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History and Genealogy Online Resources

Lithograph of James K. Polk, eleventh president of the United States

James K. Polk Collection

James Knox Polk (1795-1849) served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives (1835-1839), Governor of Tennessee (1839-1841), and the 11th President of the United States (1845-1849).
Snapshot postcard of Margaret and Elise Croft

Grassmere Collection, 1786-1985

The Grassmere Collection, 1786-1985, is centered around five generations of the same family that lived at Grassmere Farm, Nashville, Tennessee. The property served as a family farm for 175 years.
Roger Smith poses with a diorama of a baseball diamond with figures hand-carved from peach seeds, Culleoka, TN, 2001.

Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Photograph Collection

The Tennessee Arts Commission established its Folk Arts Program in 1984. From the beginning, program director Dr. Robert Cogswell photographed artists, sites, and events related to program activities.
Graeme McGregor Smith, Governor McCord and Mary Daniel Moore at the signing of the bill to build the new Library and Archives, 1947.

Record of Ex-Soldiers in World War I, Tennessee Counties, 1917-1919

Record of Ex-Soldiers in World War I, Tennessee Counties, 1917-1919 is a digital collection that consists of the compiled service records of over 130,000 soldiers and sailors from Tennessee who served in the First World War.
John Sales with rifle

John Sales Vietnam War Collection

Nashvillian John L. Sales served in the United States Marine Corps from May 1966 to May 1968. This collection consists of letters written home to his mother, photographs taken in country and on board the USS Iwo Jima, and miscellaneous items.
Special Agent Gene Stone

Gene A. Stone Korean War Photograph Collection

These Korean War era photographs belong to Gene A. Stone. Lieutenant Stone was in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), first assigned to the 308th CIC Detachment at 8th Army Headquarters in Seoul, Korea.
Robert H. Cartmell and his grandson

Robert H. Cartmell Diaries

Robert H. Cartmell (1828-1915), a Madison County, Tennessee farmer, documented the nature of his farm operation beginning in 1853. There are thirty-three volumes of diaries that contain full commentaries related to the running of his farm, the weather, and the fluctuations of the cotton market.
Old Hickory power house

Old Hickory DuPont Gunpowder Plant Photographs

This small collection of large-format photographs highlights various aspects of the World War One-era Old Hickory Gunpowder plant. DuPont built and operated the plant, under contract for the United States government, to manufacture smokeless gunpowder for the Allied war effort.
Workshop Series presentation

Library and Archives: Workshop Series

Come hear experts from the TSLA and other institutions present information useful for scholars, genealogists, and historical researchers.
Engraving of Major General Andrew Jackson by James B. Longacre

Andrew Jackson Collection

This online presentation features rare images of Jackson as a hero from his victories over the British and Creeks during the War of 1812, as well as political broadsides depicting him as a villain. Letters show his fiery temper and sense of honor that won him devoted friends and bitter enemies.
Brock sitting on washstand at "The Hook" base camp

David Franklin Brock Korean War Photograph Collection - A World Away

Tennessee farm boy David Franklin Brock left behind his Van Buren County home and his sweetheart in 1952 and found himself a world away. Brock served as a combat engineer with the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. An oral history and 120 images comprise this collection.

Looking Back: County Listing

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (2011-2015), the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) is sending teams of archivists and conservators across the state of Tennessee to document and preserve Civil War-era materials.
Marching suffragettes

Women's Suffrage: Tennessee and the Passage of the 19th Amendment

This collection focuses on pro- and anti-suffrage activity in Tennessee in 1920, primarily drawing from the papers of suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, anti-suffragist Josephine A. Pearson, and Governor Albert H. Roberts.

Maps at the Tennessee State Library and Archives

Maps are invaluable components of historical and genealogical research, and documentary records often cannot be fully understood without referring to maps. The Library & Archives has the largest and most significant collection of historical maps in the state available for public use.

Over Here, Over There: Tennesseans in the First World War

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I (1914-1918), the Tennessee State Library & Archives will send a team of professional archivists and conservators to communities across Tennessee.

Genealogy Courses

An online college course taught by staff of the Tennessee State Library and Archives in conjunction with Jackson State Community College.

Links to Research Databases

This web page proves links to web sites that can be useful to those researching Tennessee history and genealogy. Please note that access to some of these web sites are only available through terminals in our building. Some web sites are only available to residents of Tennessee.

Library Photograph Collection

The Library Photograph Collection is a migration project from our Online Photo Database to allow researchers more extensive description and the ability to download directly from our website.
Two Women Making Corn Shuck Dolls and Buckets

Arts, Crafts, and Folklife Photographs

The images in this collection, depicting individuals and cultural traditions throughout the Appalachian region of the state, are a selection of photographs taken from the Arts, Crafts, and Folklife series of Record Group 82: Tennessee Department of Conservation Photograph Collection, 1937-1976.
A dental hygienist cleans the teeth of a young boy during a class period circa 1924-1928.

Dr. Harry Mustard Photo Album

This photograph album presents detailed visual documentation of the Commonwealth Fund Child Health Demonstration’s (CHD) study of children from Rutherford County, Tennessee, between 1924 and 1928.
picture of Crossville High School from 1944

Early 20th Century Schoolhouses

Like its sister Southern states, Tennessee’s commitment to public education hovered on the periphery in the early twentieth century. By that time Progressivism and race had become central but conflicting factors in influencing the development of education mores.

Miers River Photo Collection

The Earl S. Miers River Photographs date from the first decade of the 20th century (ca. 1900-1912) and show steamboats, buildings, people and scenes along the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. There are 69 photographs in the collection, 34 of which are displayed here.

Rose Music Collection

The Kenneth D. Rose Sheet Music Collection contains first editions and imprints of sheet music pertaining to a variety of subjects, including the American Civil War (particularly the Confederacy), politics and presidents, wars, ships and shipping, sports, minstrels, and comic songs.

Tennessee Postcard Collection

The items in the Tennessee Postcard Collection span a broad timeframe and include images from across the state. Unlike other collections at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the items in this grouping are similar only in format.
Page from Scrapbook with two images

Fisk University Scrapbook

William Henry Fort, Jr.’s Fisk University scrapbook comprises part of the Ambrose A. Bennett Family Papers.

Strickland Sketches

The images in this digital collection consist of original drawings, elevations, ground plans, and watercolor sketches attributed to famed architect William Strickland (1788-1854) and his son, Francis W. Strickland (1818-1895).

Tennessee in World War I

The photographs in this online exhibit, selected from the Frierson-Warfield Papers and Karl Kleeman World War I Photographs, provide a thoughtful look at the Western Front during World War I from an American perspective.

Tennessee Centennial Exposition

n 1897, Tennessee held a six-month celebration to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of statehood. The Tennessee Centennial Exposition was held in Nashville from May 1 until October 30, 1897, although the state’s actual centennial occurred in 1896.

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