New Digital Collection: Farms of Cannon County, Tennessee

MTSU's Walker Library has collaborated with the Arts Center of Cannon County to develop a new digital collection: Farms of Cannon County, Tennessee.

Ben Freeze checking his crop of sudan grass (1965)

This collection consists primarily of black-and-white photographs taken by Mr. William L. Clement, District Conservationist for the United States Soil Conservation Service in Cannon County, Tennessee from 1950 to the mid-1970s. Mr. Clement was a capable and consistent photographer of all aspects of his work in Cannon County. He carefully depicted the farmers who worked the land, the land itself, the crops that were grown and the equipment that was used. In the process he frequently captured images of home and community life and of the changing landscape of the county.

More than 400 images are included in the collection. The earliest is dated 1944 and latest is dated 1973, rounding out three full decades. Most were taken by Mr. Clement but nine were taken during the 1940s by his predecessors and others were taken by his assistants, often with Mr. Clement as a subject. These 400 were selected from more than 1000 images that were given by Mr. Clement to the Arts Center of Cannon County.

In addition to multiple search and browse options, the site has a image "slider" (or carousel) that presents highlights from the collection:

• Photos of Mr. Clement and an oral history interview (audio) in which he discusses teaching in the farm training program for veterans, his work as a district conservationist in Cannon County, and a host of farming topics (tobacco farming, soil types, introducing new crops, no-till farming, etc.).
• Tobacco farming - photos and a clip from the oral history interview.
• Information about Cannon County "Century Farms" that are represented in the digital collection. Tennessee Century Farms,  (http://www.tncenturyfarms.org), a program of MTSU's Center for Historic Preservation, recognizes and documents the contributions of families who have owned and farmed the same land in the state for at least 100 years.

In the News: Civilian Conservation Corps Musuem

TN Civilian Conservation Corps museum opens (Tennessean, Nov. 8, 2010)

Volunteer Voices includes 66 photographs and documents from the Civilian Conservation Corps collection (Tennessee State Library and Archives).

Otto F. Haslbauer, Photographer; Planting seedlings on a slope, Abe Kennerly in foreground (Tennessee State Library and Archives)  The CCC is also featured on the Today's Document from the National Archives. "Newly-arrived replacements at CCC Camp, TVA #22, near Esco, Tennessee, lined up before their first meal in camp..." 11/17/1933. Lewis Hine, Photographer (ARC Identifier: 532780);

Otto F. Haslbauer, Photographer; Planting seedlings on a slope, Abe Kennerly in foreground (Tennessee State Library and Archives)

 The CCC is also featured on the Today's Document from the National Archives.

"Newly-arrived replacements at CCC Camp, TVA #22, near Esco, Tennessee, lined up before their first meal in camp..." 11/17/1933. Lewis Hine, Photographer (ARC Identifier: 532780);

TeVA (Tennessee Virtual Archive) Update

TSLA's redesigned TeVA site now includes 27 digital collections. Six of these collections document various aspects of the Civil War: soldiers, civilian life, maps from the Western Theater, Civil War visual culture, Reconstruction and the African American legacy in Tennessee, and the "Lost Cause" in Southern Memory.

TEVA: Throwaway History: The Broadside in American Culture

TSLA has added Throwaway History to TeVA (Tennessee Virtual Archive). The 90 broadsides in the collection include announcements of official proclamations, public meetings, and entertainment events. The collection was featured in the February 26 edition of the Scout Report.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Camp Tenn., TVA 29 Thanksgiving, 1935, Menu and Roster
This souvenir program is for the Thanksgiving dinner in 1935 of the 496th C.C.C. Company in Lexington, Tennessee. The menu shows a traditional turkey dinner. Several state or regional dishes are included: Louisiana oyster dressing, Georgia candied yams, Delaware cranberry sauce, Colonial mince meat pie, Florida fruit salad, Midwest caramel nut ice cream. The menu also lists Hava Tampa cigars, cigarettes and mints. The recipient of the menu wrote in "matches" as well. The program contains a two page roster of the officers, leaders and members of the 496th C.C.C Company.

Civil War Diary

See the article in Knoxnews.com about the Civil War diary that UT-Knoxville Libraries has digitized. You can view the manuscript of the The Henry Pippitt Diaries - 1862-1865
at http://dlc.lib.utk.edu/pippitt/pippitt.html

The State of the Union

Carlisle, Jennifer. "The State of the Union: A History of the Labor Movement at Vanderbilt University." Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal [Online] Vol. 1, No. 0 (10 May 2005) Available: http://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/vurj/viewarticle.php?id=7.

Abstract:
This article will document the historical context of the labor movement at Vanderbilt University in order to explain the nature and interaction of the labor union with central administration over the past forty years. Recognizing the lack of scholarly attention to the labor movement in Paul Conkin’s Gone with the Ivy (1985) and Peabody College (2002) and Dale Johnson’s Vanderbilt Divinity School (2001), the author contributes to the academic literature by providing a broad overview of the historical background and current state of the labor movement. As the largest employer in Davidson County and a major contributor to the state of Tennessee’s economic development, the relationship of University administrators and labor representatives has a large impact on the condition of surrounding labor movements, particularly in the city of Nashville’s low-wage service workers sector. In providing a brief chronological synopsis of the labor movement and the role of female involvement in the union, the author concludes by providing a context for contemporary labor negotiations.