James Palmer Wade scrapbook, ca. 1936, ca. 1970.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

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

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Scrapbook containing clippings (many with illustrations) and a small quantity of other items documenting a wide variety of topics, with many materials dated from 1936. A typed index has been added in the front, presumably by the compiler of the scrapbook as a note at the top is in the same hand as other notes elsewhere in the scrapbook. Compiler is believed to be James Palmer Wade, due to a reference within the book to "my poem" being published, giving the title "Bergruine Englehaus." Wade wrote this poem.

The subject matter is widely varied, but much of it falls within three broad categories: Tennessee and Nashville history; old mansions in the South; and the Civil War and Southern memory, including some articles which provide statements about race relations. Items about large or significant Southern homes predominate throughout, and span many different states. Throughout the scrapbook, there are some occasional brief annotations, especially when the subject is related in some way to the compiler's family or ancestors.

Perhaps some of the more noteworthy content includes: biographical sketch about Nat Black, an ex-slave in Giles County who recalls the contraband camp near Edgefield during the Civil War; a parade in Nashville by the Ku Klux Klan; frequent items concerning Franklin and Columbia, Tenn.; biographical sketch of George Preston Dorris, manufacturer of the Dorris automobile; Nashville's musical entertainment history, concerning music from the theater - with no mention of country music, WSM, or the Grand Ole Opry; sections on famous trees, names of rivers and cities in Tennessee; local reaction to the film, "The Gorgeous Hussy" about Andrew Jackson and Peggy Eaton, known in history as the "Eaton Affair;" the community of Peecher's Mill [more commonly spelled Peacher's] in Montgomery County; and a variety of other subjects. A single sheet, in a different hand and dating much later than the scrapbook, probably from the late 1960s or early 1970s, contains notes from what appears to be a history class. The paper is letterhead from the Middle Tennessee Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults.

Cite as: James Palmer Wade Scrapbook, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Nashville Public Library does not have intellectual property rights to these materials.

Robert C. Hobson, Jr.;,Gift;,1980.,Acc. RT-369.

James Palmer Wade was born around 1909 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Alton D. and Josephine Palmer Wade. He lived in Nashville, Tenn. for most of his life, graduating from Peabody Demonstration School and graduating cum laude from Yale University. Several of his poems were published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse in the early 1930s, and one poem, "Bergruine Englehaus," appeared in "An Anthology of the Younger Poets," edited by Oliver Wells in 1932. During World War II, Wade served as a senior draftsman at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. For some years before his death, he owned and operated Harpeth Gallery in Nashville. He was a charter member of Downtown Presbyterian Church and a member of the Bachelor Club. He died in Nashville on Aug. 31, 1966, and was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. His mother and his sister, Louise F. Sperry, survived him. Among the notable honorary pall bearers at his funeral were Cromwell Tidwell, Jesse Wills, and Owsley Cheek. Combs Fort, Dr. Oscar Noel, and others served as active pallbearers.

In English

Based on informal notes made at the time of acquisition, it appears that the scrapbook was found by the donor in a now-unidentified house, possibly located at 2002 Cedar Lane, Nashville, 37212. Full provenance is unknown. Previously identified in library records only as the "Hobson Scrapbook," presumably named after the donor, rather than the creator. In 2012, the scrapbook was attributed to James Palmer Wade by Library staff, based upon a notation in the scrapbook referencing the poem "Bergruine Englehaus," written by Wade.

Process;,2012;,Linda Barnickel.

No further accruals are expected.