Appalachia (Special Collections): Great Smoky Mountains National Park

J. Fred Baumann Jr. Collection, 1839-1999, MS.2053

This collection houses correspondence, minutes, sketched maps, membership lists, newspaper articles, bylaws, deeds, wills, rough architectural drawings, photographs, and a VHS tape documenting the Elkmont community in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The bulk of the material dates from the 1980s and 1990s and documents the National Park Service's struggle to evict the area's residents so that the structures could be razed and the land returned to its natural state

Carson Brewer Articles Collection, 1949-1991, MS.2048 & Carson Brewer Articles, MS.2435

Carson Brewer wrote these columns for the Knoxville News-Sentinel on such subjects as Knoxville, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the people and communities of the Smoky Mountains region, and the Tennessee Valley Authority between the 1940s and the 1980s.

William Cox Cochran Great Smoky Mountains Photographic Collection, 1886, MS.0552

W. C. Cochran took these 89 photographs during August of 1886. The majority of the images depict areas that were later incorporated into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including Chilhowee Range, Nebo Mountain, and Miller's Cove. These images can also be found in the William Cox Cochran Digital Collection.

Ilene Jones Cornwell Collection, 1923-1994, MS.2054

Series I of this collection contains photographs, correspondence, sketches, postcards, clippings, publications, and other materials documenting Paul J. Adams. Many of these items discuss Adams' beloved dog, Cumberland Jack II. Of particular interest is a typewritten manuscript for Adams' unpublished Cumberland Jack.

Leroy. G. Fox Collection, 1927-1999, MS.2051

This collection houses articles, assessments, brochures, correspondence, magazines, maps, newsletters, newspaper articles, notes, minutes, plans, reports, photocopies, and more documenting Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Great Smoky Mountains organizations, including the Great Smoky Mountain Park Commission and the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club.

George Washington Fry Collection, 1911-1973, MS.2056

Fox was superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountain's National Park from 1963-1969. His collection includes his memoir: George Fry: The Legend, which is primarily devoted to his experiences with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Service and his time in the Great Smoky Mountain's National Park.

John Peine Collection, 1982-1990, MS. 2029

The John Peine Collection houses drafts, reports, proposals, letters, and memoranda documenting various issues affecting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As former Research Administrator and Director of the Uplands Research Laboratory, Peine's collection focuses on conservation issues.

Mountain View Hotel Register, 1927-1933, MS.0622

This collection houses six volumes documenting the activities of the Mountain View Hotel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, between 1927 and 1933.

Laura Thornburgh Collection, 1926-1946, MS.0195

This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, articles, news clippings, pamphlets, and books concerning Laura Thornburgh and her book, The Great Smoky Mountains.

Dunn-Oliver Collection, 1730-1983, MS.3690

Collection of photographs, memoirs, and other documents about Cades Cove collected by Durwood Dunn, author of Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 1818-1937.

Terra Incognita:  An Annotated Bibliography of the Great Smoky Mountains, 1544–1934, 2014, F443 .G7 B75 2014

Terra Incognita: An Annotated Bibliography of the Great Smoky Mountains is the first comprehensive, annotated bibliography of the region's pre-1935 material. The bibliography emphasizes scarce and difficult-to-locate historical material. It includes introductory essays, a chronology, and annotated citations on all published formats, including books, periodical articles, government documents, films, maps, and dissertations, organized in subject sections.

The Terra Incognita Reader: Early writings from the Great Smoky Mountains, 2019, F443.G7 T464 2019

Database of the Smokies 

The Database of the Smokies is a database of publications about the Great Smokey Mountains region and contains citations and subject indexing for articles, books, maps, and government reports from 1935 to the present. 

Postcards from the Great Smoky Mountains

Postcards from the Great Smoky Mountains contains postcards and accordion-style souvenir folders from the early to mid-twentieth century drawn from a variety of manuscript collections. This collection documents travel in the Smokies, preserving iconic scenery and locales that tourists would remember and share with others.

Smoky Mountains Hiking Club Collection

The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club was founded in 1924 to encourage and support recreation and preservation of the Great Smoky Mountains as a national park. The new collection includes photographs from the early years of the club and all the handbooks from 1926 to present.

Fifty Years in Cades Cove

Fifty Years in Cades Cove is the historical and genealogical writings of John W. Oliver, a longtime resident of Cades Cove.
Accompanying the three memoirs are approximately thirty photographs that document places and people in the memoirs and the Oliver family.

William Derris Collection

Kodachrome slides from the 1940s and 1950s taken in many iconic Smokies locations, primarily on the East Tennessee side of the mountains.

Herbert M. Webster Photograph Collection

Images from the Great Smoky Mountains taken by skilled amateur photographer Herbert Webster from 1926 to 1955.

The Panoramic Images of Elgin P. Kintner, M.D.

A series of panoramic images taken by Dr. Kintner in the 1960s and 1970s. Some images have two versions, one as Dr. Kintner created them and another with the peaks identified.

Paul J. Adams Photograph Collection

Images of the top of Mt. Le Conte taken in the 1920s by Adams. These rare photographs depict a camp on Le Conte run by Adams and his companion, his dog Cumberland Jack.

William Cox Cochran Photograph Collection

William Cox Cochran captured these 89 images of East Tennessee during August 12 thru 30, 1886. The photographs are of East Tennessee people and landmarks, mostly located in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Albert "Dutch" Roth Digital Photograph Collection

This online archive presents the work of one of the most important photographers of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some 1200 digital images depict pioneer life in the Greenbrier and Mt. Le Conte Sections, and document the early stages of the park’s creation.

Tales from the Woods

Personal journal of Albert G. "Dutch" Roth, documenting hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains area through stories and photographs spanning 1924-1959. With his camera and typewriter, Roth records observations of the people and places of the mountains from 728 documented hikes.

Thompson Brothers Digital Photograph Collection

Images of the Great Smoky Mountains as seen through the lenses of Knoxville photographers Jim and Robin Thompson. Photographers are taken from collections held at University of Tennessee Libraries Special Collections, Knox County Public Library's McClung Historical Collection, Harvard University, and Colorado College.

 The Great Smoky Mountains Colloquy 

The Great Smoky Mountains Colloquy is the biannual newsletter for the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project.  It contains stories about the Smokies, information on books and other published materials, reviews, and updates about the project.