Mary Givens Bryan (September 3, 1910 – July 28, 1964) was an American archivist and the director of the

Georgia Department of Archives and History Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of peo ...

. Bryan was born in

La Grange, Georgia LaGrange is a city in and the county seat of Troup County, Georgia, United States. The population of the city was estimated to be 30,858 in 2020 by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the principal city of the LaGrange, Georgia Micropolitan Statistic ...

in 1910, and raised in Decatur outside of Atlanta. She attended

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

and the Women's College of Georgia before joining the staff of the Department of Archives and History, where she worked her way from the position of clerk to director and state archivist over the course of a thirty-year career. During her tenure as director she advocated for the construction of a state archives building, which was completed a year after her death in October 1965. Bryan was an active member of the

Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist Voluntary association, association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Establi ...

, serving as a member of Council (1957–1958) and as president of the organization (1959–1960). In 2021 Bryan was added to the

Georgia Women of Achievement The Georgia Women of Achievement (GWA) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The concept was first proposed by Rosalynn Carter in 19 ...

hall of fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Mary G. 1910 births 1964 deaths Emory University alumni American archivists American women archivists Presidents of the Society of American Archivists