Adults

Ghost with a lantern

From ghosts to zombies throughout the years, find a curated collection of deep cuts in our collection to get you in the perfect mood this spooky season.

Nashville Fire Dept Fire Log from Medic 5

During the Main Library's closure, I'm delving into the Fire Dept. Collection, which includes fascinating fire log books. As I sift through these records, I'm uncovering that they reveal much more than just fire runs and hall operations—they are a treasure trove of important Nashville history. 

On July 8, Goodlettsville Branch Library celebrated 13 years at their current location. See how the branch has adapted over the years to meet the needs of their community.

summer reading-adult

Nashville Public Library's Summer Reading Challenge (SRC) isn't just for kids. Learn how SRC can help promote better reading habits, lifelong literacy, and continuous cognitive development at any age. The Nashville Public Library offers an inclusive and engaging summer reading challenge designed for adults. With a rich history and clear goals, the program invites participants of all backgrounds to join.

Children reading books that partially obscure their faces.

Writing books for adults and writing books for children are two very different things.  Yet some writers for adults have also written for kids! Learn about picture book titles written by some of the titans of literature. 

 

 

Photo of Jack Harding with the Pacific Ocean in the background

The tale of the first flight around the globe is filled with engaging and often eye-opening anecdotes. While we've included some in the exhibit at Metro Archives (on display until the beginning of October), there are plenty more to explore! Read a selection of them here.

2024 Adult Education Spring Summit and Adult Educator of the Year

May 15, 2024 Marked the 8th Annual Adult Education Spring Summit! This is a free professional conference for adult education providers, administrators, and students at the Main Branch of Nashville Public Library. This event is able to be held each year through generous donations from the Nashville Public Library Foundation and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, wherein the Adult Educator of the Year for Davidson County is recognized and offered a minigrant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. 

Cathy Strahan — Traveling Children's Librarian at NPL — shares her hopes for what the new position can bring to Nashville communities.
 

librarian avatar

As a child, I categorized people by genres, eras, or media to remember them better. It helped me define how I felt about them and their impact on me. Without this, I would unfortunately forget them as soon as they were out of sight, and that still holds true today!

Photo of the historic flight crew after they returned home

Didn't attend Metro Archives opening program for their current aviation exhibit? No worries, check out the recording of the program here! The exhibit is "Nashville's Magellan of the Air: 100th Anniversary of the First Flight to Circumnavigate the World". It runs through October 7th, 2024. 

Cover of picture book "The Ferris Wheel." Image has large goldfish floating in foreground above a ferris wheel set off in a rectangular stone arch. There are queues of people flanking each side of stone arch framing the ferris wheel. On the left hand side, there is boy with his mother. He is wearing a yellow raincoat. On the right hand side a girl is accompanied by her father. She wears red, and he carries a blue suitcase.

In the Turkish import The Ferris Wheel, the stories of a boy and a girl living in different parts of the world intertwine in an exceedingly moving and timely picture book. 

Adventures for the New Year, Adult Literacy Book Picks to Inspire Reading

Here are some of the Adult Literacy Staff's favorite picks from the Fresh Reads collection to inspire reading in the New Year. These titles seek to test the limits of our world and existence. Fresh Reads is a stigma-free book collection explicitly designed for adults learning to read. These are great resources for native English-speaking adults who are developing basic literacy and adults learning English as a second language. 


 

It's The Manager

Leadership starts from the top. It’s The Manager by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter, uncovers the steps needed for long-term organizational success.

Dr Bunch

Metro Archives' Fall Intern, Jamie Erwin, had the pleasure of processing a unique collection for her internship - the "Dr. Ray C. Bunch Collection". If we have any other doctors' collections in our repository, it wouldn't be as thorough and informative as this one. But I'll allow Jamie to tell you about Dr. Bunch and his family in her own words. 

homemade christmas tree angel

Today, we will discuss Marcia Fenn's upcoming Blessing Tree (November-December) and Black History Month Scavenger Hunt (February 2024).
Marcia Fenn has been a Library Associate at Nashville Public Library's Edmondson Pike Branch since 2021. Over the past three years, she has created and presented multiple popular programs at the Edmondson Pike branch, such as a yearly Breast Cancer Walk, Blessing Tree, and Black History Month Scavenger Hunt. She also runs weekly and monthly programs such as Get Your Walk On, Craft Saturday, The Players Club, and Reading in Color.

black yogi centering the self and sipping some tea

Experience the blissful union of mind, body, and soul with timeless yoga and meditation practices. Whether you're just dipping your toes or a seasoned pro, there's always room for growth and discovery. That's why we've handpicked a collection of books that will take you on a journey through these sacred arts and elevate your practice to new heights.

Top Ten of 2023

Hope you find some gems that you may not have seen on other end-of-year lists!

Image contains a Santa in a red suit, white beard, and cap waving

In the now 200 years since it was first published, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" has become a beloved staple of many a holiday celebration. You and your family can experience this classic poem in picture books, in oh so many ways! 

Book Cover of "Let's Play Gonggi." Image contains two children, a boy and a girl, playing with plastic game pieces; boy uses game pieces to simulate goggles.

Many of us adults now look back on our decidedly low-tech childhood pastimes with fondness. Tap into this nostalgia with  Let's Play Gonggi, a picture book from Korea! 

 

 

4 cookbooks

Check out these four recent cookbooks you may have missed!

Full moon in a cloudy night sky.

Ready for Halloween? Check out Paige's latest spooky read! Yes, we know that Halloween is two months away but who says we can't start celebrating now?

Tennessean clipping of St. Louis NARA fire

July 12th of this year marked the 50th anniversary of one of the most devastating events to occur in the archives' world - the fire that broke out at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. If you're not familiar with this event, check out this post that discusses what happened and how the records in Metro Archives help make up for the damaged records. 

montana story 2021 starring owen teague and haley lu richardson
Two estranged siblings return home to their family's ranch. They find their father in a coma, and the home they once knew and loved unfamiliar and empty. They are left with a past of hurt and bitterness that must be confronted against a contemporary Western American backdrop.

 

Beatrix Potter was not only a brilliant author/illustrator of Children's books, but also a conservationist, natural scientist, and a downright fascinating woman. On display at the Frist Art Museum in downtown Nashville until September 17th, "Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature" is an incredibly rich and engaging celebration of Potter's life and work. Both children and adults alike will enjoy this timeless collection, a beautifully curated and re-imagined collage of nature drawings, children's book illustrations, photography, and interactive activities!

Good things come in threes! Celebrate Pride by checking out these incredible queer trilogies. 

Win at Spades: Basic and Intermediate Techniques

Learning how to play Spades is easy. But being good at it is an entirely different thing. In Win at Spades, Basic and Intermediate Techniques, you will learn terminology, how to bid, defend, and, most importantly, how to win.

Sometimes your just want to read a snappy story that makes you learn. These are those stories.

white person in brown shirt, holding white sign with green chasing arrows image

Ok, "borrow" definitely isn't one of the 3 R's, but it should be an honorary member. And when you borrow from NPL instead of buy new, you're doing our Earth a huge favor. Plus, now there's so much more you can borrow from your library -- take a look!

We Own This City

We Own This City, written by former Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton, (now an HBO limited series), is a true story covering the corruption inside the Baltimore Police Department. This book highlights the sad truth some police officers are willing to do to pad stats as well as their wallets. It also reveals the extreme measures some will go to prevent being charged with their crimes. 

Cover image of Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II. Contains a girl dressed in red coat and hat, carrying a small brown suitcase. She is holding the hand of an unseen adult. The girl is reflected in the water puddle on the cobblestone streets. There are also three war planes reflected in the puddle.

This year's Mildred L. Batchelder Award, given to an outstanding children's book translated into English, is the wonderful Italian middle grades memoir Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II. Sensitive and age appropriate, this standout book is an ideal shared read aloud for older children.

Have you ever wanted to read Dune but the sheer size of it makes you think otherwise? I was in that same boat and finally tackled the book. See how I, a librarian with a short attention span, made it through this Sci-Fi tome!

Don't waste your time on hearts this Valentine's Day. Steal something that matters - like art! (But, you know, don't.)

Books to Screen 2023

As always, there are a multitude of adaptations in the works this year!  Here are a few of the most anticipated.

We've done quite a few cooking programs at the Green Hills Teen Center. Learn about some of my favorite dishes we've created and have some recommendations for related cookbooks!

reissues covers

I love keeping up with new releases, but even more exciting is when a book crosses space and time to reach you at the perfect moment.  That, my friends, is the joy of reissues.

