Overview This collection contains the papers of former Governor of Tennessee, Secretary of Education, and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander. Currently, only the material predating Alexander's tenure as Senator (pre-2002) is processed for research use. Processing of the Senatorial Papers is expected to be completed in Fall 2023. Please contact Special Collections with access inquiries related to Senate materials.

Scope and Content Note This is a collection of 433 lantern slides and glass negatives, exclusive to Vanderbilt University and/or the Nashville, Tennessee area. Lantern slides were invented in 1849, ten years after the invention of the photograph. This medium allowed for viewing photographs and images in an entirely new format, visible to a substantial group of people. Lantern slides were used at Vanderbilt alumni events and contain images that aren’t available in other formats. This particular collection contains...

Overview This .42 linear feet collection contains 51 items (of which 20 are photographs) relating to the lives of the Baxter and Jackson families, Nashville, and Vanderbilt University.

Overview This 1.05 linear feet collection, 4 boxes, has two series: Series I contains materials related to the activities of the Vanderbilt Alumnae Council, especially their efforts to persuade the University to hire a Dean of Women, build a women’s dormitory, and to raise money toward these ends. Series II contains materials unrelated to Vanderbilt Alumnae Council and includes some personal correspondence, ephemeral items, a Bible, pamphlets, a postcard album with 155 cards plus 5 individual postcards,...

Scope and Content Note Most of these papers are records of Fran Crater’s work with the women’s movement in the first half of the 1970’s when the growth of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was countrywide, and when the work for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment was a major movement throughout the United States. Fran Crater, along with her mother-in-law Flora Trimmer Crater, whose work is also represented in these papers, were important organizers in the women’s movement and in NOW and ERA....

Overview This .21 linear feet collection contains 6 items related to the history of Foster & Creighton Company, the story of the Parthenon, and other construction projects in Nashville. There are two photographs: one of the Parthenon, and the other of the Athena Sculpture in the Parthenon.

Scope and Content The Howell Tatum Davis collection, 1835-1859, is comprised of 123 letters both to and from Davis, 4 account receipts, 4 sheets of classroom notes and poetry, 8 miscellaneous envelopes, and 1 address card. The majority of the collection consists of incoming correspondence from Davis’ friends, family, and business partners in Matagorda County in Caney, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. Many letters also have notes scribbled on the envelope or reverse sides that appear to have been written by school...

Overview This collection provides information on the life and career of an early settler in Nashville, John Elisha Davis. Much of this collection consists of land documents and early survey records. Researchers interested in the Davis family history will also find rich material in a short family booklet.

Overview The John Egerton Papers, 1950s-2003, include correspondence, manuscripts of writings, speeches, research materials, publication materials, publicity for books, reviews, legal and financial documents, memorabilia, clippings and photographs, programs from cultural events, scrapbooks and periodicals on race relations and school desegregation, and audio and video tapes.

Scope and Content Note Most of this addition to John Egerton Papers (MSS128) consists of freelance articles Egerton wrote between 1966 and 2006. There are also additional materials relating to his books: A Mind to Stay Here (1970); The Americanization of Dixie (1973); and Nashville: The Faces of Two Centuries (1979). Other materials include speeches, book reviews, and planning for Nashville’s first Southern Festival of...

Overview This collection contains the papers of Mary Ella Calhoun Foote. Upon her death in 1918, she left her entire estate to Vanderbilt University to erect a building in memory of her father, William Henry Calhoun, a Nashville jeweler. The bulk of this collection contains correspondence, with other miscellaneous estate papers at the end.

Scope and Contents The collection documents Green's professional life as a birth control advocate.

For more information on Susie Daniel Kirtland Green and birth control in Tennessee see article “Class, Controversy, and Contraceptives: Birth Control Advocacy in Nashville, 1932-1944” by William B. Turner in Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Fall, 1994.

Scope and Contents This .42 linear feet collection is divided into three series: Series I includes original, handwritten general correspondence sent to William Giles Harding primarily from Matthew Fontaine Maury, 1827-1872. The letters discuss Agricultural and Meterological Societies, importation of Llamas and Alpacas from South America to Tennessee, the Civil War, and politics. It also includes an address by Matthew Fontaine Maury before the...