Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce publications and reports, 1929-1998.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Arranged chronologically.

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Statistics, annual reports, planning reports, promotional materials and related publications from the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Contents of these reports include statistics on population, economy, business, education, transportation, taxes, cost of living, personal income, and a wide variety of other subjects. Taken as a whole, these documents enable a view of Nashville growth and development through the middle part of the twentieth century, including the period surrounding World War II, the building of the interstate highways, and the urban renewal movement in the 1960s. Reports provide documentation about various Nashville businesses, particularly those relocating to Nashville. Some materials include lists of various sorts, such as largest employers, population growth, and similar compilations of information. A 100th anniversary publication produced in 1947 provides a chronological list of presidents of the Chamber of Commerce through its history, and tracks the various name changes of the organization. Numerous reports from 1996-1998 provide information about the Partnership 2000 economic development initiative.

Cite as: Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Publications and Reports, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)

Source of acquisition unknown;,Acc. RT-100.

Additions dating from the 1990s, many concerning the Partnership 2000 initiative, received from Reference Department in 2009;,Acc. RT-175.

Chamber of Commerce Directories of Nashville Organizations, 1974-1990, also produced by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Nashville Public Library.

Associated materials: Two associated collections are housed at the Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County. They are: Nashville Board of Trade Records, 1907 and Nashville Chamber of Commerce Records, 1920-1993. Both collections are unprocessed as of 2008.

The Nashville Chamber of Commerce was established in 1847. After an interruption during the Civil War, it was reestablished in 1869 under the name Board of Trade. In 1894 the name returned to Chamber of Commerce; 1906 saw the name revert to Board of Trade; and from 1913 to 1920, the organization was referred to as the Commercial Club. In 1921, it was again known as the Chamber of Commerce and has retained that name to the present (2006), expanding its scope by adding the word "Area" to its name sometime between 1959 and 1964. Its mission is to promote Nashville civic and business life and to serve as a clearinghouse for information about Nashville.

In English

Unknown provenance. Some of the material may have been collected by library staff when the Nashville Public Library had a branch at the Chamber of Commerce, 1931-1967. A small group of materials, mostly dating from the 1990s, were received from the Library Reference Department in 2009.

Process,2006 ;,Linda Barnickel ;,removed from Ephemera Subject Files.

Process,2010;,Linda Barnickel;,additions from Reference Department.

No further accruals are expected.