Representatives from the Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Tennessee State Museum will be in Sewanee May 28 to record and digitize Civil War memorabilia owned by local residents for a new exhibit.

Archivists will be at the University of the South Archives, 81 Alabama Avenue in Sewanee, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. that day. During that time, they invite area residents to bring in photographs, documents and other artifacts related to the Civil War.

The archivists will scan or take digital photographs of the materials, some of which will be featured in an exhibit titled, “Looking Back: The Civil War in Tennessee.” The archivists will not actually take possession of the items from their owners.

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Many families have great stories to tell - which can often be unearthed by searching through family videos, photo albums, or journals passed down from generation to generation. However, for some people, the idea of starting such a project is daunting. The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) has just the event to ease the stress of beginning family research.

The free workshop, called "Placing Leaves, Flowers, and a Few Nuts on Your Family Tree," will be held Saturday, June 1 from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the TSLA Auditorium. Author Jim Taulman will discuss the process of gathering and recording information for a family history.

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It was the constitutional amendment that tried – often unsuccessfully – to put Americans on the path to sobriety and in the process created a booming market for Tennessee’s providers of illegal moonshine whiskey.

The 18^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which launched the Prohibition era in 1920, was called the country’s “noble experiment.” That experiment ended 13 years later with the ratification of the 21^st Amendment – the only amendment to repeal another amendment - which halted Prohibition and brought imbibing back out of the shadows.

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Sixty-five students from the Volunteer State have qualified for a trip to Maryland this summer after their projects were judged the best of the best at Tennessee History Day over the weekend.

History Day is an event in which students in grades six through 12 present history-themed projects in a variety of formats – including museum-style exhibits, research papers, web sites, documentaries and live performances.

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On this date 94 years ago, Mary Cordelia Beasley Hudson etched her place in history by becoming the first woman to legally vote in Tennessee. Hudson cast her vote - for the winning candidate, she proudly noted - in a Camden mayoral election just five days after a law giving women the right to vote in Tennessee took effect. (The man she helped elect, A.V. Bowls, told a Nashville newspaper he was “puffed up” to have won the first election in which women were allowed to participate.)

That story is just one of many chronicled in the Tennessee State Library and Archives’ online exhibit about women’s suffrage. The exhibit titled,“Remember the Ladies!”: Women Struggle for an Equal Voice, can be found online at http://tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/suffrage/.

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With state employees and other downtown office workers home for the weekend, a special group of students will be converging on downtown Nashville Saturday to compete in Tennessee History Day. About 400 sixth- through 12-graders will be participating, with the winners advancing to the National History Day finals in College Park, Maryland June 9-13.

History Day is a competition in which students are judged on the quality of their exhibits, term papers, web sites, documentaries or live performances on historical topics. The theme of this year's event is “Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events.”

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Due to preparations for the Tennessee Waltz event at the State Capitol April 20, parking around the Tennessee State Library and Archives building will  limited on that day. Library users may need to find parking further away from the building than usual.

April 15 can be a taxing day for all of us living in modern times, but our ancestors didn’t have it much easier. Although our federal income tax only dates back to the Civil War era, Tennesseans have been paying state and local taxes since long before then.

Now Tennessee tax records dating back to 1783 are available free online to Tennesseans, thanks to a partnership between the Tennessee State Library and Archives and Ancestry.com. The online database contains records from 71 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Famous notables like Andrew Jackson (who paid $66 in taxes to Davidson County in 1829) appear side by side with ordinary farmers, millers and laborers.

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Westmoreland Public Library will receive a $50,000 grant from the state to help fund its expansion plans.

The expansion will include dedicated meeting space, better accessibility, exterior renovations, rearrangement of interior furnishings and work stations, a new book deposit and a new entrance. The library will be increasing its total floor space from 3,360 square feet to 5,376 square feet.

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The city of White House will receive a $100,000 grant from the state to support construction of a new 17,760 square-foot library. The new building will replace a 4,500 square-foot building the library has been sharing with a museum.

The new building, located on property adjacent to the White House City Hall, will feature dedicated spaces for teenagers and younger children, quiet study areas and a computer lab. The museum will expand into the space being vacated in the old building after the library relocates.

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The Stewart County Library is receiving a $15,000 grant from the state to help pay for an outdoor pavilion that will give local residents access to the Internet even when the library is closed.

The 36-foot x 17-foot pavilion will have lighting, seating, electrical outlets and WiFi access.

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Columbia is home to one of the biggest Mule Day celebrations in the world, but not everyone hasbeen able to make it to the many events held in the Maury County town this week.

But if you live too far away (or are just too stubborn) to participate in the festivities, don’t fret. If you have Internet access, you can get your mule fix by visiting “Got Mules? A Celebration of Mules in Tennessee History” – an online exhibit produced by the Tennessee State Library and Archives. 

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Representatives from the Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Tennessee State Museum will be in McMinnville April 17 to record and digitize Civil War memorabilia owned by local residents for a new exhibit.

Archivists will be at the Warren County Administration Building (early voting room), 401 Locust Street in McMinnville, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. April 17. During that time, they invite area residents to bring in photographs, documents and other artifacts related to the Civil War.

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Learning a new language just got a little easier, thanks to a new service that's being offered by the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL). Powerspeak Languages, an interactive online experience, allows everyone in Tennessee to learn new languages on their own schedules. This program is ideal for students, business professionals, leisure travelers, or anyone who simply wants a new skill.

“Part of our mission with the Tennessee Electronic Library is to inspire and engage life-long learning within our state,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “Powerspeak Languages helps us achieve that by offering learning opportunities for people of all ages – from high school students needing to brush up before tests, to professionals hoping for a few cultural tips before business trips, to retirees planning exotic vacations.”

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Representatives from the Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Tennessee State Museum will be in Morristown on March 26 and Dandridge on March 27 to record and digitize Civil War memorabilia owned by local residents for a new exhibit.

Archivists will be at the Morristown-Hamblen Library in Morristown from 3:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on March 26 and at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Dandridge from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on March 27. During those times, they invite area residents to bring in photographs, documents and other artifacts related to the Civil War.

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Requirements for earning a high school equivalency diploma are set to change next year, which may set off a scramble among people hoping to complete their course work under the existing rules. The format of the General Educational Development test, commonly known as the GED, will change January 1, 2014 – which means that people studying for the current test may have to start over if they don’t complete it this year.

The Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) can help. TEL is an online library that provides Tennesseans with free round-the-clock access to more than 400,000 resources. Many of those resources available through TEL’s Learning Express Library can help people who want to prepare for the GED.

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