Fort Valley State University News August 15, 2012 FVSU to house Georgia Association of Historians archives Dr. Fred van Hartesveldt, chair of the department of history, geography, political science and criminal justice, received welcomed news recently. He learned that Fort Valley State University had won a bid to house the records for a well-respected group of state scholars. The Georgia Association of Historians, a professional organization for historical researchers, will maintain its archival records and Journal of the GAH in a repository housed in Hunt Memorial Library's third floor. The group's web presence will also be hosted on the university's computer servers and a link to its journal publication will be available on the front page of FVSU's library website. "This good news recognizes something that we've known for a long time: FVSU has one of the best and most committed history faculties in the Southeast," said FVSU President Larry E. Rivers. "Plus, we are happy to continue and expand upon our longtime working partnership with the Georgia Association of Historians." "This is a valuable step in our efforts to make FVSU a center for historical study," said van Hartesveldt. "It will complement the Middle Georgia Oral History Project, which we expect to make some major steps this year also. I think that the journal's relocation to FVSU moves our campus even further into the mainstream of historical scholarship. It will also give both students and faculty in other locations an introduction to FVSU and the research we do here." The Journal of the GAH and its archives were formerly housed at Columbus State University. This year, CSU told the organization that they were unable to host the journal. In June, the GAH allowed other college campuses to submit bids to become the organization's new home. Earlier this summer, van Hartesveldt, who is a co-editor for the journal, carefully prepared FVSU's proposal outlining a possible budget, a description of the university's facilities and resources, and a letter from former Hunt Memorial Library's director, Dr. Annie Payton, describing the library's participation. "The organization looked at the various bids and said ours was best," said van Hartesveldt. In addition, the university's administration promised a $15,000 stipend for a graduate assistant who will oversee, organize, digitize and catalogue the journal's records. The tenured professor believes that the journal will be a beneficial tool to recruit graduate students to FVSU's master's degree program in history that began in fall 2011. "If you say this is the university where the [GAH] journal is done, then it will be an attractive bit of professional activity if you're looking for a school that is making some difference in the profession," he said. GAH's membership includes university professors, archivists, librarians, journalists and graduate students that pursue historical scholarship, research and study. To maintain an Atlanta presence, GAH's administrative offices will be housed at Kennesaw State University. For more information about the program, contact the Office of History, Geography, Political Science and Criminal Justice at (478) 825-6230. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.