The University of Georgia Press and New Georgia Encyclopedia: A Collaboration of Like Minds

It's Day 1 of the American Association of University Press Week Blog Tour, and we'd like to start by applauding our friends at Duke University Press for their new book, THE MUTLISPECIES SALON, and how it epitomizes this week's theme—collaboration. In this new approach to writing culture, editor Eben Kirksey creates an anthology that brings together analyses of insects, animals, fungi, microbes, and humans with strands of economic, political, and social life. More information on the book can be found here, and there's also an outstanding companion site in the transmedia collection that's definitely worth checking out.

Roughly 350 miles away from Durham in Athens, Georgia, the spirit of collaboration is alive and well here at the University of Georgia Press. The primary mission of the UGA Press is to support and enhance the University of Georgia's place as a major research institution by publishing outstanding works of scholarship and literature by scholars and writers throughout the world. But in order to ensure knowledge was available to expand upon, the New Georgia Encyclopedia was born. Now this year, for AAUP Week, the encyclopedia is being acclaimed as a groundbreaking collaboration to make knowledge accessible to all.

On February 12, 2004 (aptly Georgia History Day) the New Georgia Encyclopedia launched with a virtual ribbon cutting ceremony.  What started with only 700 entries has grown into a scholarly monolith of the state's history, with over 2,000 articles and over 6,000 images.  It is the first state encyclopedia to to be conceived and designed exclusively for publication online, and it is the product of unification between The Georgia Humanities Council, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, the Office of the Governor, and the Press.

Though the content is exclusively digital, the award-wining encyclopedia has published two books with the Press to supplement the knowledge of Georgia history. In 2007, THE NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA COMPANION TO GEORGIA LITERATURE was published by the Press, and the anthology (which contains articles originally published online) collects biographical profiles of Georgia writers to highlight the state's literary contributions.

In 2011, THE CIVIL WAR IN GEORGIA: A NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA COMPANION was published, also by the Press. Edited by John C. Inscoe, editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, this groundbreaking work draws attention to the war's legacy, as well as originally published online articles that cover the prelude to the war and the war's years.

Director of the Press, Lisa Bayer, said, "The New Georgia Encyclopedia has become so deeply embedded in the ways in which Georgians of all ages (and people everywhere) learn about our state that I sometimes think we take it for granted. Where else can you find well-organized, vetted, expert information along with images, references, and crosslinking for free? We should be very, very proud—and supportive—of this amazing resource, which shares the rich history of our state with our world."

Kelly Caudle, project director and managing editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, elaborated on on how each compliments the other. "The NGE and the Press are natural partners, each doing its part to make the best scholarship on Georgia available to the academic community as well as the larger public," she said. "With a scholarly credibility endowed by the Press partnership, the NGE attracts a wide audience of readers curious about Georgia's stories—and in turn the NGE sends users straight to the authoritative source behind the entries: UGA Press books. It's been a mutually supportive partnership."

If you have any comments or are interested in learning more about the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the Press, or University Press Week, tweet to us at @UGAPress or talk to us on Facebook at the University of Georgia Press using the hashtag #upweek.

Short Takes

In a special Memorial Day episode, BackStory with the American History Guys explores Americans’ changing attitudes about death: historian Drew Gilpin Faust talks about how the Civil War altered the American way of dying; writer Kate Sweeney explores the 20th Century shift toward private, restrained mourning; and our own Ed Ayers tours Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery — and discovers his own gravesite. (Kate Sweeney talks about her book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, in the first segment.)


In a recent interview with Connect Savannah, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Sites for the Telfair Museums Tania Sammons says, "Most people associate slavery with rural environments and plantations. The truth is that slavery existed all over the Americas." More of this is addressed in the new book, SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH, that we published in partnership with the Telfair Museums. Sammons was also on WTOC's "Mid-Morning Live" last week to discuss SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH (book and exhibition), as well as some upcoming events. Watch the video here.

The Journal of Southern History calls Erica L. Ball's TO LIVE AN ANTISLAVERY LIFE a "gem of a book," while the Civil War Book Review claims that it has "critically filled a large gap in African American studies with deep research and elegant writing."

The Civil War Monitor recommends James Marten's AMERICA'S CORPORAL. "History enthusiasts whose interests have been confined to the Civil War years would do well to read this short book, for it shows how the conflict continued to affect America—and especially her veterans—for decades after the last shot was fired."

In A LATE ENCOUNTER WITH THE CIVIL WAR, "Michael Kreyling offers a probing examination of the complex ways Americans have grappled with the memory and meaning of the Civil War," according to the Civil War Book Review. "[N]o scholar with an interest in the war or the contours of American historical memory can afford to miss an encounter with this book."


Did you miss the "Exuberant, Elegant & Alive Old Louisville Homes Tour" of 10 sites included in David Domine's book, OLD LOUISVILLE? The tour was part of a benefit for the Conrad-Caldwell House in Louisville, KY. If you missed the event but are in the area, be sure to check out the "America’s Most Exuberant Neighborhood Tour," sponsored by the Old Louisville Information Center in Central Park. The tour is offered daily at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm; allow approximately 90 minutes for this walking tour. Cost: $20 per person. This tour stops in front of many of the homes featured in OLD LOUISVILLE. More information is available here.

