Apollo 11 at 50: A 50 State Tour

By Lauren Hamric

On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 safely splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins had flown all the way to the moon and back. Armstrong and Aldrin had set foot upon the moon, the first human beings to do so.

Apollo 11 Astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. This photograph was sent to Governor Buford Ellington as part of a press kit for the Apollo 11 Fifty-State Tour from 1970-1971. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1867-1971.
Available via the Tennessee Virtual Archive.

Apollo 11 Launch. This photograph was sent to Governor Buford Ellington as part of a press kit for the Apollo 11 Fifty-State Tour from 1970-1971. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1867-1971.
Available via the Tennessee Virtual Archive.

Apollo Log, Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1967-1971.
Tennessee State Library and Archives

Looking back on it, knowing what we all know now, it is easy to forget how impressive the feat truly was. Reading through issues of The Nashville Tennessean from July 1969, available to Tennesseans through the Tennessee Electronic Library, you see the uncertainty, wonder, and excitement felt by so many. Tennesseans can access that resource HERE. Like all Americans, Tennesseans were glued to their televisions and newspapers.

Nashville Tennessean, July 25, 1969, front page, accessed via Tennessee Electronic Library.

Over the course of 1970 and 1971, NASA sent the Apollo 11 module, a moon rock, and other artifacts on a tour of all 50 state capitals. The exhibit visited Nashville on September 18-21, 1970. In Governor Buford Ellington’s papers is a press kit for the exhibit. The press kit includes photographs, a press release, technical drawings, and a log of events from the voyage. Two of the photographs can be viewed HERE on the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA).

Press release, Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1967-1971.
Tennessee State Library and Archives

Drawing from Press Kit, Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1967-1971.
Tennessee State Library and Archives

Map of state capitals tour, Governor Buford Ellington (Second Term) Papers, 1967-1971.
Tennessee State Library and Archives

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

Meet the Staff - Kim Henderson

Meet Kim Henderson. She is the Technical Services Assistant with the Buffalo River Regional Library.

How long have you worked here?

I’ve worked for the Regional Library since 1978. In December 2018, during the Service Awards Ceremony, I was recognized as the longest serving active employee of the Regional Library System. I began my career as a bookmobile/library clerk working on the bookmobile and as a book processor (on manual typewriters). I then moved into a full-time book processor position working with the first computer, gradually adding part-time cataloger to the mix, then full-time cataloger and processor. I finally moved into my present role as Technical Services Assistant.

What are some of the things you do as a Technical Services Assistant?

As Technical Services Assistant I do many jobs. I notify libraries of their yearly State and Federal allocated funds; track spending and number of items purchased; provide lists of approved vendors and specific instructions for each vendor; electronically place orders and reconcile packing slips/invoices for payment; and provide MARC records/cataloging for items not found in the state database.

I also provide one-on-one training to the librarians and library staff for Acquisitions or cataloging, both in person and by telephone. I am also a liaison between libraries and vendor reps.

What is your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of the job is the satisfaction of being an integral part of providing materials to public libraries. I’ve loved to read all my life. My mom told me that I would “read” my books to anyone who would listen since I was three – no I couldn’t actually read, but I had been read the books many times and was able to recite them, word-for-word. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes today.

Do you have a favorite collection?

Large print materials and e-books are my go-to now as I am getting older. The larger font, both in a hand-held book and on an electronic device, makes reading more comfortable and enjoyable. I read a wide variety of materials so I really don’t have a favorite genre, but if I had to pick just one it would be Christian Fiction.

What makes libraries and archives relevant to modern society?

Tennessee is rich in history and much of that history is available through libraries and archives. Libraries and archives are a vital link to information for ALL people, regardless of age, race, religion, politics, or economic status. Archivists diligently preserve and catalog our past, and in a hundred years or so from now, they will still be preserving and cataloging our present day-to-day lives for future generations, too.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

Highlights from Family History Summer Camp!

By Casey Gymrek

It has been a busy summer for our Education Outreach team!

Roughly a month ago, you may have seen some details regarding our very first Family History Summer Camp. As we are reminiscing on all our fun, we wanted to share a few photos chronicling that week.

We began our week as investigators, looking into the genealogy of two famous Tennesseans – Justin Timberlake and Dolly Parton! Through their families, we discovered the importance of vital records and the fun challenges that arise from large family trees.

We were even treated to a visit from our State Librarian, Chuck Sherrill.

Each day, the campers loved playing with our historic games on our front lawn – the Game of Graces is harder than it appears!

To place our own family histories in the greater context, we also explored various parts of Tennessee history through primary sources (like our fantastic map collection!) and games.

Each day, we put on our genealogists’ hats and got to work, digging through our family histories with the help of Ancestry. Some of our campers were able to trace back four or five generations!

Of course, we couldn’t get through summer camp without getting a little messy, and so the campers were introduced to historic food by creating their own hardtack. Most of our campers would not recommend eating the hard, particularly bland cracker.

One of campers’ favorite days included a visit from Kim Wires, who shared with us some awesome and (maybe a bit morbid) items and stories from our Tennessee State Supreme Court Collection.

Other days included exciting field trips around downtown Nashville. Our trip to the Capitol enlightened the campers into our governmental history, and another trip allowed us to “march” to the Hermitage Hotel in our women’s suffrage memorabilia to highlight our excitement for the 2020 centennial celebration of the passing of the 19th Amendment!

