This page includes information about collections and other resources related to Tennessee newspapers and/or Tennessee newspaper men and women.
UT Special Collections
The Journal and Tribune’s Book of Cartoons by Ernest E. Burtt (1909).
A selection of cartoons from the Knoxville Journal and Tribune‘s cartoonist, Ernest E. Burtt. The cartoons, take from the year’s papers (1909), include comments on politics (Taft’s election), prohibition, Cuba, and fashion.
Print copy available: NC1429.B87 A4.
Image: Cartoons Magazine. May 1913 [not held at UT].
Knoxville Journal and Tribune Assignment Book 1911.
A day-by-day, handwritten journal detailing the assignments and tasks allocated to the Journal & Tribune‘s reporters over the course of a year. Print copy available: MS.2197.
Charlie Daniel Editorial Cartoon Collection.
The Charlie Daniel Collection is held at the UT’s Special Collections. Daniel has been the editorial cartoonist at the Knoxville News Sentinel since 1992. Over 1,500 of his cartoons are available online.
Harry T. Burn Scrapbook. This scrapbook contains clippings from Tennessee newspapers documenting Harry T. Burn’s decisive vote ratifying the 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage). A print copy is available at UT: MS.1539.
Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Thompson Photograph Collection.
The Thompson brothers – Jim and Robin – were prolific photographers around the Knoxville area. The McClung Historical Collection’s website features about 60 photographs showing three Knoxville newspapers’ offices and staff.
Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee.
Dorothy Dix Collection. From the Felix G. Woodward Library: “As the forerunner of today’s popular advice columnists, Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (1861-1951) writing under the pen name Dorothy Dix, was America’s most widely read and highest paid journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on love and marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world. A most famous aphorism of hers was Dictates for a Happy Life. With an estimated audience of 60 million readers around the world she was a highly popular, respected and recognized personality.” Dix (Meriwether) was born and raised near Clarksville, Tennessee, and attended the Clarksville Female Academy.
Locations
Pressmen’s Home, near Rogersville, Tenn.
Pressmen’s Home was the headquarters for the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America, as well as a sanitarium, trade school, and home for retired pressmen. Read more about Pressmen’s Home in the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. The Archives of Appalachia holds the Pressmen’s Home photograph collection, 1907-1976, which also includes a short film, Partners in Printing (1964). An excerpt from the film is available on YouTube.
Issues of The American Pressman, the organization’s journal, which was printed at the Rogersville location, is available via Hathi Trust. Image: American Pressman. Dec. 1921.
Tennessee Newspaper and Printing Museum, Rogersville, Tenn.
The Tennessee Newspaper and Printing Museum houses items from several local print shops including type cabinets, printing presses, and the last linotype machine used in Tennessee (up until 1982), which came from the Rogersville Review.
Image: Linotype machine.. ca. 1906.
Rugby Printing Works, Historic Rugby, Tenn.
Historic Rugby in Morgan County is home to a 19th century printing works. At weekends, visitors can see the hand-operated printing presses in action and learn about the Rugbeian’s history.
Image: The Rugbeian.. June 1881.
Printers Alley, Nashville, Tenn.
Although no longer home to the printing trade, this site was formerly home to two newspaper offices, and numerous printers and publishers. The site’s past is commemorated with a large, decorative sign featuring a newsboy.