Sidney O'Berry Collection - State Capitol covered in snow in 1976

If you're dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you might get your wish. In Nashville? Yes! How common is that? Not very, according to our weather reports and news clippings. But here are the highlights from the few times it has occurred. 

Have you ever been listening to a podcast only to find out there are no more episodes left? Have no fear, there might be a book for that new favorite podcast of yours.

I originally wrote this blog post for March, 2018, because for some unknown reason, genealogy research seems to pick up around the end of February through March. Well, the trend has occurred again during quarantine, and this time makes more sense - you're home and you figure, why not? For whatever reason, we welcome the frequency of usage of our genealogy records. Here's a list of our most helpful and commonly-used materials, and some other tips when doing family research, with a few new additions. UPDATED AGAIN IN 2022 WITH THE ADDITION OF ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION TO THE LIBRARY WEBSITE!

Book cover of When Dad Was Away by Liz Weir. Cover includes redheaded girl reading a book with a green cover against a yellow background.

December is a time of holiday celebrations for many families. For families with a parent currently incarcerated, however, the reality is very different. Picture books about incarceration can help children and parents talk about a complex topic that affects millions of children and families in the United States.

Scarritt-Bennett Center Collection - Celebration of Culture Festival

The semester is soon to wrap up, so Metro Archives is bringing you another cool blog post from our fall intern, Morgan Stence. Morgan processed the Scarritt Bennett Collection, primarily containing materials from the Celebration of Cultures Festival. Learn about it from her own words. 

501 Unarmed Self-Defense Skills

Self-defense is one of the most important skills I believe anyone should have. I like to say, “better to know but not need.” In 501 Unarmed Self-Defense Skills, Chris McNab gives you simple techniques you can use to ward off an attacker.

A person wearing black fingerless gloves holds a cardboard cutout in the shape of a house

November 12-20 is National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Listen to a couple of Nashville StoryCorps interviews, from a formerly unhoused person and an activist for the poor and unhoused.

Book cover illustration which includes three Wampanoag figures and a fox

Many of us are gearing up to celebrate Thanksgiving at the end of the month. But how do teach what is actually a complicated story of conflict and colonization? Learn about books from our collection and online resources that can help us teach a more accurate history.

Fire Company Number 4

October is Archives' Month - a month-long celebration of archivists and archival work. And this year's theme is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fire Prevention Week. So "We didn't Start the Fire!", but we're helping prevent future ones from happening!

Donelson Branch Library has served its community since 1966. Its success has played an integral part in the approval of a new facility for Donelson. 

Breaking Blue Real Life Stories of Cops Falsely Accused

Sean “Sticks” Larkin (formally of Live PD fame) has written his first book Breaking Blue: Real Life Stories of Cops Falsely Accused. This book highlights his and other members of law enforcement’s experiences of being falsely accused.

bdsm 101 by rev jen

In BDSM 101 Rev Jen speaks frankly about sex and sex work, and her sexual encounters with partners and clients. The book functions as a how-to, and a biography on Rev Jen’s time as a pro-sub, and her life as a "consummate perv."
 

Cover of Bravo!: Poems About Brave Hispanics by Margarite Engle

During Hispanic Heritage Month we intentionally recognize the many contributions made by persons of Latin American, Hispanic, and Latina/o descent to every part of U.S. American life. Check out these picture book biographies about Hispanic and Latino trailblazers, strivers, and justice seekers. 

Unknown Green Hills home

One of the many services Metro Archives offers is property research, which can be a complicated process, so this blog post is here to provide some clarity of what's involved and how you can start the research on your own! And no, we can't tell you if your home is haunted, sorry. 

There are more comics to read than ever before, and now there's a new way to read them: Comics Plus!

Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do

Are you wondering how to motivate employees to be their best self? Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do by Daniel M. Cable discuss why this is lacking in some organizations and how to create an environment that allows for creativity and increase productivity.  

Portrait of Genevieve Baird Farris

This edition of the Metro Archives' intern blog post series comes to you from summer intern, Sabrina Austin, who processed the Genevieve Baird Farris Collection for her internship project. While processing, Sabrina learned about the strong affection the Harris family had for each other, as well as how active they were in Nashville social life. Learn about them from Sabrina herself!

Globe of wold made up of stacks and different formations of books

Add some picture books in translation to your reading routine! Picture books by international creators offer different perspectives, and feature groundbreaking art and narratives.

Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers

Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is the long awaited return of Kendrick Lamar. This album discusses what he was dealing with during his absence and the growth that came along with it. 

1888 Sanborn Maps

The third week of June marks "Lightning Safety Awareness Week", and we just so happen to be transcribing more weather journals right now thanks to volunteers, so here are some excerpts from these journals that highlight some of the various "electrical events" in Nashville's past. 

Diversity in the Workplace

In the book Diversity in the Workplace, Bari A Williams, Esq. conducts a series of interviews discussing some of the diversity challenges that happen in the workplace. The goal of this book is to induce conversations about privilege, identity and bias. 

legendborn by tracy deonn

Bree Matthews thinks she's found the perfect escape from her parents and small town when she's accepted into UNC-Chapel Hills residential program for high school students. But then her mom dies, and her perfect escape becomes an escape from grief and guilt. Then, magic and mythical monsters turn to reality which puts everyone around her in peril. 

Check out some of the things NPL staff members have done to help build a more sustainable Nashville!

Military portrait of Bernard Sanderson

This blog post comes to you from Metro Archives' intern, Sami Olesen, who processed the Bernard Sanderson Collection for her internship project. While processing the collection, she learned that Bernard Sanderson led quite an eventful life. But don't listen to me - let Sami tell you his story. 

Tennessean clipping from May, 1950

On Friday, April 1st, 2022, the 1950 U.S. Census records were released, and that provides a lot of new information for anyone researching their family. This set came with some new ways to search as well, which also comes with some bumps in the road, so here are some helpful tips of how to conduct your research. 

Cover of Kats Hats by Daniel Pinkwater. Image contains one boy wearing a blue and white striped scarf and an orange tabby cat in the shape of a hat on his head.

At Kat Hats Incorporated, cats are trained to serve as hats  for people looking for maximum warmth. Who is the warmest cat, however, and how will he rise to the challenge when his skills are called upon? 

anti diet christy harrison

Over half of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. Upwards of 90% of those who have intentionally lost weight have gained it back within five years. Plus, over half of those who embark on weight-loss efforts, end up gaining more weight than they lost. Why are we so obsessed with dieting when it is clearly ineffective? 

The problem is diet culture (aka the wellness diet): a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue. It promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. Ultimately, it's sexist, racist, and classist, yet it's so enmeshed in our moral fabric that it's hard to recognize and extricate. Today, it masquerades as health, wellness, fitness, and inspirational Instagrams, but it's still all-consuming and harmful.

Emancipation Records for James Hendricks

Of the various projects that we work on in Metro Archives, the Nashville Enslaved and Free People of Color Database is one we started several years ago, and are still actively adding to. If you're interested in learning more about what the database includes and how to use it, please read on. 

Headshot of Ashley Bryan. He is an older African American man with white hair and a mustache,

During a career spanning over six decades, Ashley Bryan (1923-3022) illustrated more than 70 children's picture books in a variety of media and in several genres. 

Beth Deeb

Join Us as We Celebrate Women’s History Month by Recognizing a Few of the Amazing Ladies Who Call our Library Home

Nashville City Cemetery

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of Nashville's oldest continuously-operated public cemetery - the Nashville City Cemetery. Nestled quaintly on the northeast side of Fort Negley and just off 4th Ave S, the cemetery might seem like only a quiet piece of Nashville's history, with only the graves of many Nashvillians. But if it could speak, it would have many interesting anecdotes to tell.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

This review originally appeared in the Panel Discussion zine, a print supplement to the Main Library's Panel Discussion book club. If you'd like to join the club or receive a copy of the zine at your branch, email Jeremy at jeremy.estes@nashville.gov.

Discipline by Dash Shaw

Jeremy shares a review from the latest issue of the Panel Discussion zine. Pick up a copy of the zine at the Main Library or write to jeremy.estes@nashville.gov to get a copy sent to your branch. 

Crash Site by Nathan Cowdry

Jeremy shares a review from a recent issue of the Panel Discussion zine. This monthly zine is a print supplement to the Panel Discussion book club and can be found at the Main Library and select local stores. If you'd like a copy sent to your branch, email jeremy.estes@nashville.gov

Listing for W.T. Berry & Co. in 1859

Bookstores tend to be a popular shopping spot during the holidays, especially some of our local businesses such as Parnassus and Elder's Bookstore. But has that ever made you curious about the history of Nashville's local bookstores? Archives' Intern Sapphire is here to fill you in on a little literary history. 