Our last day included an amazing scavenger hunt on African Americans in Tennessee history at Bicentennial Mall State Park. All in all, we learned a lot about ourselves, our families, and our state. What a great week!

Education Team at the State Library and Archives would like to thank all the staff of the Library and Archives, the Tennessee State Capitol, the Hermitage Hotel, and Bicentennial Mall State Park staff that were tremendously helpful and supportive of our first summer camp. We could not have had this much fun in this new adventure without you!

Stay tuned for more exciting youth and family programming as we get closer to the opening of our new building!

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

Thousands of images from the Tennessee Department of Conservation now available on TeVA...

By Jennifer Randles

We’re celebrating summer by releasing over 6,000 images from the Department of Conservation Photograph Collection on the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA)! This collection is a treasure trove of images documenting Tennessee people, places, and things from 1937-1976. The photos cover topics such as art, agriculture, fishing, folklife, cities & towns, wildlife, historic sites, nature, people, and industry.

Children feeding ducks in Watauga Lake, in Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee. 1955.

James L. Bailey, Supervisor of the Educational Service, Department of Conservation, with Conservation students Donald Pitts of Hixon,Tennessee, and James King of Erwin, Tennessee at Fall Creek Falls State Park. 1957.

A roadside table, one mile west of Linden, Tennessee, with a family seated at it. 1953.

Opryland U.S.A., Nashville, Tennessee. This water slide was known as the "flume zoom or "flume ride." 1972.

The photographs were created for the Department of Conservation's magazine and also used to promote tourism from 1937-1976. Now that these images are part of TeVA, they are even easier to search, browse, and download. The digital collection is an ongoing project, with a goal to publish the entire Department of Conservation Photograph Collection for public access online by the end of 2019. Visit the collection at http://bit.ly/TeVAConservation and keep coming back to see what we have added.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

State Library and Archives to Host Free Workshop on History of State Capitol

Tennesseans take great pride in their magnificent State Capitol building. Architecturally, it is one of America’s premier statehouses and still the working home of state government. Its builders believed in the classical ideal of a democracy informed by learning and saw themselves as the heirs to that tradition. They sought to embody lofty aspirations in this public structure.

On Saturday, July 13, the Tennessee State Library and Archives will host a free workshop entitled “Grounded in Tradition: The Tennessee State Capitol” by Assistant State Archivist Dr. Wayne Moore.

Hear the stories of those who labored on the Capitol, from the unpaid prisoners to William Strickland himself, from 19th century African American stonecutters and Irish masons to the 21st century Rock City crews. These and other new facts about the Capitol emerge from the wealth of records at the State Library and Archives.

Dr. Wayne Moore has employed these original sources and images from the collections of the Library and Archives to write a new history of Tennessee’s finest historic building. The workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m to 11 a.m. CDT Saturday, July 13, in the Library and Archives auditorium. The Library and Archives is located at 403 Seventh Ave. N., directly west of the Tennessee State Capitol in downtown Nashville. Free parking is available around the Library and Archives building.

Although the workshop is free and open to the public, registration is required due to limited seating. To make a reservation, visit https://groundedintradition.eventbrite.com.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett

State Library & Archives Launches New Digital Project on Revolutionary War

As our nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, the Tennessee State Library & Archives has launched Patriot Paths, a new project that uses Revolutionary War pension records to map the paths that these soldiers took before and after their service. The project, which is still in progress, was unveiled by State Librarian and Archivist Chuck Sherrill at the National Genealogical Society’s recent annual convention.

Thousands of veterans flooded into Tennessee at the conclusion of the war, and about 2,000 pension files exist for those who came here. Since most of the soldiers were not eligible for a pension until they were in their 80s, the number who received a pension was relatively small compared to the number who served.

Staff and interns at the Library & Archives pored over those pension files to find the dates and places where the soldiers were born, married, enlisted and died. Soldiers who had been born throughout the colonies and even Europe ultimately made their way to Tennessee. After the war, many crossed the mountains from Virginia and North Carolina, but some came from as far away as New York and Massachusetts.

That information was added to a database and then coordinated with GIS mapping software. The result is Patriot Paths, where historians and genealogists can search for veterans and study the patterns of migration.

“Patriot Paths uses modern mapping tools to tell the stories of those who fought to secure independence at the time of our nation’s founding,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. “I’m proud of the continued efforts of the Library & Archives to find innovative ways to make records like these more accessible.”

For example, Patriot Paths allows researchers to see that three pensioners who ended up in Sumner County – William Proctor, Albert Hendricks and Thomas Milbourn – all lived in Rockbridge County, Virginia, during the Revolutionary War. Moreover, all were originally from Maryland.

Sherrill asked, “What does this connection between these soldiers mean? Are they related? I don’t know, but if one of them was my ancestor, I’d start learning about the other two to see what else they have in common.” Genealogists commonly use wills, deeds and other records at the Library & Archives to find more information about their ancestors.

Historians can also use Patriot Paths to learn more about this period in American history. “We learned that an unusually high number of Tennessee pensioners came from Orange County, North Carolina,” said Sherrill. “We don’t yet know why, but Patriot Paths provides the data to help us ask new questions about who came to Tennessee and what motivated them to launch into the wilderness.”

The public is invited to visit the site and conduct searches, but Sherrill asks that they remember it is a work in progress. Data has been entered on only 1,200 of the pensioners so far.

Patriot Paths can be accessed on the Library & Archives website at sos.tn.gov/tsla or by clicking here.

The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett