ATLANTA, July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The AUC Woodruff
Library is the proud custodian of the Shirley Clarke Franklin Collection. The
collection represents the professional life of a two-term Mayor of
one of the largest cities in the American South. It includes a
photographic history of Atlanta
from the 1970s to 2010, audiovisual materials documenting news
coverage and recordings of Shirley
Franklin during her tenure as Mayor, artwork, mayoral
records, campaign ephemera, materials related to Atlanta's bid for the Olympics, and Franklin's
personal papers, which characterizes her life and work as a private
citizen.
"I am humbled by the Library's interest in my collection of
papers and it is my honor to make this donation," said Shirley Clarke Franklin, Former Mayor,
City of Atlanta.
Franklin's archival collection chronicles major events and
political milestones in the city's history, including the
acquisition of the Morehouse College
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers, the Creation of the Atlanta
Beltline, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the
1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Notable figures throughout the collection include Ambassador
Andrew Young, Governor Roy Barnes Jim, Congressman John Lewis, Coretta
Scott King, the Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, Senator Wyche Fowler, and President Jimmy Carter. This substantial collection
supports research of Atlanta's
History, African American Studies, Gender Studies, and Georgia
Politics.
"We are absolutely thrilled to receive the Honorable Shirley
Clarke Franklin's collection. AUC students and scholars globally
will be able to analyze first-hand accounts of her contributions to
Atlanta's political history and
municipal operations, and to U.S. domestic politics. The
collection will offer researchers around the world a rare insight
into the inner workings of the City of
Atlanta and the impactful, innovative leadership she brought
to the Office of the Mayor," said Loretta
Parham, CEO & Director, AUC Woodruff Library.
Shirley Clarke Franklin was
elected the first African American woman mayor of a major southern
city in November 2001. She went on to
serve two terms as the mayor of Atlanta and has an outstanding legacy of civil
service, activism, and leadership. She has a deep interest in the
social sciences, art, and the preservation and access of history.
Before serving as mayor, she served as Atlanta's second Commissioner of Cultural
Affairs, launching the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Hartsfield
Jackson Atlanta International Airport Public Art Program, and the
city's art grant program. Franklin began her role in politics while
serving on the historic campaigns of Andrew
Young to Georgia's Fifth
Congressional seat in 1972 and the election of Maynard Holbrook Jackson as the first African
American Mayor of Atlanta. She
served in the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs and became the
city's first woman Chief Administrative Officer during Andrew Young's mayoral administration. In 1991,
Franklin joined the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. While
serving as mayor, Franklin continued supporting the arts and
transforming the landscape of Atlanta. She launched the Atlanta Beltline,
advocated for extensive airport and water infrastructure
improvements, launched the Atlanta Regional Commission on Homeless,
and established the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Beyond her
political career, Franklin's community service spans over 40 years
in Atlanta and includes her active
participation in the arts, community development, and higher
education. Franklin was named one of the five best big city mayors
in the U.S. by TIME magazine in 2005, alongside Richard Daley and Michael
Bloomberg. She was also a nominee for the World Mayor Award
and is a recipient of the 2005 John F. Kennedy, Jr. Library
Profile in Courage Award.
Franklin's legacy and archival collection ties in closely with
the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library Archives Research Center. She
led the campaign to acquire the Morehouse
College Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers, which are held at
the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library, and her work related to the
Maynard Jackson Mayoral administration and the campaign to bring
the 1996 Olympics games to Atlanta
can all be seen throughout various archival collections held by the
AUC Woodruff Library, e.g. Maynard
Jackson Collection, Ingrid Saunders
Jones Collection, Carl Ware
papers, and more. The AUC Woodruff Library is proud to be the
recipient of the Shirley Clarke
Franklin collection and is processing the collection for
public access in Fall 2025.
About the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta
University Center (AUC), Inc.
Established in 1982, the Atlanta University Center Robert
W. Woodruff Library partners with the nation's largest
consortium of historically black colleges and universities:
Clark Atlanta University, the
Interdenominational Theological Center,
Morehouse College and Spelman College, providing information management,
instruction and access to a variety of global information resources
acquired and organized in support of teaching and learning,
scholarship and cultural preservation of the Atlanta University
Center and African American history. The Library has evolved into a
model repository of information resources and a front-runner in the
innovative delivery of digital resources.
The AUC Woodruff Library is also home to the Archives
Research Center, which is noted for its holdings of materials on
the African American experience, including the John Henrik Clarke
Africana and African American Collection, the Henry P. Slaughter
and Countee Cullen Memorial
Collection, Black Women in Radio Historic Collection and the
Southern Education Foundation Collection. The Archives Research
Center is the repository of institutional records for selected
schools within the Atlanta University Center and it serves as
custodian of the Morehouse College
Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection. The AUC Woodruff Library is the
winner of the 2016 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award in the
university category from the Association of Collegiate and Research
Libraries (ACRL). Library CEO Loretta
Parham was named the ACRL 2017 Academic/Research Librarian
of the Year. In July 2022, the AUC
Woodruff Library became the 127th member of the Association of
Research Libraries, becoming the second HBCU in its history to
achieve this distinction. For more information, visit
www.auctr.edu.
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SOURCE Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library