We lost too many literary hard-hitters in 2021. Explore the works of a sampling of these talented writers whom we won't forget.

Rice's works have been a thread winding through my life, periodically making themselves known like snags in a sweater begging for attention and tending.

Best of 2021

Presenting my 11 favorite books of the year.  I really wanted it to be a top 10 list, but I couldn’t bring myself to cut any of these!
 

Nashville Public Library has a number of resources that help provide support and reassurance to children and adults with Diabetes I.

Evidence tag from the weapon shot by Jake Rader

Nashville is not a city that lacks in stories of feuds and strange murder cases, and I'm bringing you another one just in time for Halloween. It involves a business rivalry gone bad, from our recently-indexed Criminal Court Case Files. 

 

You may not realize it, but if you’re over 18 and you’re learning a subject or a skill outside of traditional “higher education” (think college or university), there is an entire branch of education (andragogy) dedicated to better understanding your unique needs, motivations, and approaches to learning.

View of Archives front doors

October is not only the month of pumpkin spice, ghosts, and candy corn...it's also Archives' Month! That means it's the month that we honor the work of all archivists, and work to raise awareness of the importance of historical documents and records. So, in celebration of this fun-filled month, here's a little behind-the-scenes peak at Metro Archives and their staff. 

Cover of Bright Star by Yuyi Morales. Pink background with a fawn and cactus.

The publication of a new book by Yuyi Morales is always a cause for celebration—and for immediately placing a hold on one's library account. Published in September of this year, Bright Star is an incandescently beautiful picture book about love, courage, and caring for one another

Quiver book cover

It's Banned Books Week! Tennessee Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee shares a few of its favorite challenged or controversial books.

Children can learn the basic rules of social engagement from an early age.  Nashville Public Library's catalog has the resources for teaching and learning social skills.

Yoke: my yoga of self acceptance

Yoga means to yoke. Yoke means to join together. So, what are we joining together when practicing yoga? Is it simply a workout, or something else? Jessamyn Stanley explores the idea of yoking when it comes to yoga, especially among American practitioners.

Page from Newsweek magazine, from September 2001

This is part II in the series commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks. This post continues with more library staff memories of that day. 

Photo of 9/11 Memorial in NYC

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and to remember all those lost due to that day's tragic events, this post takes a look back at that day through the eyes of several Library staff members, and a few other unique perspectives. 

New Nonfiction

2021 has been a great year for nonfiction so far.  Here are four titles you may have missed:

Book Cover of Sharing a Smile by Nicki Kramar

Picture books can help children (and their parents) process big emotions around major life events, such as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Children's book creators have risen to the occasion and produced books that children and adults can both enjoy. 

High Anxiety

Anxiety is hard to live with, but it makes for some great literature.

Summertime fun times almost always include ice cream!  Celebrate summer with your family by creating your own icy cold treats at home.  It's easy and we have resources!

Book cover of My First Day

The first day of elementary school is a big event in a child’s life. Some children mark the day with new outfits and a bevy of pictures. Others, meanwhile, begin the first of many intrepid commutes to school. This delightful picture book details one such adventure to get to school. 

If you're looking for some simpler, lighter recipes for the summer months, this beautifully designed cookbook will give you the inspiration you need.

Can you believe it?! The downtown library has called Church Street home for 20 years now! Let's take a look back at the history of the downtown library, and how it came to call 615 Church Street home. 

Sharing short travel experiences outside of the city is a great way to make memories and learn more about our beautiful state's past and present.  Shown is York Mill located on the Wolf River in Pall Mall.

Just the Good Stuff book cover

Just the Good Stuff has this magical quality where everything you make is somehow better than it ought to be.

elevation by stephen king

Scott Carey looks normal, yet he is gradually losing more and more weight. The problem is he has no idea why this is happening, and he is scare of what might happen when the scale reads zero.

From Metro Archives Photos - Metro Council member, Thelma Harper

The world lost an extraordinary woman on April 22nd, 2021, when former State Senator Thelma Harper passed away. After making history by becoming the first African American female elected to the State Senate, her work of shattering ceilings was far from over. Here's a look back at her impressive career and generous life. 

From City Beautiful Scrapbook in 1956 - Ford Green Elementary students with anti-litter signs

Keeping the streets, rivers, and neighborhoods clean in this city over the years hasn't been easy, but one of the ways was with the City Beautiful Commission, that was established in 1953. In honor of Earth Day, here's a look at the commission that helped clean up the streets and neighborhoods in Nashville. 

Pop Culture Nonfiction book covers

Here is my favorite type of book: the kind where you have to keep stopping to Google things.

self care kit contents
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Self-care is the act of preserving your health and well-being, especially during times of stress. NPL staff share their favorite restorative practices to help them cope.

Book Cover of Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued

There are not many picture books about the Holocaust. Published earlier this year, Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued tells two intertwined stories. 

Best American Food Writing 2020 book cover

The newest entry to the popular Best American series, Best American Food Writing started in 2018 with Ruth Reichl as the first editor and has been consistently outstanding.

Seed Starts in Eggshells

Are you ready to get growing again? Your Nashville Public Library Seed Exchange team is back after a brief winter hiatus, and invites you to borrow seeds for your spring, summer, and fall gardens. If you're not growing herbs, let Herb Society of Nashville's Todd Breyer inspire you! Breyer kindly shared stories from his career as a landscape architect and his life-long journey as a gardener.

whoever you are

Looking for new favorites that support early reading skills like rhyme, repetition, colors, and numbers? Here is a list of books with diverse representation and inclusive themes for a young audience. 

Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

Wonder Woman’s place in DC’s trinity--along with Batman and Superman--has never been in doubt, but finding a story which suis not only her messy backstory but also the near-omnipotence of her powers has proved difficult for many creators.

Panel Discussion is a monthly book club for adults focused exclusively on comics and graphic novels. We meet (virtually) at 12pm on the first Wednesday of every month. 

Rob Liefeld's 1990s creation John Prophet character was reimagined in 2012 to great effect by a new generation of comics creators. 

illustration of corrective heart surgery using a shunt
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If February is both Heart Month and Black History Month, then it is most certainly Vivien Thomas Month! 

The CDC reported that 1 in 54 children were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2016.  The diagnosis can seem daunting but knowledge is power.  Nashville Public Library has the resources to provide knowledge and understanding for parents, friends, siblings and others.

View of Market Street

2020 went out with an unfortunate bang in Nashville, when on Christmas morning, a Nashville resident blew up his RV on 2nd Ave N. As a dedication to the individuals and businesses impacted, here's a look back at the history of 2nd Ave. This is 2-part series, part I covering 19th century Market Street and part II covering 20th Century 2nd Ave.  

Together book cover

If you feel yourself withdrawing from others right now after months of limited social interaction, I highly recommend this book.  

The difficult periods of life will hurt, but beauty can still found within them. Katherine May recounts a painful season and the inevitability of sadness in her nonfiction book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.   

Colonel George H. Morgan received the nation's highest military honor and went on to teach at Hume-Fogg High School in 1924-1925.

Tennessean photo from 2003 when the bears were being cleaned

Most citizens of this city that have lived here for a few years know what I'm referring to when I say the "Edgehill Polar Bears", but do you know the history of them? Well here are the "bear" necessities.

person in mask holding a basket of hand sanitizer
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If the commercial demands of winter holidays stress you out, December 2020 offers the chance to embrace a new way to be present with the season.

New Era clipping from April 7th, 1870 in celebration of the ratification of the 15th Amendment

The phrase "voting rights" encompasses a LOT of history, even when narrowed to the history of voting rights in Tennessee. While I wish I could write a blog post that includes all the important gains and struggles of voting rights in this state, instead, I'm narrowing it to a few highlights, starting with noting the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment. 

dreads by alfonse pagano and francesco mastalia

It's insane that Eurocentric beauty standards have made people of the African diaspora think that their natural hair and skin color are unpresentable. --Me

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...especially when the woman scorned is a witch.  Maria Owen navigates joy, pain, and the trials and tribulations that come with love in Alice Hoffman's Magic Lessons.  

10 Overlooked Gems of 2020

Here are two novels, a short story collection, three nonfiction books, and four movies that I wish had gotten more attention in this overwhelming year.  With a special focus on women authors and actors!
 

The Trail of Tears is a part of the American story that is often ignored. This blog lists some of the children's books that are available as well as short day trips to significant places in the life of one Uchi girl.

