Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections

The VSU Archives and Special Collections supports the University’s commitment to scholarly and creative work, enhances instructional effectiveness, encourages faculty scholarly pursuits, and supports research in selective areas of institutional strength focused on regional need by collecting, preserving, and providing access to records of enduring historical value documenting the history and development of VSU and the surrounding South Georgia region and in support of VSU curriculum.

Before visiting or contacting the VSU Archives and Special Collections, please read our Usage Policy. 

For information on how to make donations, please see our Policies and Procedures.

Special Collections

Our special collections houses rare books relating to Georgia and South Georgia history, books by Georgia authors, books by Valdosta State faculty, books on architecture, geology, and old records, as well as Valdosta State theses and dissertations, and more. You can search our Special Collections on Gil-Find.

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NEWS & UPDATES

New Digital Indexes Now Available

The Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections is pleased to announce the release of several new and updated online research indexes, now available to the public.

The most significant addition is the Valdosta Daily Times Photograph Index, a searchable database of historic newspaper photography documenting Valdosta and South Georgia. Users can explore detailed records, view digitized materials, and request scans directly from individual records.

The following indexes are now available or have been enhanced:

• Valdosta Daily Times Vital Records Index – birth, marriage, and death notices from the Valdosta Daily Times
• Valdosta Daily Times Photograph Index – historic photo assignments and negatives
• Campus Canopy and Spectator Index – student newspaper index covering campus life and events
• Scrapbook Index – materials documenting local organizations, events, and community history
• Civil Rights Newspapers Index – regional African American newspapers and civil rights-era coverage
• Equal Rights Index – publications focused on equality and social justice movements
• Video Collection Index – archival video holdings documenting university and regional history

All indexes now support on-demand digitization requests, allowing users to request materials directly from search results. Requests are reviewed and processed by archives staff, with digitized content added back into the system as it becomes available.

These tools are designed to improve access to archival collections while supporting ongoing digitization and preservation efforts. Researchers, students, and community members are encouraged to explore the indexes and contribute to the continued growth of these resources.

New: Frank McCall Jr. Architectural Blueprints Collection

The Frank McCall Architectural Collection documents the career and contributions of Frank McCall, a prominent architect based in Moultrie, Georgia. The collection includes architectural drawings, project files, photographs, and correspondence that reflect McCall’s significant impact on regional architecture.

Community Archives, Digitization, Access, and Preservation Partnership

Together we can preserve and document the rich history of South Georgia by digitizing a portion of your holdings, making them available through online repositories at the Valdosta, state, and national levels, and providing long-term security with digital items preserved in a state-of-the-art digital preservation system. Your materials stay in their local homes for community access but will be widely available. You will be able to tell the stories of our area to a national audience. For more information click here: https://archives.valdosta.edu/online_exhibits/community-archives/index.html

NEW COLLECTION: VALDOSTA DAILY TIMES PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION

The Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections has recently acquired 50 years of the Valdosta Daily Times photo archive in negative form, from the 1960's through 2010. There are 29 boxes, stacked in two rows of three, three levels each. Each box holds 90" of negatives. This is a huge addition to our archive. Materials are being described into a database by student assistants and interns, assigned a unique number, and filed under that number in fiche and media cabinets.

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NEW COLLECTION: GEORGIA ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORIC PROPERTIES SURVEY

In coordination with the Lowndes County Historical Society the Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections is currently digitizing the Georgia Architectural and Historic Properties Survey.

The Georgia Historic Resources Survey of Lowndes County was a project by the Valdosta Heritage Foundation beginning in 2000. The collection consists of property survey of historic structures in Valdosta, Quitman, rural Brooks County and the Turner County towns of Rebecca and Sycamore. The historic properties surveys were created between 1980-1981 by the South Georgia Area Planning and Development Commission.