Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about 70 miles (110 km) northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an R1 research institution, is in Athens and contributed to its initial growth. In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original City of Athens abandoned its charter to form a unified government with Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens–Clarke County where it is the county seat.
The University of Georgia is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in the United States. It is the flagship school of the University System of Georgia.
The University of Georgia School of Law is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest American university law schools in continuous operation. Georgia Law accepted 14.77% of applicants for the class entering in 2023.
Richard Brevard Russell Jr. was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate. He was a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement for decades.
Samuel Ernest Vandiver Jr. was an American Democratic Party politician who was the 73rd governor of Georgia from 1959 to 1963.
Moses Waddel was an American educator and minister in antebellum Georgia and South Carolina. Famous as a teacher during his life, Moses Waddel was author of the bestselling book Memoirs of the Life of Miss Caroline Elizabeth Smelt.
David Crenshaw "Uncle Dave" Barrow Jr. served as chancellor of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1906 until his resignation in 1925.
Charles Mercer Snelling was the chancellor of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, from 1925 to 1932 and the first chancellor of the Georgia Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (1932–1933). All UGA leaders after Snelling have been referred to as president.
Steadman Vincent Sanford was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1932 until 1935. He subsequently served as Chancellor of the University System of Georgia from 1935 until 1945.
Jonathan Clark Rogers was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1949 until 1950.
Omer Clyde "O.C." Aderhold was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1950 until 1967.
Frederick Corbet "Fred" Davison was the President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens. He served in that capacity from 1967 until his resignation in 1986.
Charles Boynton Knapp was the president of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, United States. He served in that capacity from 1987 until his resignation in 1997.
Richard Brevard Russell Sr. was an American lawyer, legislator, jurist, and candidate for political office. He is the patriarch of the Russell Family of Georgia, a notable 20th century Georgia political family.
The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is an archive of political and historical primary documents relating to the modern American political system. The Russell Library is one of three Special Collections Libraries located in the Richard B. Russell Building on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. The address is 300 S. Hull Street. The Russell Library is a department within the University of Georgia Libraries that reports to the University Librarian.
George Cecil "Kid" Woodruff Sr. was an American businessman and college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia from 1923 to 1927, compiling a record of 30–16–1.
Leila Ross Wilburn (1885–1967) was an early 20th-century architect, one of the first women in Georgia to enter that profession.
The Russell family is an American family from Georgia that has held prominent positions both in the United States government and the Georgia government. The family was a wealthy land-owning family until the end of the American Civil War, when they lost a large amount of their assets, like many others in the southern plantation class. The family later entered politics and rebuilt their family's prominence through holding political office.
Spencer Robert Frye serves in the Georgia General Assembly as the state representative for Georgia House District 122. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Roy Vincent Harris was an American politician and newspaper publisher in the U.S. state of Georgia during the mid-1900s. From the 1920s until the 1940s, Harris served several terms in both the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia State Senate, and was twice the speaker of the house, from 1937 to 1940 and again from 1943 to 1946. Historian Harold Paulk Henderson has called Harris "one of Georgia's most capable behind-the-scenes politicians".