James Estes' voter registration card, 1945

Since most of this year has seemed like an episode out of a sci-fi novel, and it's not lost on anyone that we're living through a major historical event, here are some suggestions of important things you might consider keeping for posterity's sake. 

Book Cover of Luci Soars by Lulu Delacre

 Luci Soars is the newest book by prolific author and illustrator Lulu Delacre. When you're different, it can seem like the whole world is against you. How can you rise above it? 

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It’s open enrollment season for the health insurance Marketplace (“Obamacare”). Learn more about the benefits of Marketplace plans, and get local, 1-on-1 enrollment help starting November 2. 

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic

A house that's "sick with rot, stinks of decay, booms with every single evil and cruel sentiment" would definitely get a five star rating on a "terrifying vacation destinations" booking site; and it is the absolute perfect setting for Sylvia Moreno-Garcia's chilling 2020 novel.

Book Cover of a New Kind of Wild

When Ren has to move to a gray and concrete city, will he miss his home in the wild and beautiful el Yunque too much to see anything magical ever again? Published just this year, A New Kind of Wild is a delightful, imaginative picture book.

harleen by stejpan stejic

Harleen has spent her whole psychiatric career trying to understand and rehabilitate criminals. She's now in Arkham Asylum, interviewing the most deranged and maladaptive criminals anyone has ever seen, but one stands out above the rest:The Joker. With strange dreams come intense longing and obsession for the good doctor's Mr. Jay. This is Harleen's fall, and the rise of Harley Quinn.

Sign advertising the construction of the Municipal Auditorium

While September is normally my month for educational posts, I'm bypassing that this year for something different - new images and footage! As a continuation from a previous post with old photos, this post includes a slideshow of a collection I've been processing the past few weeks, plus some new footage from our Audiovisual Heritage Center. 

Start Simple book cover

Almost six months into constant cooking, you may feel in need of some inspiration.  Luckily, NPL has lots of eBook cookbooks that you can access immediately!

As we round the corner to our virtual opening on August 18, we're capping off our Nashville Voices series with one last story—a powerful testimonial from a powerful woman.

The Brooklyn Heights Community Garden that Nella Pearl Frierson founded nurtures more than local produce.

National Immunization Awareness Month
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Vaccines have worked to stop the spread of serious diseases in recent history. All eyes are on the race to develop one for the virus that causes COVID-19. 

The Oldest Student Book Cover Image

To all of you out there "adulting" - spending time reading a children's picture book can be a delightful way to focus your thoughts while you appreciate some art and gain unexpected nuggets of wisdom.

The world knew Reverend C.T. Vivian and U.S. Rep John Lewis  as giants. But, before they were icons, they were young men beginning a journey in Nashville. 

We celebrate and remember what Reverend C.T. Vivian and U.S. Rep. John Lewis did for Nashville and for Nashville Public Library.

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The toxic stress that Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) experience from racism is known to cause chronic mental and physical health problems. National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month brings attention to this issue.

Ad from the Nashville Globe newspaper for Dr. Josie E. Wells

Since we're closed, here's a virtual tour of Metro Archives' current exhibit of "Nashville Voices - 36 Notable Women of Nashville", as it's finished right now. And discussing one of the recently added women in the display - Dr. Josie E. Wells...maybe a couple more individuals as I continue working

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Has the pandemic got you down? Are you overwhelmed by all the movies on Hoopla and can't decide what to watch? Have no fear, Movies @ Main host Bill is here with some excellent recommendations that you can watch without a wait.

Frank Cotton is a hedonist. Frank Cotton is done with the paltry pleasures of this world, and is determined to find pleasure from beyond the human realm. Frank Cotton regrets that decision.

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Drawing can help us express and process our emotions. It's also a popular way to share personal stories of illness, and to learn about health.

This month's Nashville history post is letting photography do the talking, with a variety of slideshows for all to enjoy. Starting with a tribute to all medical workers for their dedicated service during these trying times, to finishing with a little more of "Some Good News - Archives Edition." 

Lauri Newell doesn’t think of her life as extraordinary.

“But then again,” she says, “I’m getting to nurture my family and our dreams at the same time."

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I think now is a good time to revisit one of my favorite subjects: being good to yourself.

Did you know that Asian Pacific American Heritage month is traditionally celebrated in May? This year, we might not be able to throw a big party, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get our Asian Pacific American read on.

With the extra time on our hands after a month of quarantine, maybe there are other things we can spend our time on, like preserving family ephemera. This is an assisted blog post from my coworker, Christine Irizarry, who writes about the importance of family letters. And the latter part talks about preserving your family records. 

How does a vacation to a far-off destination sound to you? Maybe with a beautiful, sandy beach or a picturesque french countryside; amazing right? And also not physically feasible for most people right now. But that doesn't mean you can't still go to these places, just check out one of these books. 

With Earth Day just around the corner, let's take a look at some ideas for easy, around-the-house activities you can do to help out the planet.

With the changing times and means to educate while schools are closed, it can be difficult for parents-now-turned-teachers to homeschool on such short notice, and possibly without a lot of resources. That's where Metro Archives and the Library come in handy. And who says educating can't be fun? So here's a word search I created with words and names pertaining to the founding of the city of Nashville. 

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News travels fast on social media, and sometimes it can be false and dangerous. Stop the spread of bad health information with these quick tips.

Borrowing John Krasinski's idea of reporting "Some Good News" during these troubling times, here are some historic news clippings from past pandemics or epidemics that have affected Nashville. But instead of including news articles about the actual devastation from the illnesses, these are more positive stories during the same time frame or at least examples of positives from the desolation.  

During these times of sheltering at home, patrons and staff alike are missing regular in-person library programming. Here at NPL in 2020, we also had to postpone special in-person library events for the year's Nashville Reads title, Dreamers by Yuyi Morales. While that is sad, the good news is that you can still enjoy books and activities inspired by the marvelous Yuyi Morales's works while you're at home! 

Parent and caregivers, we know it's challenging to have your children at home during this pandemic. Here is a roundup of online resources that can help kids stay engaged in learning—preventing their brains from "turning to mush" while they are not in school.

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Jessamyn Stanley speaks about how she got started on her yoga journey. She also speaks about how readers can get started on their own yoga journeys.

Even with all this free time, it can still be tough to find the motivation to write or get our kids to write. Here are a few of my favorite writing prompts to get the pen to the paper.

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We're turning off holds while we're closed. How do you keep track of books you want to read and movies you want to watch if you can’t put them on hold? Use the My Lists feature in our web catalog!

This is a great collection for the ghost story neophyte or for the old hand at enjoying ghost stories.  The editors present a collection that includes both classic and new tales from established authors in the genre. In bringing these masterful tales back from the dead, Ghost Stories will enlighten and frighten both longtime fans and new readers of the genre.

Soooo this year has started off rather interestingly...and by interesting I mean NOT GREAT, so far. So instead of writing a whole bunch of historic info, I'm just giving you all photos this month. These are some of my favorites from our collection that I hope may bring a smile to some of your faces. 

Periods of self-distancing and isolation can make us feel anxious and BORED. Here are some recommendations for ebooks that help you fill the time with activity or stillness.

If you weren't able to check out any physical books from the Library before self-isolating at home, or perhaps the one you have hasn't turned out to be very good - don't worry! Here are some recommendations for titles to check out NOW from the Library's Overdrive page. 

When it seems like everything has changed and nothing will ever be the same, books can be a welcome constant.

I’m really a ghost story kind of guy, but the title of this book intrigued me:  Mystery Writers of America Presents VENGEANCE, edited by Lee Child.  I remembered really fun stories about vengeance from my high school teaching days—“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe sticking out most in my mind.

In honor of African American History Month, and to highlight a few individuals in Metro Archives' new display on Nashville women, this blog post is dedicated to a few notable women of Music City.

You know when you pick it up that a book whose writer has won the Nobel Prize in Literature is going to be an important read.  I picked up The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing because it piqued my curiosity. 

2020 is an important anniversary year for a couple of reasons. Most notably is the 19th Amendment, which we'll be celebrating with a new permanent exhibit in Special Collections (in addition to a few other temporary exhibits in the building). But another important Amendment went into effect 100 years ago this month that had a long-lasting impact on the country, and that's Prohibition.

It's been 26 years in the making, but 2020 will be the year I finally learn to ride a bike - with the library's help of course.

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"I find that regularly practicing tai chi is relaxing and helps to reduce stress. It has helped to improve my focus, muscle strength, flexibility, and balance." -Ann Hargis, Tai Chi instructor

What's good about frigid and dreary winter weather? It's the perfect excuse to curl up with a good book.

