E. William Hale was born in 1875 in Oxford Mississippi, and moved with his family to Whitehaven in 1894. In addition to running a farm, the Hale family owned a general store at the corner of Highway 51 and Whitehaven-Capleville Road in rural Shelby...
John William “Bill” McAfee, Sr. was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1915. His family moved to Memphis when he was quite young and settled in the South Memphis area. McAfee dropped out of Southside High School and became a film...
Berl Olswanger, known as “Mr. Music,” was a highly talented and popular musician and civil leader in Memphis from the 1940s through the 1970s. During his career he worked as a performer, composer, band leader and music teacher. -- Olswanger...
arts; business; cemeteries; funerals; landscape architecture; libraries; market research; Memorial Park; postcards; public service; sculpture; women;
Katherine Hinds was born in Mississippi and spent her early years in Tupelo. She attended Randolph Macon Woman’s College in Virginia, but transferred to Southwestern College (now Rhodes) in Memphis and went on to graduate Phi Beta Kappa in...
assassination; Federal Bureau of Investigation; King, Martin Luther, Jr.; law enforcement; politics; public service; sanitation workers strike;
Frank C. Holloman was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, and grew up in nearby Ruleville. After graduating from Ruleville High School in 1932, Holloman attended the University of Mississippi, where he earned a law degree in 1937. Later that year he...
business; economy; Firestone Tire and Rubber Company; Firestone, Raymond C.; Frayser; industry; New Chicago; rubber;
Material in the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Collection provides important information on the company that at one time was the largest manufacturer in Memphis, employing thousands of individuals working in a facility that covered several...
airplanes; Battle of Memphis; Civil War; Korean War; martial law; mayors; military; planes; propaganda; public service; ration cards; war supplies; World War I; World War II;
The Memphians During War collection consists primarily of materials relating to the involvement of Memphians in the Civil War, World War I and World War II. -- The material on the Civil War largely relates to events which took place in Memphis and...
art education; arts; clubs; historic preservation; museums; neighborhoods; public service; women;
Florence Makin McIntyre is remembered as the First Lady of Memphis Art. She was born in Memphis in 1878 and grew up in her family home, the Pillow-McIntyre House, at 707 Adams Avenue in the historic Victorian Village neighborhood. As a child she...
civil engineering; drafting; drainage structures; engineering; expressways; floods; highways; land use; levees; mayors; public service; public works; railroads; rivers; sewage; streets; zoning;
Thomas E. Maxson was born in LaBette County, Kansas in 1901 and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M College in 1922 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. After receiving his degree, Maxson worked for a year...
community planning; corrections; government; land use; parks; prisons; public service; traffic; volunteerism; women;
Ruth Friedman Loewenberg grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended George Washington University. While in Memphis visiting her sister, she met William A. Loewenberg, and she described their meeting as “love at first sight.” They later married...
bridges; casualties of war; family; fashion; government; law; mayors; military; parks; public service; railroads; recreation; social life; women; World War I;
Harry H. Litty was born in 1862 in Toledo, Ohio. After attending North Kentucky College, he began his business career with the Toledo, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railroad. His work with the railroad brought him to Memphis, where he was an engineer...
dengue fever; disease; Gorgas, William Crawford; LePrince, Joseph A.; malaria; Manson, Patrick; mosquito control; public health; Reed, Walter; sanitation; science; yellow fever;
The Joseph A. LePrince Collection provides significant information on LePrince’s life and work in public health and includes a wide range of materials pertaining to worldwide efforts to conquer insect-vectored diseases, especially mosquito borne...
agriculture; automobile safety; cars; cattle; Cohn, Robert; cotton; crime; dairy farming; floods; immigration; Jews; Mississippi River; patriotism; prisoners of war; public service; rivers; silk production; theater; travel; World War II;
Robert Cohn was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1874. He moved to Memphis at the age of 26 and began working in the cotton industry. He then shifted his focus to the operation of the Heart’s Delight Dairy and Poultry Farm at Forest Hill, which served...
The Civil War Letters and Documents Collection is a compilation of several small groups of papers acquired by the Memphis and Shelby County Room at different times and from various sources. The collection includes correspondence, business...
downtown; entertainment; fires; Goldsmith family; hotels; recreation; social life;
In the mid-19th century, the Gayoso House was known up and down the Mississippi River for its elegance and hospitality. Nestled in a grove of trees above terraces and landscaped gardens, it had a view of the river for fifteen miles. From the...
