLOOR

Quiet Study Only: No group studying or cell phone use except in group study rooms

Circulating Books: K-Z call numbers

Group Study Rooms

Library Administration

FOURTH FLOOR

Quiet Study Only: No group studying or cell phone use except in group study rooms

Circulating Books: A-J call numbers

George Burford Lorimer Reading Room

Group Study Rooms

Special Collections

In the interest of your safety, security cameras survey public areas and emergency intercoms are located near the public elevators.

Walter Harrison of Millen (1899-1985) became involved in the Rural Electrification Administration (REA; now a part of USDA Rural Development) as soon as it began in Georgia in 1936, at a time when the idea of providing electric power for all rural areas seemed unthinkable. “A lot of folks thought we were selling lightning rods,” he recalled in later years. Only 1 percent of Georgia farms had electricity, and it was not in the interest of private power companies to extend their lines to remote and lightly populated regions. By the time Harrison retired in 1975, 99 percent of rural households had power and 95 percent had telephones. But Harrison’s REA activities were hardly confined to the local or state level. He served on the Board of Directors of the national REA organization for over 30 years and as President twice.

But as great as Harrison’s contribution was to REA, that alone does not encompass him. His REA papers reside in 19 boxes of a collection that reaches 65 boxes. The first series, “Local and Personal,” is contained in 24 boxes. These papers cover his activities as an important citizen of Millen, Jenkins County, and Georgia. He was mayor of Millen from 1930-1950, and during those years and later, he was involved with local organizations such as the American Legion, the Board of Health, the Boy Scouts, the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, the County Commission, the Georgia Baby Chick Association (predecessor to the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network), the Georgia Forestry Association, the hospital, the library, the Red Cross … and many other groups.  He was for decades the editor of the Millen News.  He was the moving force behind the establishment of Magnolia Springs as a state park.  On a statewide level, he served in the State Senate for 8 years, in the House for 14.  During these years in Atlanta, he formed relationships (attested by extensive correspondence) with US Senators George, Nunn, Russell, and Talmadge; both Governors Talmadge, as well as Griffin, Sanders, Harris (and fellow-Millenite Melvin E. Thompson), and various members of Congress, mayors, and commissioners from around the state.

The collection also contains lengthy records of the aspects of the Walter Harrison Company in Millen: loans, insurance and real estate. Other series cover his long involvement with the Methodist Church and Rotary International, on local, state and national levels.

Harrison was in many ways a man larger than life, and his papers illuminate a large and important part of the history of his times.

(Brought to you by Marvin Goss, Special Collections Department Head.  Thanks to Marvin for coordinating and completing this major project!  Thanks also to Steve Hooley, Technical Support Specialist, for the screen captures on this page, which are from the video “Walter Harrison:  A Great Georgian,” Georgia Center for Continuing Education, 1980, also in our Special Collections.)