Arts and Entertainment - Special Collections Topics

Scope and content: A scrapbook of newspaper clippings, programs, and correspondence related primarily to the music career of Nashville operatic singer Myra Bender, the Nashville Conservatory of Music, Little Theatre productions, and the Peabody Demonstration School. Also present are a few materials about Hidenari and Gwen Terasaki and their daughter Mariko's marriage to Mayne Williams Miller, of Johnson City, Tennessee. Includes a handwritten narrative...

Scope and content: The collection consists of administrative records, ephemera, photographs, publicity scrapbooks, and video recordings created by and documenting the Nashville ATHENA Awards Program since its inception in 1991. There is particularly strong representation for the years 2003-2005 in the collection. Every year since 1991 is represented at a minimum by a program from the annual awards event. In addition to traditional paper records,...

Scope and content: A collection of documentary sources pertaining to the history of two theatre groups of Nashville: 1) The Community Playhouse, and 2) Theatre Nashville. The Community Playhouse documentation consists of minutes of the board of directors, spanning ca. 1950-ca. 1957. The documentary sources about Theatre Nashville include eight scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, theatrical programs, photographs, and ephemera, spanning the dates...

Scope and content: Sheet music published or distributed in Nashville, Tenn. A few items may have been published elsewhere but bear connection to Nashville through subject matter, illustrations, or printing house. Most items date from the late 1800s with a few from the early 1900s. Publishers featured prominently in the collection include: R. Dorman & Co.; Jas. A. McClure; Frank G. Fite; Jesse French; and H.A. French. Printing firms include: Brandon...

Scope and content: The Optimistic Study Club Records consist of yearbooks, programs, agendas, announcements, and member profiles, including written recollections, obituaries, and news articles. About half of the collection is yearbooks (1992-2019), which typically include a brief history of the organization (written for the fiftieth anniversary of the club and reprinted); theme for the year and scheduled meetings, with topics to be discussed; by-laws;...

Scope and Content: The records consist of minute books, programs, photographs, and newspaper articles created by the Piano Study Club between 1930 and 2012 (bulk 1942-2006). The Club's activities were well documented in the minute books which begin in 1942. The Club hand-made programs (also called yearbooks) that listed the songs performed at each gathering. These programs begin in 1930 and are organized by year. Some programs were taped or glued...

Scope and content: Reminiscences of artist Meyer Wolfe as dictated to his nephew, Dr. Lawrence Wolfe. A three-page biographical sketch of Wolfe is followed by Wolfe's fifty-page reminiscences of Nashville during the first part of the 20th century. The reminiscences are divided into chapters which correspond primarily to different geographic areas of Nashville: Capitol Avenue; Public Square; College Street; Union Street; Cherry Street or Fourth...

Scope and content: Posters, photographs, art prints, and sound recordings gathered by Ryman Auditorium Marketing Department, documenting selected Ryman Auditorium events since the 1994 renovation, with emphasis on concerts and performances since 2000. Performing artists depicted on the show posters (the most numerous part of the collection) are a stylistically diverse lot, including George Jones, Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart, Harry Connick Jr., Elvis...

Scope and content: Scattered issues of Take One newspaper, published in Nashville, Tenn. Holdings begin with vol. 1 issue 5 (Dec. 1977/Jan. 1978) when it was published on a monthly basis, to vol. 3 no. 13 (Aug. 13, 1979), by which time it had become a weekly. The range of topics covered in each issue generally include: personality profiles and interviews; coverage of local television and radio stations; short fiction and essays; issues and topics...

Scope and content: Sheet music about Tennessee. Covers are illustrated, most in color. A few feature notations that the arrangements are "as sung by" artists such as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, and show a photograph of the famous performer on the cover.