UGA calls itself the “first state-chartered university,” and on Jan. 27 the evidence will be on display. As always on Founders’ Day, the public will be able to see the original founding document in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s Turner Gallery, on the third floor of the main library.
But the library has now developed a Web site for the charter, so it will be viewable all year long. In addition to images of the front and back of the document, the site offers a transcription (produced in 1951 by a UGA historian and the editor of the Georgia Review) and a thoughtful historical essay from the Georgia Review.