Tennessee History
Tennessee History
By Sally Robertson, History Librarian, Nashville State Community College
Tennessee History Resources
This is a guide to help Tennessee history students find some good quality resources about Tennessee.
Tennessee History Library Guide
Crafting a Research Question. Essential tool in any academic research.
Writing, and Researching for History. A straightforward university-level introduction to crafting history papers.
This tutorial was designed to help students learn about the history of Tennessee.
It contains interactive activities to make learning fun.
At the end there are some self-check quiz questions.
Primary sources
Newspapers, letters, personal journals, oral histories. A source from the actual time period.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources explained. This video lecture contextualizes the idea of primary, secondary and tertiary sources in the ideas of scholarly communication. It explains how to tell the difference between the three categories, what each category is used for in research, and where to find them.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers 126 newspapers from Tennessee are available for viewing on this site. {Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.)
The Historical Tennessean (1812 - 2002) This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. Look under Publications for the complete list of all archived Nashville newspapers that are indexed and full text.
The Tennessean (2003 - present)
TSLA's Tennessee history sources Primary sources such as newspaper records, historic photographs, letters, diaries, maps, political cartoons, broadsides, census records, Governors’ papers, and more that tell the story of Tennesseans and our role in the greater story of American history are available to the public at the Library & Archives. Educators and students are welcome to utilize our website or visit us in person to access these primary source materials.
ARTOBER Votes for women At the Nashville Public Library
Tennessee Virtual Archive (TEVA) A digital repository of the Tennessee State Library & Archives providing open access to thousands of photographs, documents, maps, postcards, film, audio and other records relating to the history and culture of Tennessee.
Volunteer Voices A state-wide digitization project that will provide access to primary sources that document Tennessee's rich history and culture.Volunteer Voices combines the collaborative efforts to Tennessee archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and schools.
Digital Library of Tennessee Provides free access to unique materials from museums, libraries, and archives across the state (By the Tennessee Department of Conservation)
The papers of Martin Van Buren 1782-1862 -- Housed at Cumberland University
STORY OF THE LONGHUNTERS IN THE BEGINNING By Dallas Bogan. A history of Campbell County THE CONQUEST OF THE OLD SOUTHWEST: THE ROMANTIC STORY OF THE EARLY PIONEERS INTO VIRGINIA, THE CAROLINAS, TENNESSEE, AND KENTUCKY 1740-1790.
Genealogysource - Heritage Quest
Tennessee Records on Ancestry.com
Sadie Ford Heritage Farm and Art Center -- Cedars of Lebanon State Park. This is a 73-acre farm built in the 1920's with the goal of educating the public through through living history programs, unique demonstrations, art classes and other things. Sadie and Delta Ford and their two children, Mary Ellen and Delta, Jr, lived in the house in the 1920's. They were school teachers in the community known as Major. They sold the property to the Reed family in 1949. They lived there until 2018. Ms. Reed was also a school teacher in Wilson County. Also is a great place to explore United States history, stories of local people in Wilson County, and even botanical history in the making by observing the endemic cedar glades. The Alfred Harris family (a local family) donated the 1830's cabin to the park.
Sellar's Farm Mississippian period. In Lebanon, TN. Part of Long Hunter State Park.
"Sellars mound: known for over a century, relatively intact and preserved from development." Tennessee Conservationist, Sept/Oct 2002. p. 34-36.
Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area By the TN Department of Environment and Conservation. Represents a relatively small, fortified Mississippian Period (AD 1000-1450) mound center.
Tennessee State Museum Exhibitions. This museum is located at 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN
Calendar of events TN State Museum Virtual events.
.Passport to Tennessee history
Tennessee State Library and Archives.-- Guided tours on the 2nd Saturdays of the month July - October.
Secondary sources
"A look at Long Hunter's history", by John Froeschauer The Tennessee Conservationist, Jul/Aug 2002, p. 33-36.
Nashville Retrospect There is a podcast included at the site. The library keeps all the back issues of this newspaper.
Tennessee Blue Book The Tennessee Blue Book serves as a manual of useful information on our state and government, both past and present. (Contains 2005 - present) Published every 2 years. Each section is written by the different commissions. Biographies are written by the legislators themselves. The Tennessee history information mostly comes from the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture An excellent source of historical, cultural, and geographic information, the online reference gives the user free access to a vast archive of material arranged in an easy-to-use format. From Andrew Jackson to the Tennessee Valley Authority, from Elvis Presley to Alex Haley, you will find a wealth of information about the people, places, and institutions that make up Tennessee’s culture and history.
Belmont Mansion history and story This house is the existing legacy of many lives: the Acklens who commissioned it, and the enslaved African Americans and European immigrants who built it and supported its operation. (Part of the Belmont University campus.)
Tennessee Conservationist This guide is an index to the Tennessee Conservationist magazine. It contains a ;ot Tennessee history articles.
JSTOR Database History search. This is an archival database of journals and books. A lot of the journals contain full text of the articles from Vol. 1, Number 1. Full text is not included for the most current 5 - 7 years of a title.
TN History Contains a lot of great Tennessee history resources.
World Book Online Web Links related to Tennessee -- The is a Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) resource.
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Native Americans in the south
Tennessee's Indian Peoples, by Ronald N. Satz E78 .T3 S24 (24 copies) (2 copies at the S.E. Campus)
Removing Native Americans from their Land From the Library of Congress
Relations with Native Americans From the Library of Congress
Thomas Hutchins. A General Map of the Country of the Ohio and Muskingum, Showing the Situation of the Indian-Towns .From the Library of Congress
Founded on a set of beliefs From the Library of Congress. -- Washington argued that it would be easier to open the western territories to
settlement by being on good terms with Indians and purchasing their lands,
Separate Peoples, One Land : The Minds of Cherokees, Blacks, and Whites on the Tennessee Frontier. This is an electronic book from EBSCOhost.
Magazines
Southern School News Collection -- Sept 3, 1954-1965. Each journal impartially reported desegregation of U.S. public schools state by state through primary documentation and statistical evidence. The goal of the publication was to provide "a reliable, central source of information on developments in education arising from the United States Supreme Court decision declaring compulsory racial segregation in the public schools to be unconstitutional."
Tennessee Ancestors -- 2001-current (Bound) A tri-annual publication of the East Tennessee Historical Society. Not full text online. Recent issue
Newsline -- Winter 2000 - 2015 Quarterly newsletter of the East Tennessee Historical Society (No longer published.)
Tennessee Archaeology e-journal -- 2004-current A fully peer-reviewed enterprise, sponsored by the Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology and supported by a professional review board consisting of archaeologists throughout the state.
Tennessee Conservationist -- 1994 - current (Bound) This has some good Tennessee history articles. Not full text online. The link is an index to what is in the magazine. Issues are in the library. Bound magazines are on the second floor of the library (main campus).
Tennessee Journal -- 1994 - current (Bound) (Vol. 2, #46 Senate campaign coverage tells about newspaper coverage for Tenn. politics and government)
Tennessee Magazine -- 1995 - current (Bound)
American Historical Magazine. 1896-1902 -- In the JSTOR database (Published by the Tennessee Historical Society)
Tennessee Historical Magazine --1915-1937 i-- n the JSTOR database.
Tennessee Historical Quarterly -- 1942-2016 -- In the JSTOR database. (The NSCC library dropped the physical subscription in 2020.)
Donated to the park by the Alfred Harris family. A local family.
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Cedar Glade Natural Area 1974
