Biography series, 1890-1999 (bulk 1932-1997)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Arrangement: Alphabetical by last name.

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

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Abstract: A wide variety of materials, mostly from 1932-1997, documenting individuals, and used by Nashville Banner reporters for reference in the course of their daily work. Items were originally housed in the Banner Clippings Files and were removed for preservation purposes by Nashville Public Library staff to form this collection.

Scope and content: The Nashville Banner Reporter Reference Files, Biography Series has information about notable people who received news coverage in the Nashville Banner newspaper. Most of these individuals were important to the city of Nashville; state government; or the region of Middle Tennessee, though a few national figures are also included. The types of people documented include politicians, mayors, governors, criminals and victims of crimes, educators, journalists, doctors, businesspeople, celebrities, attorneys, judges, musicians (including musical groups and bands), artists, authors, editors and journalists of the Nashville Banner, and many others. Most materials date from the 1930s to the 1990s, though a few individual items may be as early as 1890. Formats include press releases, wire service stories, brief biographies or biographical information sheets, brochures, booklets, telegrams, clippings and magazine articles, and speeches. Occasional correspondence, transcripts of court proceedings, and stories written but not printed in the Banner (sometimes designated with the notation, "not run"), may also be encountered. The series also includes files collected by editors of the Nashville Banner like Ed Huddleston and Charlie Moss. Quantity of materials is usually less than ten items for each individual, although some people may have several folders of materials. Some items are photocopies.

All of the materials in this collection were originally housed in the Banner Clippings Files, but were removed by library staff for preservation purposes. Thus, although the Banner Reporter Reference Files is a separate collection, due to its size, it nevertheless bears a very close relationship and indeed should be viewed as an extension of the Banner Clippings Files. Information in both instances was compiled and used by reporters at the Nashville Banner as references when writing about significant individuals of the time. Researchers are advised that due to its being a much more comprehensive resource, the Banner Clippings Files will likely be a more useful and productive source of information than the isolated items to be found in the Banner Reporter Reference Files.

Some of the more notable individuals documented in the Biography Series of the Banner Reporter Reference Files include several people that were important to the Nashville Banner, including George Armistead, Jack Knox, Will Allen Dromgoole, and E.B. Stahlman, Jr. as well as various members of the Stahlman family. Also included are items focusing on politicians such as Ed Crump, Cordell Hull, Frank G. Clement, Henry A. Wallace, Luke Lea, Albert Gore, Sr., and Estes Kefauver. Other notable individuals include: nineteenth century iron magnate Montgomery Bell; murder victim W. Haynie Gourley and the charges against Bill Powell; Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa; businessman Sam Fleming; Seeing Eye founder Morris Frank; segregationist John Kasper; poet, psychiatrist, and Fugitives member, Merrill Moore; and noted Civil Rights attorney, Avon Williams. There are also unique items within the collection, such as the personal diary of female journalist and literary author Will Allen Dromgoole (ca. 1890); a FBI wanted poster from 1947 for bank robber Earl Bircham; materials relating to the disappearance of 6-year-old Dorothy Distelhurst from East Nashville in 1934, and the subsequent criminal investigation; and an unusual Korean War propaganda piece featuring the Nashville wife of prisoner of war, Harold E. Stahlman.

Cite as: [item description, file title], Series I. Biography; Nashville Banner Reporter Reference Files; Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Irby C. Simpkins, Jr. and Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. transferred any copyright they held in Nashville Banner materials to the Public Library Board in 2002. However, this collection may contain items for which they did not hold copyright, such as wire service items and others, and therefore rights were not transferred to the Public Library Board. In either case, items in this collection may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code).

Irby C. Simpkins, Jr. and Brownlee O. Currey, Jr.;,Gift;,1999,Acc. RT-102.

The Nashville Banner newspaper began publication on Apr. 10, 1876 and ceased publication Feb. 20, 1998.

In English

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

In possession of Irby C. Simpkins, Jr. and Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. until donated to the Nashville Public Library in 1999.

Forms part of the Nashville Banner reporter reference files.

Process;,2013-2014;,Jennifer Quier;,removal of items from Clippings files, rehouse, preliminary inventory.

Process;,2016;,Poppy Krump, intern;,additional processing, preservation work, rehouse, creation of finding aid.

No further accruals are expected.