Library gets $1,200 for new records in Tennessee Room

The Jackson-Madison County Library is a resource for information about local history, and the facility received a grant this week to house even more records with that type of information.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett was in Jackson on Wednesday to present a check of $1,200 to Library Director Dinah Harris and Jack Wood, who is the coordinator of the Tennessee Room at the library where most local records are kept.

“This money will be for archival supplies like boxes and folders to take care of our recent donations of records,” Wood said.

New historical records

New records donated to the library include Hollywood Cemetery records, Jackson Fire Department log books from 1920-1982, records from Griffin Funeral Home from 1889-1985 and an array of local railroad records collected by local historian James Driver that includes records from the 1880s through the 1960s.

Local Tennessee General Assembly representatives Johnny Shaw and Chris Todd were on hand for the presentation, along with Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist and City Councilman Ernest Brooks II, and representatives of Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris and U.S. Congressman David Kustoff for Tennessee’s Eighth District.

“We consider the Tennessee Room the crown jewel of the library, and Jack does a great job coordinating that,” Harris said during the presentation. “These records will add to its purpose even more.”

Hargett’s presentation was one stop in a tour across the state for similar purposes.

“It’s a rigorous application process to make different grant awards to different libraries, and Jackson-Madison County Library has certainly been one we’ve made a number of contributions to,” Hargett said. “If we don’t respect our history and learn where we’ve been and what we’ve been about, then we’ll repeat failures of the past and won’t learn lessons we need to learn.

“And records found in the Tennessee Room could help settle court cases or family disputes locally, so people don’t understand the importance of records like the ones that are kept here.”

The grant came from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and is administered by the Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board. Hargett said there were about 20 grants awarded throughout the state, with $1,200 being the average amount.

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.