Nashville Business Leaders Oral History Project, 2006-2009.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Organization: three series: I. The Turner Interviews; II. Library Interviews and III. Southern Foodways Nashville Eats Interviews;,Digital files and CD's are identified by the project abbreviation: "NBL" which serves as a prefix. Arranged thereunder alphabetically by last name of interviewee. Transcripts and indexes, when extant, are filed initially by series and thereunder alphabetically by interviewee name.

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

Interviews for the Nashville Business Leaders Oral History Project were recorded in digital format using a Marantz PMD671 solid state recorder. Interviews were recorded in .wav format at 48 khz and 16 bit and were converted to .mp3 files for access.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: The collection consists of audio interviews with Nashville business and civic leaders and local restaurateurs. The interviews detail projects conducted by business and civic leaders that positively impacted the Nashville community and the stories of Southerners that eat, serve and consume food and drink locally. Some interviews include an index and transcript. Many individual interviews in this collection have been cataloged separately, providing more detail.

Series I. The Turner Interviews were envisioned by Special Collections Center donor Steve Turner, with support and input from Keel Hunt, president of The Strategy Group, and Cabot Pyle, Director of the James Stephen Turner Charitable Foundation, who also serves as the Turner Interviews series interviewer. Individuals selected for inclusion are business leaders that have leveraged their success in Nashville's business community into projects that served to better their community. Interviewees in the Turner Interviews series include: Nelson Andrews; George H. Cate, Jr.; Joel Gordon; Edward F. "Eddie" Jones; Gerald Nicely; Kenneth L. Roberts; Irby Simpkins; James Stephen "Steve" Turner; E.W. ("Bud") Wendell; and David Kirkpatrick (Pat) Wilson. Businesses and other organizations include: Andrews Properties; Brookside Management; State Board of Education; Metro Nashville government; Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Nashville Banner; General Career Corporation; Surgical Care Affiliates; Commerce Union Bank; Central National Bank; First American National Bank; HCA Foundation; Center for Nonprofit Management; Dollar General Corporation; Marketstreet Equities Company; National Life and Accident; Grand Ole Opry; Gaylord Entertainment; Country Music Hall of Fame; Cherokee Insurance Company; and Cherokee Equity Corporation.

Series II. The Library Interviews series consists of interviews conducted with Nashville business and civic leaders and local restaurateurs by library staff and volunteers. Interviewees in this series include: John Arriola; Kathy Bloodworth; Clint Boyd, Jr.; Douglas B. Havron; Thomas C. Jones; Seong Sun ("George") and Soo Kim; William Nathan Massey; Joan Mehlman; Eva Mendelsohn; Win and Patti Myint; Betty Chiles Nixon; Douglas G. ("Doug") Odom, Jr.; Deborah Pace; Margaret Ann Robinson; and Mildred Townsend Walters. Businesses and other organizations include: Nashville Memorial Hospital; Tennessee Commission on Aging; Norman Couser's Country Cooking; Country Restaurant, Inc.; Tennessee General Assembly; The Peanut Shop in the Arcade; Higher Ground Training; Sam and Zoe's Coffeeshop; General Shoe Corporation (GENESCO); Southern Cafe; International Market; Cross Keys Restaurant; Metro Council; Odom's Tennessee Pride Sausage; Madison-Rivergate Area Chamber of Commerce; Nashville Business Incubation Center at TSU; National Life and Accident Insurance Company; radio station WSM; Grand Ole Opry; Wm. Massey Electric; and Nashville Public Library Board. Immigrant business owners hail from South Korea (Seong Sun "George" and Soo Kim), Thailand (Patti Myint), and Burma (Win Myint).

Series III. The Southern Foodways Nashville Eats Interviews were conducted at the Nashville Public Library in July 2006 as a collaboration between the Southern Foodways Alliance and the library. The Nashville Eats Interviews are part of the Alliance's Oral History Initiative, which seeks to capture stories of Southerners who grow, create, serve, and consume food and drink. Interviewees were selected by the Alliance, and the interviews were conducted at the library by John Egerton. Interviewees in the Southern Foodways Alliance Nashville Eats Interviews include: David Swett, Jr., grandson of Swett's Restaurant founder; and James B. "Hap" Townes, Jr., owner of Hap Townes' Restaurant.

Cite as: [Individual interview], [Series number and title], Nashville Business Leaders Oral History Project, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library.

Copyright deeded to Nashville Public Library at time of creation.

The Nashville Business Leaders Oral History Project began at the Nashville Public Library in June 2006 in conjunction with the planning for and opening of the library's new Special Collections Center. Made possible through the generosity of Charlie Martin and Judy and Steve Turner, the Special Collections Center highlights and provides access to the library's oral history collections and other non-book special collections materials. The Nashville Business Leaders Oral History Project was conceived of by Steve Turner, and his interview was the first conducted by the project. With input from Mr. Turner and others, Cabot P. Pyle, Executive Director of the James Stephen Turner Family Foundation, selected individuals to interview and Pyle conducted the interviews as part of The Turner Interviews series.

With the desire to continue the themes developed through the interviews in series I and III, Library administration and staff selected individuals to interview as part of the Library Interviews series. The two interviews which compose series III "Nashville Eats" were conducted by John Egerton in partnership with Southern Foodways Alliance in 2006.

In English.

Finding aid available in repository;,item level control,https://assets.library.nashville.org/documents/finding-aids/Special_Collections_Division_Finding_Aid_NBLInterviews.pdf.