West, Carroll Van, ed. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society, 1998. 1193pp.
Standard source for biographical information about individuals who have played an important role in the history of Tennessee.

Specialized Biographical Sources

• African Americans
• Artists
• Civil War
• Education
• Legal History
• Libraries
• Medicine
• Musicians
• Newspaper Journalists/Publishers
• Politics
• Religion
• Spanish American War
• Women
• World War I
• Writers

African Americans

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System [online]. Washington, DC: National Park Service, n.d. [cited 20 June 2002]. Available from: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_index.html.
The Sailors section of the site includes over 480 records of African American sailors from Tennessee.

Lovett, Bobby L., and Linda T. Wynn, eds. Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee [online]. Nashville, Tenn.: Annual Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, 1996. Available from: http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digital/digitizing.html.

Middleton, Ken, comp. African-American Women [online]. In Biographical Index to Tennessee Women. Updated 8 June 2002. Available from: http://www.mtsu.edu/~library/wtn/bio/afam-bio.html.

Artists

Index of Early Southern Artists and Artisans. See the Old Salem Online site for an overview of the index and database. See the Bibliography for the sources that were consulted for Tennessee and other states.

Williams, Derita Coleman, and Nathan Harsh. The Art and Mystery of Tennessee Furniture and Its Makers Through 1850. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society and Tennessee State Museum Foundation, 1988. 344p.

Civil War

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System [online]. National Park Service, n.d. [cited 20 June 2002]. Available from: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_index.html.
This database provides very basic facts about 5.4 million soldiers. Searches can be limited by state.

Sherrill, Charles A. Tennessee Civil War Research Sources [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library & Archives, 2000 [cited 30 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/civilwar.htm.

Criminal Justice

Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary, 1831-1850 [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library & Archives, n.d. [cited 23 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/inmate1.htm.

Education

Rogers, Lucille. Light from Many Candles: A History of Pioneer Women in Education in Tennessee. Nashville, Tenn.: Xi State, Delta Kappa Gamma, 1960.

Lawyers & Judges

Caldwell, Joshua W. Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Tennessee. Knoxville, Tenn.: Ogden, 1898. 402p.

Green, John W. Lives of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1796-1947. Knoxville: Archer and Smith, 1947. 337p.

Librarians

Middleton, Ken, comp. Librarians [online]. In Biographical Index to Tennessee Women. Updated 8 June 2002. Available from: http://www.mtsu.edu/~library/wtn/librarians-bio.html.

Medicine

Bomar, Ann. Tennessee Confederate Physicians: An Introduction [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library & Archives, n.d. [cited 23 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/docintro.htm.

Musicians

Wolfe, Charles K. Classic Country: Legends of Country Music. New York: Routledge, 2001. 318p.

Native Americans

Native American Research (Cherokee) at the Tennessee State Library & Archives

Newspaper Journalists/Publishers

Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame

Politics

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present

McBride, Robert M., et al., eds. Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly. 6 vols. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, 1975-91.

Spanish American War

Index to Service Abstracts of Soldiers in Tennessee Units in the Spanish American War [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, 2002 [cited 31 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/saw.htm.

Women

Bucy, Carole Stanford. Tennessee Women: A Guide for Teachers on Integrating Women into the Tennessee Social Studies Curriculum, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. Nashville: Tennessee Department of Education, 1994.

Dykeman, Wilma. Tennessee Woman: An Infinite Variety. Newport, TN: Wakestone Books, 1993.

Middleton, Ken, comp. Biographical Index to Tennessee Women [online]. 1995- . Available from: http://www.mtsu.edu/~library/wtn/bio/wtn-biog2.html.

World War I

Index to Tennessee Gold Star Records [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, updated 13 May 2002 [cited 31 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/goldstar.htm.

Tennessee World War I Questionnaires: An Introduction [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, updated 8 October 1998 [cited 31 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/ww1quest.htm.

Tennessee World War I Veterans: An Introduction [online]. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, updated 18 April 2002 [cited 31 May 2002]. Available from: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/ww1intro.htm.

Writers

Harris, Steven R., and Felicia Felder-Hoehne. Tennessee Authors: Past and Present [online]. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Libraries, n.d. [cited 19 June 2002]. Available from: http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/tnauthors/index.html.
Offers biographies of authors and bibliographies of primary and secondary works.

Additional Biographical Sources

• Biographical Index to Tennessee Women
• City Directories at the Tennessee State Library and Archives
• Social Security Death Index
• Tennessee Newspaper Obituary Indexes in Public Libraries [TSLA]
• TNGenWeb [Genealogy]