Check out this wealth of recommendations from some of our bloggers, and find out a bit more about them as you do.

This time of year may mostly be associated with the various holidays we celebrate, but it's also well-associated with cold, awful weather (except for these past few weeks) and keeping ourselves warm with our HVAC systems. However, there was a time in Nashville's past that staying warm also meant being covered in soot as well. 

Well folks here we are at the end of another year. I've laughed, I've cried, and I've definitely hit my reading goal. Let me tell you all about my 2019 stand outs.

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December marks the shortest days of the year for sunlight, which can negatively affect your mood and mental health. The rest of winter doesn't offer much more sunlight than December does. Learn the signs, symptoms and treatments for depression that has a seasonal pattern, also referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.

December and January present a rich opportunity to explore how different cultural traditions celebrate the winter holidays. Branch out from snowmen, reindeer, and candy canes by learning about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Three Kings Day.

My favorite holiday tradition is watching an old Fruity Pebbles commercial in which Barney Rubble, disguised as Santa, tries to steal Fred Flintstone’s cereal. 

Not sure what to bring to the table this Thanksgiving? Don't worry—I've got you covered.

September of this year has come and gone, and so has 50 years since the release of the The Beatles' last and arguably most iconic album, Abbey Road. Read a little about the history of the album and about The Beatles in Nashville (separately unfortunately, never together). 

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More than 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes, but only 10% know it. Use this quick screening tool to assess your risk.

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I love love love cozy mysteries. These books and shows are what I consume after reading and/or watching my other favorite genres—Horror and SciFi. Cozies are what I cozy up to when I’m feeling too exhausted and stressed. They are also what I go to if I don’t want to be overwhelmed by too graphic or too explicit content. All the TV series mentioned have books associated with the series. All of the series mentioned here are available from Nashville Public Library!

Even though most of Joan Samson's novel The Auctioneer takes place during the three seasons of the year that aren't winter, it possesses a bleak and chilly atmosphere that might as well be the coldest day in January.

A cookbook, an essay collection, a chef memoir, and a book by a James Beard Award-winning food journalist.

Books can serve as both windows and mirrors. All children should have access to both. We provide curated lists featuring diverse children from varying backgrounds and experiences.

Right now, in the basement of the library, in the puppet workshop, a story is being brought to life. It is the story of Lorraine: the Girl Who Sang the Storm Away. Let’s take a behind-the-scenes look at this brand new show by Wishing Chair Productions in collaboration with Old Crow Medicine Show front man Ketch Secor.

Mark your calendars! The Southern Festival of Books is October 11-13.  The festival takes place at Nashville Public Library and War Memorial Plaza and is free and open to the public.

Although she is perhaps best known as the writer of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood has also written several books for children. Take an opportunity to introduce your child to one of the giants of modern literature by reading some books written especially for them.

In about a month, Silicon Valley will start its last season on HBO. Here's why you should get caught up before it ends.

Right now, in the Pacific Ocean, is a widening gyre of plastic garbage, and among the junk food wrappers are heaps of forsaken toys, broken, exploded by firecrackers, and forgotten by spoiled children across the world. Intrepid explorers through this archaeological landscape will be able to timestamp their findings to the early to mid-1980s when they stumble upon the impressive figure of He-Man.

As a self-proclaimed “foodie,” I love trying new cookbooks and learning from different chefs. I recently discovered local Nashville chef and author Laura Lea Bryant, and her cookbook has quickly become a favorite.

It’s almost fall, which means it’s almost time to curl up with a blanket and hot chocolate and read some classics!  Here are some lesser-known suggestions.

Emily Guendelsberger spent several months working at an Amazon fulfillment center in Kentucky, a Convergys call center in North Carolina, and a McDonald’s in San Francisco.  Her account of this time is an enraging, eye-opening, essential book.

This blog post is part of a series examining classic children’s literature titles that have been deemed racist. Whether or not you choose to share classic books such as these with the children in your life, we encourage you to have open conversations with them on the topic of race.

The news of Toni Morrison's passing on August 5 was met with tributes and gratitude for a life well lived. While she is best known as the author of such novels as The Bluest Eye and Beloved, Morrison also wrote several books for children. It is not yet too early to introduce the children in your life to the work of this incomparable writer.

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This blog post is part of a series examining classic children’s literature titles that have been deemed racist. Whether or not you choose to share classic books such as these with the children in your life, we encourage you to have open conversations with them on the topic of race.

This novel was completely insane in the very best possible way. 

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“With wicked insight, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates why the females of the species—be they six-year olds, seemingly devoted wives, or aging mothers—are by nature more deadly than the males” (cover flap).

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. In honor of that momentous occasion, Metro Archives recently had an exhibit highlighting Nashville's impact on space exploration. Here are a few things included in the exhibit! 

For two nights in January 1972, Aretha Franklin joined voices with the Southern California Community Choir at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The recording event was filmed and after thirty-plus years of legal wrangling, it is finally available to wow us all.

Warmer temperatures and longer days outside increase the risk for dehydration, especially for those in vulnerable populations like children and the elderly. If plain water isn’t your thing, check out these tips and tricks to maintain good hydration throughout the day.

Science fiction writers of the past dreamed of futures, dark and bright, in which humans traveled to the stars, colonized other worlds, and encountered aliens both friendly and deadly. In all their imaginings, did they ever see their genre--ghettoized for so long as just that, genre fiction, said with a sneer--gaining prominence, even prevalence in the culture?

Lieutenant Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels' is a homicide detective whose personal life is perpetually in shambles. Unfortunately, fixing her life has to be put on the back-burner while she tries to deal with the maniacal killers running around her city.

 

This is the funniest and most enjoyable book I’ve read this year.  If you’re a little misanthropic and have a vacation coming up, you need to place your hold now.

June is Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month. Boost your brain health with these 5 mind-enriching nutrition tips!

Science fiction teaches us not to bother. Don’t investigate that derelict spaceship. Don’t try to figure out what “soylent green” is, because figuring stuff out only causes trouble. Sure, there are wonderful discoveries to be made, but sometimes it’s important for buried secrets to remain hidden, deep in the ground.

You’ve probably heard about the upcoming movie versions of The Woman in the Window, The Goldfinch, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette.  But are you ready for Lovecraft Country and Motherless Brooklyn?

 

One cannot, I think, err when choosing to read one of Joyce Carol Oates’ anthologies of stories.    This volume, Haunted:  Tales of the Grotesque, is as good as any other at introducing the reader to one of the great anthologists and short fiction writers of the last century. Winner of several  O. Henry awards for her short fiction, Oates has also received the Rea Award for Achievement in the Short Story.  Oates clearly knows her way around the shadows and mists on the dark side of the imagination.

Do you have a picky young eater at home? You are not alone! Bread and Jam for Frances is the story of a winsome little badger who decides that only bread and jam will satisfy her appetite.  

As part 1 of a 3-part series about the local photography institution that is Dury's, and also in honor of National Photography Month, read about how one of Nashville's oldest businesses got its start and has remained a successful and beloved business in Nashville all of these years. 

Happy Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month! To celebrate, let me share with you one of my all-time favorite novels.

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This book is a hugely entertaining work of pop history that traces the use of poison as a political—and cosmetic—tool in royal courts, from western Europe in the Middle Ages to today’s Kremlin. 

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Be Well at NPL values making health information and wellness opportunities accessible to all, which is why we are thrilled to partner with the All of Us Research Program, a national effort to speed up medical breakthroughs and create a future of medicine that can tailor to our unique differences.

Nashville's history with theatre and the performing arts is long and storied. You can find treasure after treasure documenting this history in NPL Special Collections. On May 25, Special Collections is playing its own role in the story.

Nostalgia is a valuable commodity. No generation is safe from it, but those of us on the cusp of middle age are particularly susceptible to it. Just ask the X-Men t-shirt in my closet.

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Ten years ago aliens came down to earth and deemed humanity as not alive. Humanity has spent a decade studying these aliens, and grappling with the stunning fact that we are not alone and are unworthy of the aliens' time.

With another new episode of Game of Thrones airing tonight, and the series' end coming in just a few weeks, here are a couple of titles to binge and fill the void.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alison Lurie offers here nine spooky tales of women  haunted by ghosts-both literal and metaphysical.  There is no clue, or introduction, to tell us why the focus is on women, only the stories, each with a female protagonist, grappling somewhere between the natural and the supernatural, the definite and the not-quite-defined.

