THS Spring 2020 Membership Programs

Wednesday, February 26, 2020
5:30 pm
Fort Negley Visitor Center
1100 Fort Negley Blvd
Nashville, TN 37203

Tennessee History Day Documentary Showcase
Jennifer C. Core, State Coordinator, Tennessee History Day

Join us for our annual documentary showcase. Tennessee students, competitors in National History Day, have been rewarded for their excellent films. We will be screening the national silver medalists’ documentary “For I Was Dying”: The Triumph and Tragedy of Ms. Eula Hall, about the efforts of Kentucky health care activist Eula Hall. We will also view X Marks the Spot: The Rosalind Franklin Story, about this pioneer in genome research.

Jennifer C. Core is the State Coordinator for Tennessee History Day, a competition and curriculum that has engaged 8,300 students in 2019–20. Tennessee History Day is the Tennessee Historical Society’s largest public program.

After Congress sent the 19^th Amendment to the states for ratification in June 1919, 35 of the needed 36 states approved the amendment by July 1920. But most states in the Old South rejected the 19^th in those same twelve months. Tennessee became the last hope for ratification–and a battleground over issues of gender, race, and state rights. This talk explores these controversies, which still echo a hundred years on.

Ann Toplovich is the executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society. Trained as an archaeologist, her career in public history has included stints as director of the Tennessee Main Street Program, deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, and Assistant Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Conservation.

The TSLA launched Patriot Paths in 2019, using Revolutionary War pension records to map the paths that these soldiers took before and after their service. Pension files have yielded the dates and places where the soldiers were born, married, enlisted, and died. That information was added to a database and then coordinated with GIS mapping software. Historians and genealogists can use Patriot Paths to search for veterans and study patterns of migration. Come learn about the website and some of their discoveries.

Chuck Sherrill was named State Librarian and Archivist of Tennessee by Secretary of State Tre Hargett in 2010. This appointment followed ten years of service to the City of Brentwood, where he was the director of one of Tennessee’s premier public libraries. Prior to that he was head of the research section of the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Reservations for the programs may be made by emailing the THS or by calling 615-741-8934.