 Josephine Mellichamp Georgiana Research Papers
Collection DescriptionBiographical NoteJosephine Mellichamp (September 30, 1923-October 11, 1988) began collecting materials related to Georgia during her career as a reference librarian at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In the mid 1970s, she received a book contract with Strode Publishing in Alabama to write an anecdotal history of Georgia senators, titled Senators from Georgia and published in 1976. In 1977, Mellichamp began research for her next project, "Georgia Heritage" (also with Strode). Mellichamp and her publisher envisioned an anecdotal overview of people, events, and institutions in Georgia that included a variety of photographs and quickly grew to hundreds of pages and images. By 1983, Mellichamp, at the prompting of Strode, began efforts to trim the manuscript down to a manageable, publishable size and identify sections of the manuscript to market as individual articles or as kernels of other books. In the fall of 1984, Strode Publishing offices' burned and the business, which had been bought out by another firm, ceased publishing. Mellichamp continued working on drafts and other related projects until her death on October 11, 1988 but her sizable manuscript remained unpublished. During these writing projects, Mellichamp amassed an enormous collection of books, articles, news clippings, photographs, and ephemera relating to the history of individuals, places, and institutions in Georgia. Scope and ContentThe Josephine Mellichamp Georgiana Research Papers consist of clippings, printed material, manuscripts, photographs, and correspondence, and ephemera. This collection documents a broad range of events, activities, people and places in the state of Georgia from the earliest Native American settlements through the early 1980s and specifically, the history of Senators in Georgia through the late 1970s. The majority of the material draws from popular secondary sources such as news clippings and chamber of commerce brochures and pamphlets and published articles. Strengths of the papers include broad documentation of Georgia history and culture through clippings, articles, and photographs and should serve as good ready reference for researchers studying Georgiana. Drafts and research materials for her book Senators from Georgia provide a secondary information on the careers of Georgia senators. The drafts of "Georgia Heritage "contained in these papers may be the only extant copies of the manuscript since the material was never published. There is a collection of published books that are also part of this collection. Organization and ArrangementThe papers are organized into three series: I. General Subjects, II. Photographs, and III. Personal files. A bibliography of these books follows after the series descriptions and before the container list. It is important to note that Mellichamp's method of arrangement for her materials was idiosyncratic. She organized materials alphabetically under one subject heading but also gathered similar materials under different headings. For example, information or photographs of a church may be filed under the specific name of the church, under the religious group with which it is associated or, under the heading "churches." The subject headings listed in the finding aid should assist patrons in navigating this order of arrangement adopted by Mellichamp. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationJosephine Mellicahmp Georgiana Research Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641. User RestrictionsLibrary acts as "fair use" reproduction agent. Copyright InformationBefore material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: September 2008. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this Repository
Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection Related Collections in Other RepositoriesVertical File, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia | ||||||||||||||||||||