As you have probably guessed, I read an incredible amount of young adult fiction and classic literature. But did you know personal essays are in my top 3 favorite genres? Check out some of my favorite writers.

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Genetics is one piece of personal health and can help you understand your risk for inherited disease. Creating a simple medical family tree is considered one of the best genetic tests to share with your doctor. Best of all, it's free!

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It seems that many of the authors of ghost stories—including M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft—point to the stories of Sheridan Le Fanu as the preeminent masterpieces of the genre.  As a ghost story enthusiast, it took me some time to get to him in my “studies,” but the wait and the reward were both well worth the wait.  In a Glass Darkly contains six stories considered by critics to be among Le Fanu’s best works. 

I love this cookbook because instead of offering specific recipes, it teaches you how to pair ingredients, often without a trip to the grocery store!

Conspiracy theories are beautiful and dangerous. Beautiful because they connect dots across social, political, and cultural spheres, creating a mosaic of intentions which seems deliberate. They’re dangerous for the exact same reasons. 

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What a great book of stories for the ghost story enthusiast who wants something different than the Victorian classics!  Editor Ellen Datlow says this collection of stories is designed to be scary—and indeed, even the most self-composed reader may find the hair rising and the skin creeping over this collection.

New to the world of anime and manga? So am I! Here are just a few reasons why you should give them a try.

This spring, as we read the 2019 Nashville Reads book Hidden Figures, and reimagine our country’s history together, there’s no better place than Nashville Public Library to explore the "hidden figures" in our own local history. Dr. Margaret Rhea Seddon is one of these local hidden figures with an incredible story about reaching the stars.

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Happy National Nutrition Month! Join us as we kick off new, dietician-led cooking classes in our library branches.

It's the month of love (well the end of it, but close enough) and therefore that also sometimes means heartbreak, so check out this unfortunate story from Nashville's past (about 90 years ago), about a love affair gone horribly wrong. 

Did you know that babies are born with the ability to learn any language? They are universal listeners. And, from birth to age three, a child’s brain produces more than a million neural connections a second. That’s a lot of learning opportunities!

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Do you feel like a captive to your phone?  You may want to check out this book.

For every workshop, class, story time, and bookshelf you see at Nashville Public Library, there are two sets of hands at work. One belongs to a Nashville Public Library employee. The other belongs to one of the library’s volunteers.

Born in rural Kenya and educated in the United States, Wangari Maathai was the first woman in East Africa to earn a doctoral degree, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and is the founder of the Green Belt Movement. Her incredible story is the subject of several picture book biographies for children.

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, and 1 in 3 adults will be diagnosed in their lifetime. Show your heart a little love during American Heart Month with these healthy habit ideas and resources.

The Nashville Room has a small exhibit of photographs to celebrate the availability of a new collection documenting the activities of the YWCA Blue Triangle Branch. Come see our resources!

The 28 days of February will never be enough to highlight the full depth and breadth of black history in the United States and around the world. Picture books are an ideal (and beautiful) way, however, to address the gaps in our knowledge of the contributions of African Americans to History writ large.

Did you know a third of people who make New Year’s resolutions don’t keep them past January? Free library resources can help you beat those odds.

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The announcement of the Caldecott, Newbery, and other recipients of the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards is a cause for celebration! Did your favorites win? Or what books will now be on your reading list? Check out our round-up (with links to our collection) below

I've taken quite a few literature classes in my day, and while some texts were a struggle to read (I still don't really know what happened in The Faerie Queene), others I couldn't put down. Here are a few of my favorite "required reading" books and their movie adaptations.

Did you know a third of people who make New Year’s resolutions don’t keep them past January? It can be tough to stick to new goals, especially if it's cold and dreary outside. But venture out anyway: our librarians are here to offer free resources and cheer you on as you stick to your resolutions.

Welcome to the seventh post in Nashville Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center’s film preservation mini-series. In this series we’re telling the story of our project to conserve and identify hundreds of previously hidden gems in our film collection. These works document the history and culture of the South and range in date from the 1920’s to the 1990’s.

A fresh new year means it is time to set a fresh new reading goal. Whether you are hoping to finally break 100 books read in a year, or you are hoping to finish at least one book this year, here are a few ways you and I can reach our goals.

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Did you know a third of people who make New Year’s resolutions don’t keep them past January? We asked our readers what they want to accomplish in 2019 and matched them with free library resources to get there. Because, this year, we’re determined to make the goal–but not break the bank.

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Dear Parent,

Yes, you there. Reading this blog post on the library’s website. You are your child’s best teacher, and you’re doing a great job! Go ahead; give yourself a pat on the back or a self-five.

A planet covered in darkness and filled with monsters can be a serious impediment to true love.

One of our most-utilized resources here in Special Collections is the Nashville Banner clippings: articles about every aspect of Nashville life from the 1950s through the 1990s. In this post, I use Banner clippings to tell you the story of two popular types of night spot entertainment: mechanical bull riding and karaoke!

All three of these books were very well-reviewed, but sadly are not racking up the holds queues that they deserve! Please consider helping to remedy that situation.

Did you know that you can check out e-books­ from the library, with your library card? Our OverDrive E-Book collection has thousands of titles to choose from, all of which can be downloaded to your favorite e-reader. Many of those e-book titles are for children, including both fiction and nonfiction. Let us help you navigate the wide world of e-books for children available at the library!

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As we leave behind 2018, check out Legends of Film host Bill Chamberlain's picks for best overlooked movies of the year.

This year has been full of great reads. I found some excellent new series, a couple of graphic novels that made me cry, and lots of amazing YA novels. Here are some of my most favorite reads from 2018.

Welcome to the sixth post in Nashville Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center’s blog mini-series about film preservation. Throughout this series we have taken you through the process of identifying, conserving, and rehousing over 400 rare and unique films from our collection. In this post we will highlight the content of one of our larger film collections. Thanks for joining us!

Exploring the holdings of Main Library’s Special Collections, I stumbled upon a local figure I hadn’t heard of before—Robert Churchwell. Hired by the Nashville Banner in 1950, Churchwell was the first black journalist and full-time reporter for a Southern newspaper.

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When it’s cold outside, the sun refuses to show, and no amount of hot tea is enough to cure your winter-time blues: it might be time to warm up from the inside out with a good book. 

The year’s not quite over, but here are my top 5 picks in fiction, nonfiction, and movies, in no particular order:

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Since 1988, December 1 has been World AIDS Day. Help break down stigma by checking out some library material on HIV/AIDS health information, its history and early activism, and the personal experiences of people living with and affected by this virus. 

Welcome to the fifth post in Nashville Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center’s blog mini-series! In this series, you are invited in for a behind-the-scenes look at our year-long project to conserve and catalog the archive’s rare and unique film collection.

The holidays are here! Which means we all have plenty of time to binge watch our favorite TV shows.

During our annual Thanksgiving feasts, we gather around the table with those we love, and indulge in rich and delicious tradition. Health isn’t always the priority during the holidays, so here are a few simple tips and cookbook suggestions to make your Thanksgiving Day a little healthier.

As of today, there are just 10 more days till NaNoWriMo 2018 comes to an end and all of the word goals must be met. Here are a few non-writing tricks to help you push through these last couple of weeks.

This Veteran's Day marks the 100th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice between the Allied Countries and Germany, ending the hostilities on the Western Front of the War and officially beginning the end of World War I. 

It’s the time of year for feeling grateful. But let’s face it: with today’s busy lifestyle, even the best of us can have a tough time tapping into the “attitude of gratitude.” These books from NPL’s collection might help. From meditations on thankfulness to the essentials of mindfulness practice, these reads offer practical ways to focus on what matters and harness gratitude.

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At Nashville Public Library, we’re in the business of unlocking potential.

We know success begins with access to quality education experiences.

Anyone that's ever walked down Charlotte Ave, right next to the Capitol, is familar with the statues surrounding its borders (or maybe you're not, that's possible too). But if you are, Sam Davis is on the southwest corner and Sgt. Alvin C. York is on the southeast. But are you familiar with who's standing in the middle, somewhat leering over all who walk beneath him? Or better yet, why he's there?

Welcome to Shocktober! (Thunder crashes) Today for your horrific pleasure, I bring you – THE FEMALE BRAIN! (Bwa-ha-ha)

Every October, the Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, turns our “it city” into “lit city.” With three days of thoughtful, exciting programming, this event has long been a fall-time favorite, appealing to more than just bookworms. I investigated the roots of this community-building festival using primary and secondary sources from NPL Special Collections.

“...that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay.”

It’s here! It’s here! The wait is finally over. Our new equipment has been unboxed and put together!

