Leslie Sharp Collection
Collection
Identifier: UA460
This collection documents the personal and professional life of Dr. Leslie Sharp. Included documents are homework assignments, papers, her thesis and her dissertation, and the research she conducted throughout the process of completing such projects. Her professional papers speak to her time as an educator, an administrator, and efforts towards the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Architecture (later College of Design). Materials consist of paper records, digital objects, and physical objects.
Georgia Tech Archives and Special Collections restricts identifiable information in student records until the time of a student's death or 75 years after the date the record was created.
Portions of this collection is closed. Contact Archives and Special Collections for further information. (PII)
Access to collections in Archives and Special Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the Georgia Tech Library Copyright & Fair Use page for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or Georgia Tech.
59.78 Linear Feet (122 document cases, three 18x13 in. oversized boxes, two small CD cases, one medium sized case, and three bankers' boxes) ; The two small CD cases are six inches wide. The one medium box is eight inches wide.
This collection contains the personal papers and professional records pertaining to the the life of Georgia Tech's Dr. Leslie Sharp. Included in this collection are documents, homework, and projects from her time as an undergraduate student, graduate student, and PHd candidate. Her professional records chronicle her employment history and experience in efforts towards historic preservation, education and instruction, and architectural history.
Leslie Noel Sharp (1967 June 30 - ) was born in Macon, Georgia, though relocated to Conyers, Georgia, for elementary, middle, and high school. She graduated from the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She went on to attend Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and earned a Master of Arts in History with an Emphasis in Historic Preservation and graduated in 1993. Sharp’s graduate thesis “Down South to Dixie: The Development of the Dixie Highway in Tennessee” served as the foundation for her later book, Dixie Highway in Tennessee: Springfield to Chattanooga, through Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2011. Sharp earned her Master of Science degree in History of Technology in December 2001 at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) while earning her Doctor of Philosophy in the History and Sociology of Technology and Science in May 2004. She also earned a Doctoral minor in Architectural History. Her doctoral dissertation is titled “Women Shaping Shelter: Technology, Consumption, and the Twentieth-Century House."
Throughout Sharp’s education and professional career, she has held many jobs pertaining to historic preservation and architectural history. She was employed by the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU, the Historic Preservation Division for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech she was the Director of Special Projects and then Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Outreach for the College of Architecture (now Design) from 2006-2013. She then worked in the Office of the Provost as Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development from 2013-2020. Sharp contributed to publications such as, “Women’s History Initiative,” “Henrietta Dozier,” and “Roadside Architecture” as entries in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, University of Georgia Press. She was editor for ARRIS, The Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH). She has also published works in historic preservation, architectural history, women’s history, and libraries. Her expertise is in academic affairs, library leadership, historic preservation, the National Register of Historic Places, and southern history as it pertains to architecture, race, gender, and technology.
In 2020, Leslie Sharp was appointed to the position of Dean of Libraries for Georgia Institute of Technology and reappointed for another five-year term in 2025.
This collection is arranged into three series: I. Personal papers, II. Professional records, III. Audio/Visual/Object materials.
Series I: Personal papers is arranged alphabetically with the exception of the sub-series "Education", which is arranged chronologcally. This section is arranged chronologically starting with her time as a student at the University of Georgia, then her time at MTSU, and lastly the materials from her time as a PhD candidate at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Series II: Professional Records is arranged chronologically by employment history and then alphabetically by item level.
Series III: Audio/Visual/Objects series is arranged alphabetically and sorted by mediums, which are cds, floppy disks, cassette tapes (2), objects, photos, and slides. There are also photo negatives and they are housed with their corresponding photos.
Materials are stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Requests for access must be submitted at least 2 business days in advance.
Records given to Archives and Special Collections in 2020, 2024, and 2025.
The Leslie Sharp Collection (UA460) was donated to the Georgia Tech library by Dr. Leslie Sharp.
Arrangement of the collection was partly reconstructed based on Dr. Leslie Sharp's education and professional career. The personal papers pertaining to her personal education are arranged to follow the order in which she completed them. The professional series does the same, in that it follows the chronological order of her employment history. Some duplicate and transactional materials were discarded during processing.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository