TSLA Workshop Series: Researcher Chronicles Love and War in Sumner County Town of Gallatin

It started with a love letter, more than 100 years old, that Judith Morgan found tucked in the pages of a book recovered from a Gallatin mansion that had been demolished decades earlier.

Morgan began doing some research and discovered that the woman who received the letter and the man who had sent it eventually married – but only after a courtship that lasted more than 20 years.

Morgan, a retired state employee, kept digging until she had discovered details about the lives of the mysterious couple, their families and their town's place in some of the country's most significant historical events.

Those details emerged in Morgan's book, "The Lost World of Langley Hall," which is the subject of an upcoming free workshop sponsored by the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).

Langley Hall on Coles Ferry Road, circa 1960. Looking Back at Tennessee, TSLA

At the workshop, Morgan will discuss how her chance discovery of the letter launched a research project chronicling the lives of the Trousdale and Allen families from 1853 through 1952. While delving into the lives of those two prominent Gallatin families, Morgan learned details about other town residents who played prominent roles in the wars and other major national events of the era.

At the workshop, titled "Researching and Writing 'The Lost World of Langley Hall,'" Morgan will also discuss how she used resources at the State Library and Archives to assist in her research.

The workshop will be held Feb. 15 from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the auditorium at the State Library and Archives building. The building is located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, directly west of the State Capitol building in downtown Nashville.

Although the workshop is free and open to the public, reservations are required due to limited seating availability in the auditorium. To make a reservation, call: (615) 741-2764 or e-mail: workshop.tsla@tn.gov.

Parking is available in front, beside and behind the State Library and Archives building.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

TSLA Launches Federal Civil War Burial Sheets Project

Following years of effort, and through the support of TSLAFriends and the vision and drive of one of TSLA's most passionate supporters, the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) is pleased to offer online access to its Federal Civil War Burial Sheets.

This online portal provides access to information contained in the burial sheets for the Federal soldiers disinterred shortly after the war at gravesites in Tennessee and Kentucky and then reburied at Nashville National Cemetery.



Sample Burial Sheet
This is one of many pages of the record of reinterment of United States soldiers in Tennessee.

Of special interest to researchers and genealogists was the identification of 3,021 soldiers disinterred from the Nashville City Cemetery as well as of 8,593 soldiers disinterred from U.S. Burial Grounds Due West City Cemetery, Nashville, and U.S. Burials Grounds Southwest City Cemetery, Nashville.

A researcher combing files in the National Archives discovered these long-lost Tennessee records, and the TSLA contracted with the National Archives to create a copy on microfilm. The next step was a transcription and database project for the “burial sheets.” TSLAFriends offered to seek funds. The first donation came from Nashville City Cemetery Association and later other individual donors to underwrite the project.

Transcription work was conducted under the auspices of TSLAFriends, employing transcriptionists who used digital images created from the microfilm. This position was funded by donations from individuals and the Nashville City Cemetery Association as well as through grant funding from the Tennessee Wars Commission.

Entries were transcribed as accurately and thoroughly as possible, including handwritten changes to names and other information. Crossed-out text is noted as such. All columns in the original ledger books were included in the transcriptions. Names were cross-checked with those listed in the Roll of Honor to help verify identity and names were also checked by a supervisor to ensure accuracy. Capitalization, punctuation and spelling were kept as found in the original ledgers.

We gratefully acknowledge the leadership of Fletch Coke, who first suggested this project and assisted in many ways to bring it to completion.

We encourage you to explore this unique collection. Visit the Federal Civil War Burial Sheets Project website at http://www.tnsos.net/TSLA/BurialSheetsProject/index.php for more information.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

Tennessee Blue Book to Honor Pat Summitt

The Tennessee Blue Book is a valuable source of information about Tennessee government and Tennessee history. One of the history-making figures in our state is former University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball coach, Pat Summitt.

In her 38 years coaching, Summitt received hundreds of honors. Her teams won more than 1,000 games, 32 Southeastern Conference championships and eight national championships. Her players who completed their playing eligibility at UT had a 100 percent graduation rate. And since being diagnosed with early onset dementia a little over two years ago, she has led a foundation that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Alzheimer's research.

For all of those reasons and more, the next edition of the Tennessee Blue Book is being dedicated to Coach Summitt.

The Tennessee Blue Book, published every two years, is the definitive manual on Tennessee state government, with detailed information about all three branches of government, including biographies of all members of the Tennessee General Assembly. It also contains information on the federal government, Tennessee history, election statistics and much more.

The Tennessee Blue Book is published by Secretary of State's office and is available in print and online. The 2013-2014 edition of the Blue Book will be available for distribution soon, and the Tennessee State Library and Archives is proud to have a role in its production, especially in this year of dedication to a Tennessee legend, Pat Summitt. Congratulations, Coach Summitt!

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

TSLA’s Union Provost Marshal Database is now online

During the Civil War, the provost marshal was the Union Army officer charged with maintaining order among both soldiers and civilians. The provost marshals were the Union’s military police. Records of this office, which the State Library & Archives is making searchable online, reveal a great range of activities in Tennessee. The provost and his soldiers hunted down and arrested deserters, spies, and civilians suspected of disloyalty; confined prisoners; maintained records of paroles and oaths of allegiance; controlled the passage of civilians in military zones and those using government transportation; and investigated the theft of government property. In some instances, provost courts were set up to try cases that fell under the provost marshal’s jurisdiction and those cases where military personnel were accused of civil crimes.

