On Tuesday, July 15, campers from Little Rock, AR met with with Dana White and Dick Cecil to discuss Hank Aaron’s record-breaking career at the Hank Aaron Exhibit in the Woodruff Library.
The exhibit draws mainly from the Richard A. Cecil collection, which was processed recently and opened to the public. A former baseball scout, assistant farm system director, and vice president of the Atlanta Braves, Cecil collected Hank Aaron materials as well as hundreds of scouting reports on players of his era.
Also presenting was Dana White, Emory professor emeritus of American Studies and MARBL senior faculty curator.
The event marked one of the final days of an Atlanta tour by the Pfeifer Honor Camp. Run by Sanford Tollette and Binky Martin-Tollette, campers were chosen for their outstanding contribution to academics and the community. Later in the afternoon, the group toured the Carlos Museum. The tour was led by Kathy Dixson and Gretchen Warner, who helped produce the exhibit.
The Pfeifer Camp is for needy or at-risk kids from all over the state of Arkansas. The purpose of the trip was to raise awareness of history and human rights. They also visit colleges and universities to get kids thinking about their potential after high school.
“Forty years ago, Hank Aaron hit a home run that captured the whole country by breaking the iconic homer record previously held by Babe Ruth,” said Cecil. “While breaking that record, Hank Aaron endured 14 months of mail, most of it hateful, all of which I have donated to Emory as a valuable record of the Civil Rights movement at the time.”
According to Dana, Hank Aaron received over 930,000 individual pieces of mail in one year, which at the time was the most mail any one person had ever received.
For more information about the exhibit, read this excellent article by Maureen McGavin, External Affairs: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2014/04/upress_hank_aaron_research_and_exhibit/campus.html.
A video about the exhibit can be seen below:
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