Tuesday, January 25, 2011

GSU Library awarded grant to digitize PATCO records

The decertification of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) stands as a watershed in American labor history, continuing to inform labor-management relations in the United States to this day. Researchers interested in studying PATCO’s records will soon have access to them online.

The National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has awarded a grant in the amount of $90,000 to Georgia State University Library to digitize portions of this controversial union’s records and make them available online. The PATCO records are already part of Georgia State’s Southern Labor Archives. Work on the project is expected to take approximately 20 months; at its completion, all scanned documentation (about 179,000 pages of text) will be searchable, for free. The project will begin in April 2011.

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) spent the 1970s struggling to improve the American air traffic control system and the working conditions of its members. When numerous bruising negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration could not provide an adequate response to their needs, the union, under more aggressive leadership, went on strike Aug. 3, 1981. Despite receiving PATCO’s support during his election bid, President Ronald Reagan responded to the strike by firing more than 11,000 air traffic controllers and decertifying the union.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission, a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration, supports a wide range of activities to preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, created in every medium ranging from quill pen to computer, relating to the history of the United States.

Digitizing the PATCO records is part of Georgia State University Library’s ongoing effort to redefine itself, providing numerous resources, quality assistance, modern technology and a welcoming setting.

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Clayton State Genealogy Group to Meet February 6

The Clayton State University Genealogy Group’s next meeting will be on Sunday, Feb.6, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., in room 200 of the Clayton State Library.

This year’s theme for the group is "Back to the Beginning." January was an organizational meeting, February will look at the census, and March will be Family Search research with a field trip to the LDS Family History Center on Lake Jodeco Road in Jonesboro.

“Census Records: Why, How, Where, What” will be the topic of the meeting Feb. 6. The workshop will answer the following census questions:

Why start genealogy with the census?
What census records are on microfilm or digital?
Why search for the family in every census?
What information is available on the census record?
Where does the researcher find census records?
How does the researcher locate a person or family?

Interested parties should bring a laptop.

Membership in the group and all workshops are free. For more information, including times of the remaining meetings, contact Selma Blackmon at selmajoey@yahoo.com. Her contact phone number is (770) 931.2609.


A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. 

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Saturday, January 22, 2011

History with Elizabeth at the Carnegie in Downtown Newnan

Please join us on Wednesday, January 26th at 10 a.m. for the very popular History with Elizabeth series. This month’s topic is R.D. Cole Replica Street Lights Donor Program Downtown Newnan Streetscapes.

A fourth generation Coweta Countian, Elizabeth is a descendant of early settlers. Proud of her heritage and always imbued with a strong sense of history, Ms. Beers has been actively involved in various professional, civic, community, church, and historical organizations. With her knowledge of the county and its people, she is a resource person, and has become known as the "unofficial local historian."

Please call the Carnegie at 770-683-1347 to reserve a spot today and visit www.newnancarnegie.com for a complete calendar of events.

About the Carnegie

Carnegie is one of the most historically significant structures in downtown Newnan and was built in 1904. The building served as a library until 1987 when a new facility was constructed on Hospital Road. With its iconic lighted sign that states the ‘City of Homes’ on top of the building, citizens recognize the Carnegie when they drive through historic downtown.

The Carnegie was funded by the city of Newnan’s General Fund and partly by 2007 Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). The Carnegie’s cost to be renovated was over $1.5 million dollars to the city. For more information on the Carnegie, please visit www.newnancarnegie.com or email amapel@cityofnewnan.org

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Nixon Foundation Releases Book About the Historic Meeting of the President and the King

/PRNewswire/ -- The Day Elvis Met Nixon, a first hand account of Elvis Presley's historic meeting with President Nixon, has just been published by the Richard Nixon Foundation and is now available online (http://store.nixonfoundation.org).

Released on the eve of Elvis's 76th (January 8) and President Nixon's 98th (January 9) birthdays, the book is a trove of rare photos, original documents, and anecdotes from the December 21, 1970 encounter presented in a fun and interactive way for readers of all ages.

Told through the eyes of Egil "Bud" Krogh, White House aide and liaison to the Drug Enforcement Administration, The Day Elvis Met Nixon recounts the surprise of White House staffers when the King of Rock-n-Roll appeared at the front gates of the Executive Mansion to deliver a handwritten letter to the President.

For Elvis, the goal of the meeting was to receive a badge and credentials from the DEA as a "Federal Agent at Large," contending that he could use his popularity among the youth to curb the nation's narcotics epidemic.

Krogh tells how the Elvis meeting request moved up the White House chain of command, how it was approved, and how he arranged an agenda on such short notice.

At the meeting, Elvis presented the President with a gift, a silver-plated Colt 45 gun and bullets now on display at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. Later the same afternoon, he received his badge from the DEA.

Today, the Oval Office photo of President Nixon and Elvis Presley continues to be the most requested photo from the National Archives.

"The meeting between Elvis and President Nixon remains in my mind the most novel and interesting," writes Krogh. "While these two men came from totally different backgrounds, they tried to find ways to cooperate in responding to one of the most severe problems."

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