The Georgia Southern Henderson Library Special Collections has a temporary exhibition featuring Senator Jack S. Hill: 30 Years of Life in Georgia Politics. The exhibition is presented by Kim Liebl a graduate student with the Department of History. The exhibition will be in place through May 30, 2023 on the second floor of the library.
The exhibit is part of Liebl's public history non thesis project which centers around Senator Hills papers which were donated to GS by the Hill family. The collection was originally 36 boxes and two large folders collected through Senator Hill's 30 years in office. Liebl went through the papers and memorabilia archiving, preserving and indexing the collection. Through this process and research she has created two exhibits the temporary exhibit on display now at the library and a permanent exhibit which will be installed at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center.
Liebl also conducted two oral history's as part of the exhibit. The oral histories were from myself and Mark Spandle. Mark and I were both political aids and advisors to Senator Hill throughout his entire political career. These along with a library guide, which she created, are available online at https://georgiasouthern.libguides.com/jackhill.
Collection is available for public viewing and research
The library guide on the website explains how to access this special collection. There are also scans of images and newspaper clippings in the online collection. Not all of his papers are scanned but a sample of the clippings and work. Liebl picked examples that she thought would be the most impactful.
Liebl was not interested in politics, nor had she every personally met Senator Hill. She selected project to improve the skill sets it took to archive this collection.
"One of the things I was most surprised by was how genuine he was. Being a political person I thought that surely I would find something scandalous. There was nothing," said Kim Liebl. "I was also impressed by how comfortable his constituents were to go to him with issues. He kept everything from them including correspondence, invitations to events and all of the speeches he gave to constituents. Just seeing this type of dedication is what impressed me the most about him."
Having this entire collection now processed to archival standards, indexed and now ready for research was monumental task. Now that this is completed it is open for the public to view and use for future research.
The collection
Liebl's exhibit is split into four categories:
- Life before politics
- Political beginnings 1989-2002
- Political transition 2002-2020
- Recognition and legacy
Here are Leibl's descriptions for the four periods broken down by the cases which include memorabilia.
The first case includes his life before politics and time at Georgia Southern College where he graduated in 1966 with a Bachelors in Business Administration. Afterwards he would later open his grocery store, Hill Shopping Center, in his hometown of Reidsville, GA.
In 1971, he joined the 165th Airlift Group of the Georgia Air National Guard and married Ruth Ann in 1972. They raised three children Dawn, Amy and Lance.
The second case she transitions to is political career with the beginning of his campaign in 1989 for the State Senate for the district 4 seat vacated by Senator Joe Kennedy of Claxton. In his original campaign he campaigned for improved healthcare, education for all, improvement of historical and natural resources, improvement of agriculture and small businesses.
He served as Democratic senator form 1989 to 2002 before switching to the Republican party. When he was elected to office he became friends with other Democratic senator, Sonny Perdue. Senator Purdue and Senator Hill shared and office space and an apartment. In 1998 Sonny Perdue switched to the Republican party after having differing views on social issues driven by the national Democratic party. He asked other conservatives leaning Democrats to switch parties with him. However, Senator Perdue was the only state senator in Georgia to switch parties at that time.
In 2002, Sonny Perdue became the first Republican Georgia Governor since reconstruction. He again went to more conservative leaning Democratic senators and asked them to switch to the Republican party to gain Republican control of the Senate. Dan Lee, Don Cheeks, Rooney Bowen and Jack Hill switched to the Republican party giving Governor Perdue a Republican majority in the State Senate.
Two years later the House of Representatives gained a Republican majority making Georgia a majority Republican controlled state. Senator Hill was asked why he switched parties and he responded that the Democratic party had become more left leaning nationally and he felt he could better help his constituents by switching to the Republican party.
In both cases she displays his accomplishment while in office including artifacts from his office and campaign memorabilia. In the last case she displays a sample of the awards and recognition he received while in office. It also includes the many ways his constituents have gone to great lengths to preserve his legacy which includes the development of the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convection Center, the renaming of OTC's natural resource building to the Jack Hill building, DNR renaming the Gordonia State Park to the Jack Hill States Park and the post office in Reidsville was also renamed for Senator Hill.
A wonderful legacy
"It is a wonderful legacy for Jack. He wanted absolutely no recognition for anything he did while he was alive. This really is an amazing tribute to somebody who did a lot for this state. I love him to death and I miss him so much. He helped alot of people with a lot of things over the years," said Jill Flynn, Senator Hill's sister.
Mrs. Flynn worked in the office with Jack and helped him on a daily basis. She was the one that packed up his office. She had no idea what they were going to do with all of is work. She knew they would have to find somewhere to store his stuff. Then they received a call from GS Political Science professor, Dr. Patrick Novotany inquiring about their interest in donating all of his papers to GS.
It was such a relief to us to know all of is important work, his legacy would be preserved.
"We were extremely close. We were only 17 months apart. He was such an amazing person and I so thankful that his legacy is preserved in such a remarkable way," said Jill Flynn. "Never could we imagine that it would be preserved in such a wonderful way for so many to reflect and enjoy."
The exhibit is open to the public. If you want to view the entire collection or specific areas of the collection you will need to work through the special collections department at the Henderson Library. That information can also be found at https://georgiasouthern.libguides.com/jackhill.
