Odum Library
The origins of the New Age Movements, Occultism, and Spiritualism Research Library (NAMOSRL) can be traced back to 2004 when Guy Frost and Cliff Landis began discussing the preservation of hard to find and at risk Pagan periodicals. Cliff’s concept was called New Religious Movements Archival Library (NRMAL), and tasks were divided between the two with Cliff investigating the technological aspects as well as making the first contacts with publishers and Guy began creating a descriptive bibliography of potential resources that could be added to the project. Sadly, this project was abandoned in early 2005 for various reasons, but the idea remained in Guy’s mind of something that needed to be done. Guy had been acquiring resources for the project and although NRMAL was no more, has continued to do so. During the spring of 2013, Crystal Richardson, a Valdosta State University student, approached Guy with a request to be advisor to a new Pagan and Wiccan Society on the VSU campus. Saying yes, it was through working with the officers and members of this group that he was reminded of the need for students to access resources to assist in researching topics they were presenting at their sponsored events. This need, however, reached a pinnacle when Guy was lead to search and photocopy from his personal library articles, interviews, and mentionings in books of Starhawk for a student that was writing a paper on her. It was at this point that Guy realized his resources should be more accessible and preferably in an academic setting. In was not until 2015 that Guy approached Deborah Davis, the University Archivist, about donating all of the Pagan resources he had amassed as an archival collection. Deborah expressed great interest. For an archival collection to be rich in source materials it must contain more than just periodicals. This is where this Research Library departs from the original concept of NRMAL. The scope and breadth of the collection had to be expanded. As such, there are two parts of the collection: 1. records and papers of people and organizations that could and do stand alone as unique archival collections which will be described individually; 2. books, periodicals, study notes, and other ephemera collected to support its scope. This portion of the collection is divided into broad Library of Congress Subject Series. These series contains books, periodicals, and artifacts relating to their designated subjects. These subjects include: Antiquities/Mythology; Psychology; Parapsychology; Occult Sciences; Religions; Holidays & Cookery; Alternative Medicine; Women's Studies; Gardening/Herbology. These broad subjects expand into more specific topics as you explore the collection.
