Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Clarke Franklin Donates Collection to AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library

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, 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.

SOURCE Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library