The oral history recording studio in the special collections libraries will bear the name of political historian Bob Short. The Cabinet approved the naming on April 26.
Short, who began his career in journalism, later coordinated Jimmy Carter’s Georgia gubernatorial campaign in 1966. He then worked as press secretary for Carter’s opponent in that race, Gov. Lester Maddox, in 1967 and 1968. The Georgia Writers Association named Short an author of the year in 2000 for his 1999 biography Everything is Pickrick: The Life of Lester Maddox.
In 2006, Short began a lecture and discussion program, Reflections on Georgia Politics, at Young Harris College. The following year, a partnership with UGA’s Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies began producing the program as an oral history video series.
“Reflections on Georgia Politics represents a tremendous historical resource,” said Sheryl Vogt, head of the Russell Library. “The Russell Library serves as the repository for the series, making decades of political history, strategy and stories of back-room-politics accessible to the public.”
The political library is one of three special collections housed in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, which opened earlier this year.