Comparative Education Review offers a positve review of Marc Sommers's STUCK:

Marc Sommers’s account of the concerns and struggles of out-of-school youth opens a new vista into the lives of rural and urban youth in Rwanda. . . . The study constitutes a significant contribution to the international community’s understanding of the lives of “stuck” youth in this tiny but significant East African country. The challenges presented by a disaffected and underserved youthful majority are not exclusive to Rwanda. The results of Sommers’s work raise real concerns for continuing peace in Rwanda, as the challenges posed by an unsettled and desperate youth underclass threaten to derail the progress that has been achieved there since the end of the war and the genocide.

Congratulations, Larry B. Dendy! His book, THROUGH THE ARCH, is the recipient of a 2014 Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Preservation Award for Outstanding Publication or Program. This category honors outstanding publications, in the field of preservation and/or history, possessing a high degree of graphic design integrity and/or wide use or impact are also recognized by this award. The foundation’s award program has been recognizing Athenians for excellence in historic preservation since it was founded in 1967. All award winners will be recognized at the 45th Annual Preservation Awards on Monday, June 2nd at The Morton Theatre.

Announcing the New Perspectives on the Civil War series

The University of Georgia Press is pleased to launch a new series on the American Civil War. New Perspectives on the Civil War is dedicated to the publication of primary sources of the Civil War era from a wide diversity of perspectives—respecting the soldier’s voice, but not privileging it over every other voice.

Much like the UnCivil Wars series which focuses on unconventional social types and less mainstream history, books in the New Perspectives on the Civil War series will highlight the many diverse voices from the Civil War era that need to be heard. Soldiers, civilians on the home front, slaves, political officials, government bureaucrats, newspaper correspondents, diplomats, and foreign observers all have a particular insight and deserve to have their stories told. The series will also seek to broaden the period of study beyond the 1861-1865 timeframe, recognizing that the attitudes that led to the war began years before the first shots were fired, and the repercussions of the war continued long after the surrender at Appomattox.

Through its unique approach on a popular topic, the books in the series will appeal to both scholars and general readers interested in the Civil War. The series will include a digital component to provide an enhanced experience for each volume to make them more appealing for classroom adoption.

Series editor Judkin Browning has a clear editorial policy. “All books will have introductions that place the letters in context, clear editorial methods, comprehensive annotations, full bibliographies, and intuitive indexes,” says Browning. “This will provide both consistency and high quality and set a level of excellence that scholars and general readers will come to expect.”

Series editor:
Judkin Browning is associate professor of history at Appalachian State University. He is the author of Shifting Loyalties: The Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina and The Southern Mind Under Union Rule: The Diary of James Rumley, Beaufort, North Carolina, 1862-1865.

Contact info:
Judkin Browning: browningjj@appstate.edu

To inquire about publishing in the series, please contact:
Mick Gusinde-Duffy, editor-in-chief, the University of Georgia Press
mgd@ugapress.uga.edu

UGA Press
Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the oldest and largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 26 publishing professionals, the press currently publishes 60-70 new books a year and has more than 1,800 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of food studies, geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies. For more information on UGA Press, see www.ugapress.org/

Spring 2014 Sneak Peek

As we mark the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, scholars continue to shed new light on the Civil War and its effects. The New York Times Disunion blog, for example, regularly hosts posts that include first-person accounts of the war. In a recent post for the blog, Megan Kate Nelson, author of RUIN NATION, shares the plight of Napoleon Perkins, a young Union soldier, who, like tens of thousands of other soldiers, lost a leg as a direct result of the war. During the nineteenth-century, men lost more than a limb when faced with amputation.

[M]any Union and Confederate soldiers recoiled at the thought of amputation. Mid-19th-century gender conventions invested a great deal of meaning in the whole white male body; the loss of an arm or leg, they well knew, would result in the loss of masculinity, and of status and power. . . . As Perkins and other veteran amputees recovered from their surgeries, they had to renegotiate their place in society. Could a veteran amputee woo women, marry, procreate and work to support his family? During a time in which citizenship was seen as 'embodied' in adult white males, could an amputee be considered a full citizen?

Joining Perkins in this new life was Union Army corporal, James R. Tanner. Tanner is the subject of a book coming out next spring: AMERICA'S CORPORAL: JAMES TANNER IN WAR AND PEACE by James Marten. Perhaps the most famous nineteenth-century American that almost no one has heard of, Civil War corporal James Tanner fought at the Second Battle at Manassas, was injured, and lost both of his legs above the knees. He later served as stenographer at Abraham Lincoln's deathbed. AMERICA'S CORPORAL is both a biography of James Tanner, as well as a historiography of the Civil War. The book looks at the life of Corporal Tanner, his humble beginnings, unfortunate tragedy, impressive fortitude, and the controversy and accomplishment of his long-lived career.

This injured Civil War vet became an early advocat and public speaker for veterans' rights. AMERICA'S CORPORAL is crucial as an examination of the dynamics of disability, the reinvention of Tanner and the crafting of a cultural image, his work for veterans’ causes, the culture and politics of the Gilded Age, and a look at the aftereffects of the Civil War, including the philosophical and psychological changes that it prompted. Tanner is a prominent and influential, but often overlooked, figure.

AMERICA'S CORPORAL will be joining Nelson's RUIN NATION and Stephen Berry's WEIRDING THE WAR in the UnCivil Wars series. UnCivil Wars is a series dedicated to new ways of seeing and telling the American Civil War.