A collection of all things Memphis... a little bit of this, a little bit of that. The M Files is a great place to find portraits and newspaper clippings, but also so much more. As the clippings from the Memphis Information File are digitized, they will be added to The M Files, but so will the smaller manuscript collections and most of …
The Civil Rights Photograph Collection includes images from a number of sources and manuscript collections, including gifts from the staff of the Tri-State Defender featuring the photographs of Ernest C. Withers. Primarily covering events from the 1950s and 1960s in Memphis, Tennessee, the collection includes images of local civil …
Postcards provide a truly unique way to view our city; the images on postcards give us a clue as to what previous generations valued and appreciated most - and what they wanted to show off. Volunteer Angie Price has worked dilligently to create this collection which features the front AND back of almost 250 postcards from Memphis. Once …
It only takes one glance at a photo of Front Street in the 1890s to see how much Memphis has changed... and how so many things have remained the same! The cobblestones and wagons might be long gone, but the fire station and post office are in the same place and the buildings of Cotton Row are unmistakable.
This collection includes images …
Students, teachers, classrooms and playgrounds... The Schoolyard has it all. From the late-19th century through the 20th century, we have all sorts of images that will help you relive your school days. (You thought you could forget that class portrait, didn't you?)
Unfortunately, many of the images are unidentified, so if you …
Perre Magness is an avid volunteer, historian, and writer. Magness has served many volunteer positions in Memphis, including the founding president of the Volunteer Center of Memphis, President of the Junior League of Memphis, and a board member of LeMoyne-Owen College. In the 1960s, she served on the historic Panel of American Women, …
A collection of historically significant images acquired from the Pink Palace Museum in 1976, the Pink Palace Collection features a wide range of wonderful photographs. From the construction of the Harahan Bridge to portraits of Native Americans, there is a little bit of everything. Volunteer Becky Muska has been hard at work digitizing …
2011 - 2010 - 1962 - 1937 - 1913 - 1912
Recent History: High school senior collects flood photos for library archive.
During the historic flooding event in mid-May, hundreds of Mid-Southerners flocked downtown to snap once-in-a-lifetime shots of Tom Lee Park and parts of Mud Island submerged in water.
Now Ellery Ammons, a 17-year-old …
The German Heritage Collection is a combination of several individual collections and items that have been donated to the library over the years. Combined, the items in the collection offer a glimpse at the lives of first- and second-generation German immigrants in Memphis and the impact this group had upon Memphis in the 19th and 20th …
The notable and the unknown.
The famous and the infamous.
As both artist and journalist, Roy Cajero captures them all and ultimately shows us the soul of Memphis.
Arthur L. Webb, one of Memphis' most renowned local historians and genealogists, was born on December 6, 1943, in Memphis. Webb attended Memphis State University, and soon evolved into a noted journalist, genealogist and historian, specializing in local African-American history. Having joined the Tri-State Defender staff in 1978, …
The George W. Lee Collection was given to the library by his daughter Gilda Lee Robinson in 1985. The large collection includes extensive and wide-ranging correspondence, copies of many of Lee's speeches, hundreds of newspaper and magazine clippings, and many awards and certificates presented to Lee over the years. An important part …
Established in 1900 as the Memphis Park Commission, the Division of Park Services has protected the urban forest and has played a key role in promoting the City's health and appearance. In 1901, landscape architect George Kessler created plans for a parkway system like those in Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Overton …
The Britton Duke Papers are a chronicle of an early Germantown, Tennessee, family. The papers were donated to the Memphis and Shelby County Room by Louise Duke Bedford, great granddaughter of Britton Duke, and her nephew, Edward C. Duke. The collection primarily consists of correspondence and business papers which belonged to Britton …
The Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library is the largest facility in the Memphis Public Library and Information Center system. Although opened in 2001, the history of Memphis Public began in the 1880s when the city received a $75,000 gift from the estate of merchant Frederick Cossitt to build a public library in honor of the city where he …
The Memphis & Shelby County Room at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library is a treasure trove of information about the area and its people.
Among the library’s catacombs of flat files, cabinets, boxes and shelves are hundreds of thousands of newspapers and magazine …
The Collection of Collections is an index of all of the processed manuscript collections in the Memphis & Shelby County Room. The bulk of the information about these collections is from the Guide to the Processed Manuscript Collections in the Memphis and Shelby County Room, written and compiled by our very own Gina Cordell.
Each …
Have you ever wondered when your house was built, who was the first city mayor or what Memphis was like during World War II? You can find these answers and so much more in a special room on the fourth floor at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. Established in 1971, the Memphis and Shelby County Room contains a wealth of primary sources on the history of our city and county.
What are primary sources? They are original records created at the time a historical event occurred. For example the diary of a Memphian who fought in the Civil War, a map of Memphis in 1900, an 1880 photograph of Main Street, the memoirs of a television journalist who covered the Civil Rights movement, newspaper articles describing the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, and the remembrances of a founder of the Universal Life Insurance Company are all primary sources housed in the Memphis and Shelby County Room.
The Memphis and Shelby County Room houses thousands of books, reports, pamphlets, 600 maps, 35,000 photographs and hundreds of oral histories. In addition, the Memphis and Shelby County Room contains the Memphis Information File which contains 400,000 vertical files of newspaper and magazine articles, pamphlets and other small items. The files are organized by subject and there is a card file index for easy searching.
Some of the most interesting primary sources in the Memphis and Shelby County Room are its manuscript collections. Manuscript collections are an assortment of items such as correspondence, photographs, maps, financial records, contracts, and newspaper clippings of individuals and organizations. For example the library has the manuscript collections of Memphis political boss E. H. Crump, civil rights pioneer Maxine A. Smith, musician Jerry Lee Lewis, the Goldsmith’s Department Store, Rabbi James Wax, the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain and Church of God in Christ leader E. W. Mason.
All of the primary sources in the Memphis and Shelby County Room are waiting for you to come and search through them. You will be surprised at what you learn about your own hometown.
Memphis and Shelby County Room4th FloorBenjamin L. Hooks Central Library3030 Poplar AvenueMemphis, Tennessee 38111901.415.2742www.memphislibrary.orgBlog - http://memphisroom.wordpress.com
Dig Memphis is the digital archive of the Memphis Public Library & Information Center. On this site we will showcase many of the treasures of the Memphis and Shelby County Room. As an ongoing project of the library, new items are added regularly, so check back frequently.
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