This scene depicted in the January 18, 1862 edition of Harper’s Weekly was typical of provost marshal offices throughout the country, as citizens waited in line to apply for permission to travel within Union-occupied territory.

The provost marshal records, microfilmed by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), were collected from War Department files and are dated 1861 to 1867. In the series of records with which the State Library and Archives is working, each document pertains to two or more civilians, or “citizens,” as they were referred to during the Civil War, and were gathered from provost marshals across the country. [Note: There is another series of records about individual citizens, which we might want to tackle next.]

These documents provide valuable information related to many Tennesseans, not only of soldiers but of ordinary men and women caught in the turmoil of war. They include correspondence, oaths of allegiance, orders, passes, transportation permits, lists of prisoners, paroles, provost court papers, and claims for compensation for property used or destroyed by military forces. Now, these documents are available online on the Tennessee State Library and Archives web site.

Pass from the Provost Marshal's Office at Gallatin, Tennessee, to permit W. T. Robinson to travel within Federal lines until further orders. The pass was issued by order of Brigadier General E. A. Paine, and signed by Major J. J. Searitt, provost marshal.
(Image from the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA) Civil War Military Records Collection.)

The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) Union Provost Marshal Database project began in 2011, with the goal of creating a fully searchable online database for the Tennessee portion of these records. The staff at TSLA, along with volunteers Cinnamon Collins and Shirley Wilson, have been going through and digitally scanning any documents that were from provost marshal offices in Tennessee or that relate to Tennesseans during the Civil War. All of this hard work and effort has now culminated in a database which lists the name, location (city or county), year, file number (if provided), and a brief description of the document(s), along with a digital copy of the document itself.

The Union Provost Marshal Database will be of great benefit to genealogists, historians, and others, who can use the database to learn fascinating details about their ancestors and what their lives were like during the Civil War. We invite you to search the site at http://www.tnsos.net/TSLA/provost/index.php.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

Hunting for Ancestors Instead of Bargains on Thanksgiving Weekend

People who need a break from holiday shopping Thanksgiving weekend are encouraged to attend the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) “Family History Day” on Saturday, November 30. The third annual event, which is designed to introduce more people to genealogy, will include a free workshop on how to get started in researching family history.

The workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. in the TSLA auditorium, which is located at 403 Seventh Avenue North, directly west of the State Capitol in downtown Nashville. Trent Hanner, a reference librarian at TSLA, will provide an overview of records that are available at TSLA and how to navigate through the various databases.

Although the event is free, reservations are required because seating in the auditorium is limited. To make a reservation, call (615) 741-2764 or e-mail workshop.tsla@tn.gov.

Please note that parking in front of the TSLA building is limited due to construction, however, there is plenty of additional parking behind the building.
  

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

Tennessee Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at your service!

Do you know that tucked away in one side of the first floor of the Tennessee State Library and Archives is the Tennessee Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped? This is another gem in the crown of TSLA that offers access to Braille, audio and large print books to anyone within the State of Tennessee who cannot use standard print.

TSLA staff member Ron Gross delivers a mail truck full of audiobooks for Tennessee Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped patrons.

Some interesting facts:

• As of the end of our last fiscal year there were 7,170 individuals registered for our services, including 6,608 adults and 562 children ranging in age from 18 months to 105 years.

• There are also 226 institutions registered with us; schools, hospitals and nursing homes who borrow books for their students, patients and residents.

• We have 101,383 titles available for loan and our circulation for the last federal fiscal year was 216,393!

Even with these staggering numbers TLBPH is “the best kept secret” in Tennessee. Our staff gives personal attention to all patrons, whether they want to select their own titles or have us recommend them. We don’t want to be a secret, so we hope you will share or “Like” this post on the TSLA Facebook page to help us spread the word! If someone you know could benefit from TLBPH services, contact us by email at tlbph.tsla@tn.gov or by phone at 615-741-3915.

  

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.

Ghosts, ghouls, and tape!

Halloween is right around the corner, but we see scary preservation issues year-round at the conservation laboratory at the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).

Foremost among these is tape. Did you know that any kind of tape used on your family collections is potentially a hazard? Some tapes are advertised as being archival, which is true in that the adhesive doesn’t chemically react to the paper. However, tape is meant to be permanent, and anybody in the preservation field will recommend you never to do anything permanent to your collection.

Conservator Carol Roberts uses a specialized heating tool to remove the plastic layer of the tape. In this image you can also see an example of a pressurized tape which has oxidized the paper fibers. Even if the tape is removed, the staining is permanent. Tape removal should only be performed by a trained paper conservator as the process is incredibly complicated and can be quite hazardous without the proper protective wear and equipment.

One of the responsibilities of our team of conservators is the removal of tape within TSLA’s collections. Our conservators are available to answer any questions regarding your paper-based collections at 615-253-6460. You can also find out more about caring for your family collections at http://www.tn.gov/tsla/preservation/PreservingFamilyColl.htm.

So please, be careful this Halloween, and beware the tape.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.