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Welcome to the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA), a program of the State Library and Archives to create a digital repository of Tennessee history and culture. Our mission is to bring electronic versions of the state’s rich collections to a wider audience. TeVA provides a searchable array of historical records, photographs, documents, maps, postcards, film, audio and other original materials of enduring value.

Civil War Collections - Civil War Soldier Photographs, Civilian Life in the Civil War, Civil War Maps from the Western Theater, Civil War Visual Culture, Reconstruction and the African-American Legacy in Tennessee, War and Reunion: The 'Lost Cause' in Southern Memory
Civil War Collections - Civil War Soldier Photographs, Civilian Life in the Civil War, Civil War Maps from the Western Theater, Civil War Visual Culture, Reconstruction and the African-American Legacy in Tennessee, War and Reunion: The 'Lost Cause' in Southern Memory

Collections

Tennessee Postcard Collection - Engaging postcard views of the attractions and distinctive locales of Tennessee. Online index: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/postcards/index.htm
Dr. Harry S. Mustard Photograph Album, 1924-1928 - 1920s black and white views of rural schools and children of Rutherford County.
Department of Conservation Photograph Collection, 1937-1976 - Photographs from the Arts, Crafts, & Folklife Series showing Appalachian people and scenes of the 1930s. Online finding aid: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/recordgroups/findingaids/rg82.pdf
Fisk University Scrapbook: School Memories, William Henry Fort, Jr. (1911-1974) - TSLA has chosen to display portions of this scrapbook in order to highlight the contributions of Fisk University, especially the historically significant role that the university played during a time of great social upheaval in the South. Online finding aid: Ambrose A. Bennett Family Papers, 1918-1996 http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/99-100.pdf

 

Hardy A. Mitchener, Jr. Journal - A richly detailed journal created by Hardy A. Mitchener, Jr., a Nashville, Tennessee, native who was captured in Germany during World War II and sent to Stalag Luft III as a POW.
Kenneth D. Rose Sheet Music Collection - Compiled by a former Ward-Belmont Conservatory of Music faculty member, the Rose Music Collection is a vast and diverse collection of American sheet music, which includes Confederate, minstrel, comic, patriotic, and war songs. Online exhibit: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/exhibits/rose/exhibit_rose.htm
Miers River Photograph Collection - Photographs from the 1920s of steamboats, river-related work, and African Americans on the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.
William Strickland Sketchbook - Watercolors of European monuments drawn by the Philadelphia architect who designed the Tennessee State Capitol.

 

Early 20th Century Schoolhouses - Photographs from education records with an emphasis on Rosenwald schools and so-called “White” and “Colored” schools in the same community. Online finding aids: Tennessee Department of Education Records, 1874-1984 http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/recordgroups/findingaids/rg273.pdf Tennessee Department of Education Records: Schoolhouse Photos, 1938-1942 http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/recordgroups/findingaids/rg273a.pdf
Tennessee Founding & Landmark Documents - A virtual exhibit of the founding and landmark documents of Tennessee history.
Tennessee in World War I - The photographs in this online exhibit, selected from the Frierson-Warfield Papers and Karl Kleeman Photograph Collection, provide a thoughtful look at the Western Front during World War I from an American perspective. Online finding aid: Frierson-Warfield Papers, 1813-1928 http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/90-288.pdf
Tennessee Centennial Exposition - Images in this collection primarily depict the array of buildings and individuals involved with this celebration, and are drawn from various record groups in the holdings of the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

 

Historical Maps of Tennessee - Selections from the Tennessee State Library & Archives extensive collection of historical maps. This collection will expand as more maps are converted to digital form.
Bernhardt Wall Etchings - Etchings of former U. S. President Andrew Jackson and sites and people important to his life by artist Bernhardt Wall.
The Scopes "Monkey" Trial - This collection focuses on the John Thomas Scopes Trial, one of the landmark legal proceedings of the twentieth century, that took place during the summer of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. The trial received national attention as attorney Clarence Darrow battled William Jennings Bryan over the constitutionality of Tennessee’s anti-evolution statute, the Butler Act.
19th Century Native American Prints - Color prints from a three-volume set of Native-American portraits, entitled the History of The Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs, assembled by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall between 1836 and 1844.


Tennessee State Guard - Materials concerning the Tennessee State Guard that give an account of the Guard’s history as a military unit during World War II. Materials are drawn from two collections, the Jacob McGavock Dickinson Papers and Governor Prentice Cooper Papers. Online finding aid: Jacob McGavock Dickinson Papers, 1812-1946 http://tennessee.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/1.pdf
Agriculture in Tennessee - The documents chosen for this collection include materials that promoted immigration for the purpose of agricultural endeavors, images that portray farmers at their trade, and other ephemera to illustrate Tennessee’s varied agricultural past.
Beautiful Jim Key - This collection focuses on Beautiful Jim Key, an Arabian Hambletonian horse, owned by Dr. William Key, a self-trained, African-American veterinarian (and former slave). Dr. Key partnered with promoter A. R. Rogers to showcase the extraordinary talents of Jim who was able to read, write, spell, tell time, do simple mathematics and sort mail.
Andrew Johnson Bicentennial - Items from this collection celebrate the bicentennial of Andrew Johnson's birth (1808-2008). Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States.

 

Throwaway History: The Broadside in American Culture - Broadsides are the legitimate representatives of the most ephemeral literature, the least likely to escape destruction, and yet they are the most vivid exhibitions of the manners, arts, and daily life, of communities and nations. The broadsides in this collection offer a striking look into the beliefs, philosophies and actions of the individuals and communities that shaped America.
Civilian Conservation Corps in Tennessee - This collection of the Tennessee Virtual Archive reflects the Civilian Conservation Corps’ operations in Tennessee, which was part of the CCC’s Fourth Corps Area, District C. The CCC was integral in establishing a state park system for Tennessee. Its presence in the state was absolutely essential to create the infrastructure necessary to support the visitors that would visit the parks in the years to come.
Stitched in the South: Quilting in Tennessee - This unit of the Tennessee Virtual Archive celebrates the tradition of quilting in Tennessee. The images displayed here, drawn from a variety of collections at TSLA, portray both quilts themselves and Tennessee quilters engaging in their craft. Audio files of oral histories provided by quiltmakers are also featured here, offering a richer understanding of the utility and symbolism of quilts throughout the state’s past.
  
 

 

Coming Soon

Sergeant Alvin C. York
Alvin Cullom York (1887-1964), of Fentress County, Tennessee, was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and hero of the First World War.  This collection explores York’s life and involvement with the York Institute in Jamestown.  It also highlights selected photographs from the Albert F. Ganier, Sr. Photograph Collection. The Ganier photographs are relative to Warner Brothers Film Studio executives visiting Fentress County and Sergeant York prior to the production of the 1941 movie, “Sergeant York.”

Tennessee School for the Deaf

Ryman Auditorium

 

Items within TeVA are only selections from manuscripts collections at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.  Please consult the online finding aids, when available, for more information about manuscripts collections.  Also, feel free to contact our Reference Department by Phone (615-741-2764) or email (reference.tsla@tn.gov) if you wish to view other related items.

 

Best State Websites

Tennessee State Library and Archives
403 Seventh Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone: 615.741.2764 Fax: 615.532.2472
Email: teva.tsla@tn.gov