This is post #4 in our series documenting the Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center’s Film Conservation Project, and boy are we pumped to share the details of our new film inspecting equipment!

Welcome to Post #2 in our series documenting the Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center’s Film Conservation Project. Over the next few months, we are engaged in an exciting project to conserve and identify over 400 rare and unique vintage films in the Metro Archives collection. This work will form the foundation for preservation of and access to our collection.

Pumpkin spice, hayrides, and sweater weather - oh my! Fall is just around the corner, and it's time to get cozy. Here are a few books I'm going to indulge in.

The Metro Archives’ Audiovisual Conservation Center is located at the Main Library in downtown Nashville. We're hosting a new series on the blog documenting our latest project to identify and perform conservation on over 400 rare and unique films from our collection. Welcome to our corner! We hope you’ll follow along with us!

If you're looking for something exciting to read, I suggest browsing in the Young Adult section. Don't think reading about teenage drama is for you? Let me tell you, YA is so much more, and there is something for everyone.

Are you clever? Shrewd? Canny? Or just plain brainy? How can you learn to use a wide variety of words like these? The answer is to read, read, read! The more you read, the better your vocabulary becomes. The more words a child reads, the more words she or he will learn and eventually use and understand.

Once, at a punk rock show in Kentucky, the lead singer of a Nashville band lamented the small turnout of the crowd. “I think Kentucky is more Southern than Tennessee,” he said. 

2018 is a landmark anniversary year for many events, including the worst train accident in U.S. history that occurred at Dutchman's Curve in West Nashville, on Tuesday, July 9th, 1918. 

UK's most intrepid musical occultists present four extended tones intended for spiritual transportation.

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Chances are good that you’ve heard library music at some point in your life and not known it.

Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the murder of W. Haynie Gourley, the owner of Capitol Chevrolet on Murfreesboro Rd. Today, this tragedy remains as one of Nashville's most notorious unsolved crimes.

The new Benedict Cumberbatch adaptation on Showtime is an excellent excuse to finally get around to reading Edward St. Aubyn.  

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If you’ve already been to your local multiplex to experience avengers, wookies, and dinosaurs in action, get ready for something completely different: Movies @ Main’s Noir Summer. 

If you want a straight-up, studio-jam experience of the legendary Memphis music scene, this DVD will not disappoint you and will leave you wanting more and more and more...

Philip Roth, America’s best-known writer of Jewish angst and second-best-known native son of New Jersey, died Tuesday evening at age 85.

Punk rock is the voice of the silenced. It rises in troubling times, disquiets in times of peace.  We take a look at some of  Nashville Public Library's most punk rock books by pioneers who were there for its rise, its fall, and its revival. After all, libraries are punk: what's more punk than free access to information?

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the film Avengers: Infinity War, because the internet is a cruel place.

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In The Recovering, author Leslie Jamison confronts her own alcoholism with the help of a chorus of famous drinking writers: Raymond Carver, Jean Rhys, Charles Jackson, and Denis Johnson, to name a few.  

It's been 50 years this month since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., yet his actions and teachings have lived on every day since. Coincidentally, the date of his actual birthday this year was celebrated on the same day of the holiday honoring him. In honor of his legacy, here's a look back at how his work affected Nashville...

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The book or the movie? An eternal question always likely to instigate some lively debate, although most folks will probably side more often with the book. And every now and then they’re definitely both worth heralding, which is the case here.

David Sedaris is set to visit Music City next week. Before he comes, here are a few of his essays and collections I consider "Required Reading."

To get ready for the upcoming release of Deadpool 2: The Search for More Money*, we're looking back at the movie career of Deadpool himself, Mr. Ryan Reynolds.

Published on March 13, Junot Díaz´s long awaited first book for children is a love letter to the children-both young and old- who carry in themselves the memories of the places that have shaped them and their communities.

I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. The first time I used the internet I typed “X-Men” into a search engine and, finding the results unsatisfactory, said, “This will never catch on.”

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Johnny Smith wakes up from a coma to find everything around him changed, including himself.

When I was a sophomore in high school, a friend got the birthday gift every 16-year-old dreams of: a brand new car! I’m not ashamed to admit that it sparked a bit of jealousy when I saw it next to the beat up ‘72 Volkswagen Super Beetle—that’s the luxury version of the classic Beetle—on which my own parents had spent a grand total of $1,700. 

Ah, here is something to be savored and enjoyed!  I make no bones about Flamenco’s being my favorite art form, but biases aside, this is a magnificent, gorgeous, jaw-dropping film by a master director, Carlos Saura.

It's especially important  in our current cultural climate that children not only see themselves in the books they read, but also that they read about children different from them. Below are some examples of books in NPL's collection in which biracial and multiracial children take center stage.

The sun is out and it's getting warmer so that can only mean one thing: spring is on its way! Here are a few activities and books you and your little one can enjoy to get you out and into the garden.

An award winning game designer tells what it was like to be at the center of Gamer Gate.

No, his mind is not for rent. To any God or government...

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John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps (and its multiple subsequent film and television versions) is likely the work most closely associated with his name.

In honor of African American History Month (and also the month of love), I'm honoring a local Nashville citizen and veteran, Raymond Whittaker, from the small collection of his correspondence, ephemera, and photos we have here in Archives. 

NPL is thrilled to kick off the fifth year of Seed Exchange. Visit one of our fifteen seed exchange locations and borrow all sorts of seed varieties to grow in early spring, summer, or fall. While serving as "seed librarian" at the Main Library, I've had the incredible honor of getting to know Davidson County Master Gardener Joan Clayton-Davis, who is always happy to share her wealth of gardening knowledge and love of growing vegetables. "Fresh tomato sandwiches cannot be described with mortal words" Joan declares, and I most heartily agree! I reached out to Joan with a few garden-related questions and she kindly responded.

Who loves talking about the weather?! Me, that's who! Did you know the early beginnings of the National Weather Service was actually under the U.S. Army in what was called the Signal Service? Actually it's not that surprising, but what might be is that here in Metro Archives, we have several of their original journals from the Nashville station. Read on if you're intrigued...

 

A movie about a musical about one hit wonders with JC Chasez and Topher Grace? Yes please.

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Visionary science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin has passed away at the age of 88.

Many parents would like their children to speak more than one language. It’s going to take a more than a few videos or (even!) books for your child to become bilingual, however. For children—or anyone—to acquire a second language, bilingualism must become a way of life.

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Registration for the 8th Annual LEGO Competition is open! Calling all brick builders—kid, teen, and adult! 

A TV series that intersects at one of the few points where art and fine dining meet.

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Was your New Year’s resolution to be kinder to people?  You should read this book.

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Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone alphabet mysteries and legendary pioneer for women in detective fiction, died last week at the age of 77.  

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Agatha Christie may have secured eternal recognition for a classic murder mystery involving a train and copious amounts of snow, but she wasn't the only skilled mystery writer of yesteryear to use those elements in service to an enjoyably twisty adventure.

Most people recognize Nashville as the "Music City" capital of the world, but can you say that you've ever heard its other nickname - "the Powder City of the World"? If you're familiar with the history of the Old Hickory community and the company of DuPont, you probably have. If not, read on. 

Working in a library is a gift. There are no door-buster sales, no agitated customers (okay, maybe a few), and no Black Friday shenanigans. Instead of trampling over one another, our patrons wait patiently for the latest best sellers. Best of all, everything is free.

Rashad "thaPoet" Rayford shares his reading list for those who wish to further explore activism and civil rights in literature.

Though November marks the last month of his life, May of this year would have marked JFK's 100th birthday; May 29th to be exact. In honor of this milestone, here's a look back at a few of President Kennedy's visits to Nashville, as well as a few anecdotes from people that remember the day he died.

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It’s usually children who get permission to color and play, but at Bordeaux Branch Library's weekly coloring night, it’s all about the adults, and they keep coming back.

Welcome to Part #2 of my NaNoWriMo series. We are now nine days into NaNoWriMo, and at roughly 2,000 words a day, you should have written about 18,000 words. Are you keeping pace? Need help?

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Just when you're sitting around wondering if you have an impact on children's literacy and educational development, this kind of wonderful thing happens.

Doesn’t the cooler weather make you want to get out the crockpot and start roasting vegetables?  Check out these three recent cookbooks for ideas.

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Short stories are one of the best ways to quickly inject some pleasurable fear into your veins this time of year.

If the name "Paula Herring" sounds familiar to you, then you already know where this blog post is going. But if not, keep reading. I'm about to tell the gruesome tale of young Paula's murder back in 1964, from the info provided by Michael Bishop in his new book, A Murder in Music City: Corruption, Scandal, and the Framing of an Innocent Man.   

