Archival Research: Political Parties at the Richard B. Russell Library: Researching Political Parties

Getting the Party Started: Processing the Records of Georgia's Political Parties

"The Right Leadership at the Top:” The Records of the Georgia Republican Party Chairman

Building the Party, One Point at a Time: The Georgia GOP’s Four Star Program

“I do not belong to any organized party”: Making Sense of the Democratic Party of Georgia Records”

"It’s Party Time!: Georgia Political Parties Project Opens New Collections "

“Took by Tuck”: Audley Tucker and the Photographs of the Democratic Party of Georgia

Marge Thurman: Rock of Georgia

The New Georgia Encyclopedia provides short articles about many topics related to Georgia politics and history.

Georgia's Political Heritage Program at the University of West Georgia collects manuscripts and oral histories about Geogria politics.

The Georgia Government Document Project at Georgia State University contains manuscripts and oral histories with important political and activist figures from across the state.

Hills, Tommy. Red State Rising: Triumph of the Republican Party in Georgia. Macon, GA: Stroud & Hall Publishers, 2009.

Appleton, Andrew and Daniel S. Ward, Ed. State Party Profiles: A 50-State Guide to Development, Organization, and Resources. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1997.

Feldman, Glenn, Ed. Painting Dixie Red: When, Where, Why, and How the South Became Republican. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011.

Lassiter, Matthew and Joseph Crespino, Ed. The Myth of Southern Exceptionalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Paul, Karen Dawley, Glenn Gray, and L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin. An American Political Archives Reader. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009.

There are numerous records of county organizations in both the Republican and Democratic party records. Materials related to Georgia counties contain information about demographics, organizational structure, grassroots efforts to engage communities, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of political parties in specific places.

Searching for county names in the records can be helpful in finding materials that will aid in comparing eras and trends in state politics.

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Keyword Search Tips and Tricks

Brainstorm terms related to  your topic

• Try terms that are specific and general (example: Athens, Georgia, Fulton)
• Explore the variety of descriptive terms that different groups used to describe the same people, events, places, and ideas (example: activists vs. agitators, protesters vs. rabble, affirmative action) 
• Explore the evolution of meaning of terms over time.  Words that mean something to us today may have different meanings earlier in time or at specific moments in time.
• Think like a file clerk. sometimes collections are organized by subjects, but often they are organized around dates, alphabetical listings of names, or by the group or individual that produced the records.

Never Admit Defeat!

• If you try all of the tricks described above and still don't find what you are looking for, consider browsing the finding aids for materials donated by  people who are likely to be involved  in your topic. 
• Never be aftaid to ask an archivist for help; that's why we're here. We work for you!

For general help with searching and browsing the collections located in special collections, you have several options: 

• Browse the Special Collections Requesting Help Guide online
• Watch a demo of the process here
• Visit the special collections reference desk located on the 3rd floor of the Special Collections Building. Hours are 8-5 Monday-Friday.

Archives lingo made easy...

• finding aid
• special collections 
• archives
• inventory 
• series
• record
• artifact
• linear foot / feet
• primary source
• secondary source 

Puzzled by other words?
Visit the Society of American Archivists Glossary of Terms site