Draper Manuscript Collection

The Draper Manuscript Collection is a significant regional source that includes records of Tennessee:

Draper, Lyman Copeland. Draper Manuscript Collection. Chicago: University of Chicago Library, 1970s. (On 147 FHL films beginning with 889098; computer number 254597.)

The collection consists of nearly 500 volumes of manuscripts, papers, and books collected by Lyman Copeland Draper about the history of the trans-Allegheny West, a region including the western areas of the Carolinas and Virginia, all the Ohio River Valley, and part of the upper Mississippi Valley, from the 1740s to 1830.

The collection is divided into 50 series. Some series are titled by geographic area, some by the names of prominent frontier leaders, and some by topic.

The bulk of the collection consists of notes from interviews, questionnaires, and letters gathered during Draper’s extensive travels and research to learn about frontier history. Personal papers are much rarer than government or military records.

The collection includes many genealogical or biographical items. For an inventory and partial indexes, see:

Harper, Josephine L. Guide to the Draper Manuscripts. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983. (FHL book 977.583/M1 A3h; fiche 6050187; computer number 37812.) This guide gives series and volume descriptions for some of the Draper manuscripts. There are several indexes at the end of the book, including a name and subject index, an additional personal data index, and a list of references to Tennessee.

Wolfe, Barbara Schull. Index to Lyman C. Draper Manuscripts. Logansport, Ind.: B.S. Wolfe, 197x. (FHL book 977.583/M1 A3w; computer number 525504.) The name index gives the series and volume numbers but is not complete.

State Histories

Folmsbee, Stanley John. History of Tennessee. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1960. (FHL book 976.8 H2fs; computer number 255336.) This is a basic history of Tennessee, not indexed.

Goodspeed History of Tennessee. [Nashville, Tenn.]: Restoration and Reproduction Section, Library and Archives Division, Tennessee Dept. of Education, 1965. Microreporduction of county sections of: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present. Nashville: Goodspeed Publishing, 1886–1887. (FHL films 899865–67; computer number 14130.) This source contains histories of Tennessee counties, including a military history and an appendix of biographies.

Ramsey, James Gettys McGready. The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century: Comprising Its Settlement as the Watauga Association, from 1769–1777; a Part of North Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; the State of Franklin, from 1788 to 1790; the Territory of the U.S. South of the Ohio, from 1790 to 1796; the State of Tennessee, from 1790 to 1800. 1853. Reprint, N.p.: 1967. (FHL book 976.8 H2r; film 24525; computer number 255381.) This extensive history of the early settlement era includes a map, a few biographical sketches, and an index.

West, Carroll Van. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. Nashville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998. (FHL book 976.8 H2te; computer number 828600.) This comprehensive alphabetical work contains topics, biographies, and events representing aspects and disciplines of Tennessee’s history.

Local Histories

Some of the most valuable sources for family history research are local histories. Published histories of towns, counties, and states usually contain accounts of area families. The United States Research Outline (30972) “History” section cites nationwide bibliographies of local histories which includes local histories of Tennessee. For a statewide bibliography of local histories, see:

Smith, Sam B., 1929. Tennessee History: A Bibliography. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, [1974]. (FHL book 976.8 A3s; This resource is a comprehensive guide to state and country history sources and manuscripts.

Goodspeed Publishing has published histories for various regions of Tennessee. These books included sections for each county in the area. Another source for the counties of Tennessee is:

Foster, Austin Powers. Counties of Tennessee. 1923. Reprint, Greenville, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1990. (FHL book 976.8 E2fa; computer number 647574.) The record is arranged alphabetically by county, followed by a brief description of how each county was formed. It includes A Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses— Tennessee, 1790–1920 by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide, and it is indexed.

The Family History Library has a sizeable history collection for Tennessee consisting of two main types of records:

• Published histories of the state, its counties, and towns often contain maps, information on religious and civic organizations, and biographies of individuals and families who have lived there.
• Copies of documents on microfilm and in published form broaden a genealogist’s understanding of the times and places in which ancestors lived. Many of the documents include names of individuals involved in the event being documented.