Regular readers of this blog know that one of my research interests is Nashville’s Stone-Campbell heritage. Judging from the folks who find my blog by searching for old Nashville churches like Foster Street Christian Church or Vine Street Christian Church or South College Street Church of Christ, I see I am not alone in my interest. Here’s my appeal:
I am assembling information from, by and about these churches, ministers and related organizations. Do you have paper (like directories or bulletins), photographs, sermons, postcards, old issues of periodicals like Gospel Advocate or Apostolic Times or ephemera from Nashville events like the Hardeman Tabernacle meetings or the Collins-Craig Auditorium Meeting, or the Nashville Jubilee? Do you have photographs or postcards of church buildings? For that matter, do you have an old map of Nashville that shows what the city was like in the 1940’s? or earlier? Do you have clippings from the newspapers about people or events or congregations in the Nashville or Davidson County area? Do you have memories of growing up at Vine Street Christian Church when it was still downtown? Or Reid Avenue Church of Christ, Russell Street Church of Christ or Charlotte Avenue Church of Christ (all three are now closed)? Would you be willing to talk with me–in person or by email or even by postal mail–to share your memories? Would you allow me to borrow your old paper, copy it and learn from it?
Old paper is the stuff from which history is written. And if it isn’t preserved then not only will vital data be lost but a story will be silenced. I believe the Nashville story is a rich story, and a story worth keeping and worth telling and worth preserving. With every funeral we lose some memory or story. The time has come for us to assemble what remains while we can, and ensure that through its preservation the story will not be forgotten.
Check the steamer trunks in your attics, the boxes in your basements and the files in the closets. Before you throw it away, email me. Let’s preserve it.
icekm (at) aol (dot) com
eScriptorium 