An Old-fashioned Fourth of July Parade
Are you longing for an old-fashioned Fourth of July parade? Thanks to photographic archives preserved by Tennessee’s libraries, you can revisit parades from the turn of the 20th century, when the horse and buggy far outnumbered the motor car.
The above photos are publicly available through the Digital Library of Tennessee, a searchable online collection of documents and images from libraries and archives across the state. The UT Libraries played an important role in several collaborative digitization projects — such as the Digital Library of Tennessee, Volunteer Voices, and Tennessee Documentary History — that make our state’s rich cultural heritage available to a global audience.
The arrival of the automobile clearly did not stifle the creativity of parade participants:
For more historical images of Tennessee, visit UT Libraries’ digital collections, including Images of East Tennessee and Volunteer Voices.
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Sources:
- Fourth of July parade, Athens, Tenn., 1911 (?). Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981. ID# 10584. Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.
- Fourth of July parade, Dyersburg, Tenn., 1899. Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981. ID# 7325. Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.
- An old woman in a shoe float in the parade at Bemis, Tenn., 1900. Volunteer Voices. ID# 2504. Contributing institution: Union University (Jackson, Tenn.).
- A mule-drawn float in the parade at Bemis, Tenn., 1900. Volunteer Voices. ID# 2505. Contributing institution: Union University (Jackson, Tenn.).
- Fourth of July parade, Tracy City, Tenn., 1909. Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981. ID# 7484. Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.
- Summer School of the South, Fourth of July, Knoxville, Tenn., 1902. University of Tennessee Photograph and Slide Collection, AR.0018. Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives.
- Car decorated for the Fourth of July parade, 1923. Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981. ID# 9715. Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.
- Prize-winning automobile in the Fourth of July parade, Loudon, Tenn., 1925. Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981. ID# 9719. Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.