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Nashville Public Library is excited to help celebrate the 125th anniversary of Ryman Auditorium and host Ryman Auditorium: Soul of Nashville, a brand new art exhibit exploring the iconic venue’s rich history. The exhibit is on display at NPL’s Main Library downtown from October 21 through February 25. 

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Greetings!  I’m always up for a good scare or haunting, and when this book came sliding through my hands, I set it aside out of a sense of duty because I am the Yankee who has lived here for twenty-five years and still doesn’t know enough about the Bell Witch to sound respectable around a cracker barrel.  

It’s almost that time of year again. We’ll soon know who is going to play in the World Series. Will the Cubs repeat or will it be another 108 years until we once again know the joy of victory?

Have you picked out who you’re going to see at the Southern Festival of Books October 13-15?
The festival is free and open to the public, and sessions take place at the Main Library and War Memorial Auditorium.

Last week, libraries nationwide celebrated Banned Books week.
This week, Nashville Public Library uniquely celebrates BAND Books.

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As a former high school teacher who served up Nathaniel Hawthorne to juniors via The Scarlet Letter for many years, I have a love relationship with Hawthorne’s extensive and beautiful vocabulary.  

The birthday train rolls on and the music theme continues. 

Who doesn’t love a haunted house story? This fall, as we head towards Halloween, watch the blog for reviews of great spooky reads.

The Haunting of Hill House is one of them, and one of the best examples I know of a “page turner.” I first came to know this story as a young child....

Going on 60 years ago, Nashville followed suit with the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and began a "stair-step" plan to integrate public schools. But it wasn't without difficulty or a strong pushback.

There’s a scene in Karin Tidbeck’s Amatka where the main character, Vanja, goes into a locked archive in her office to file papers and surreptitiously search for secret details about her commune’s past. Outside, a stern secretary watches the clock to ensure Vanja doesn’t spend too much time alone with these secrets.

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1 in 5 adults in the United States will experience a serious mental health issue in their lifetime. Though stigma and shame can prevent us from seeking help, NPL and the local mental health service community are here to provide information, validation, and hope.

If today you were to spot a kid walking around and talking to themselves, you'd probably reasonably conclude that they were imaginative.

As the country collectively experienced the first total eclipse in many, many years on Monday, here's a look back at previous eclipses that Nashville has experienced.

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Tony Chu is a cibopathic by-the-book cop who gets recruited by the Food and Drug Adminitstration to take care of some fowl business.

Glen Campbell died yesterday. While his death was not unexpected, it does give us pause to look back on his stellar career and graceful goodbye.

Whether you're pressed for time or need some vacation reading, short stories are the answer.

He wrote with Bob Dylan, played Dolly Parton’s husband, penned prize-winning off-Broadway plays and maintained a dignity to his work through the years that never betrayed his rough beginnings. When you consider a modern day Renaissance man, you could easily be referring to Sam Shepard. 

 

The end of Summer Challenge is bittersweet. It means school is starting up and the prizes have all been awarded. The good news is there’s a new Star Trek show premiering this fall, with a whole new cast and a whole new mission. Before the franchise begins this new chapter, let’s take another look at its past.

Six Scary Stories is a collection of horror short stories, hand-picked by Stephen King. Each tale takes the mundane and turns it into something horrifying!

Nashville is a city with an easily forgettable past, or rather people would prefer to forget its past. But that doesn't change the fact that it has a rather macabre and peculiar one. In Brian Allison's recently published book "Murder & Mayhem in Nashville," he highlights some of the more gruesome tales from Nashville's past.

Prior to the opening of the Nashville Zoo in Cheatham County, in 1991, the city came close to purchasing animals for a zoo around the time the Metro Government formed (1963). I recently stumbled upon this intriguing story and thought it was too good not to share. 

Red alert!  There’s an incredible recent movie that you probably missed.

What happens if all your dreams come true when you're still teenager? Usually, you become Justin Bieber. Wil Wheaton avoided the path taken by most child actors, but his journey was still as bumpy as it was beautiful.

Ancestral homes often have a habit of feeling haunted, and when they appear in stories that mix the Southern Gothic genre with the supernatural, you can bet they probably are. 

June 1, 1796 was the birth year for Tennessee as a state. Feels like it was just yesterday. In honor of its many years since, here's a brief recap of its birth and how the state chose to celebrate each of its earned centennials. 

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With 16 free, weekly classes to choose from, get out your mat (or borrow one of ours) and join NPL for a summer of yoga! We've also got books and DVDs you can use at home.

Summer Challenge is the perfect time to do things with your family. Your space family from Star Trek: The Next Generation that is.

Nashville may be known as Music City, but we also LOVE our professional sports – whether the boys have sticks, bats, or footballs, fans will turn out to cheer on our local teams.

Reading over the summer is essential to preventing "summer slide," or the loss of valuable academic skills gained during the school year. Although it may seem unfair to make kids read and do assignments over the summer, it is in fact exceedingly important. The key to getting a child to read during summer vacation, however, is to let them read what they want to read.

The one thing that I love to tell people about when they visit Metro Archives, is that we're more than simply a repository for city-wide governmental records. Yes, the records we have are archaic in nature and therefore highly informative and fascinating. But it's the photographs we also have from around the city that are most-telling about the city's past. In honor of National Photography month, check out some of the best photos from around our beloved city.

I laughed while driving in traffic. Yeah. It's that funny. (I was listening to the audio version. Don't freak out.)

This is my favorite type of nonfiction, where you learn a ton of stuff while laughing.

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Want to eat healthy, but also keep grocery bills low? Check out this coupon advice guide to get started saving money on groceries!

Sun and rain, dust and mud, good and bad bugs, the miracle of sprouting seed, tall sunflowers, morning glory vines, hummingbirds and butterflies...there’s never a bad day in the garden! 

Jonathan Demme, Academy Award winner for Best Director for Silence of the Lambs, died today at age 73.

Though its expansive campus can be seen from the fast lanes of I-65 S just past Armory Lane, Father Ryan High School hasn't always called their Norwood Drive location home. On top of possessing photographs of the previous location's building and demolition in our clippings' file on the school, Metro Archives also holds several other treasures that easily tell stories about the school's past.  

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In the past, we haven't made finding the right book for your beginning reader an easy thing to do, have we? Well, we've changed that now!

Let me start out by saying that I usually have a harder time focusing on essay books, which may or may not be attributed to some mild attention problems. However, I loved every moment of Alan Cumming’s essays in You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams. 

 

Thirty years after the release of his most famous work, most people still don’t know the name Koji Kondo. This installment of the 33 ⅓ series goes a long way toward correcting that.

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Want to improve your fitness but low on time? High intensity interval training, or HIIT, can help you get just as good of a workout in half the time!

Considering how in our modern day and age, seeing (and hearing) airplanes regularly cross Nashville's skies does not appear to make us think twice, doesn't it make you wonder what life must have been like when the first forms of flight were being tested? I suppose to us, it would literally be like seeing pigs fly. Almost. Well Metro Archives is attempting to answer that question. Starting March 28th and running through May 31st, there will an exhibit in Metro Archives highlighting the advancement of aviation technology as Nashville experienced it.  

Reading to and with your child opens up a world of possibilities. In 1997, a small group at NEA (National Education Association) decided that reading should be celebrated, like a pep rally celebrates sports.  

In honor of African American History Month, I'm recognizing the first African American woman elected to the Tennessee State Senate—Senator Thelma Harper of District 19. Prior to her 1991 historic election to the State Senate, Harper served 8 years on Davidson County's Metro Council.  

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African-American chefs, dietitians, and activists shed light on the health benefits of a plant-based diet, and its cultural ties to African and Carribean heritage.

Greetings!  I’m always up for a good scare or haunting, and when this book came sliding through my hands, I set it aside out of a sense of duty because I am the Yankee who has lived here for twenty-five years and still doesn’t know enough about the Bell Witch to sound respectable around a cracker barrel. 

John Olson of the band Wolf Eyes reviews one record per day for one year... from the best in death metal demo tapes to thrift store bin gospel.

This March 7 release will be one of the big hits of the season--put your copy on hold now!

Hard to believe it's been 18 years since the Titans first game in their new home and in their new jerseys. Throughout many seasons, players, and a couple of coaches, the team has remained a hometown favorite (well, in my opinion - my favorite) and that includes its stadium. 20 years ago this May (2017), construction began on the field that was initially crowned "Adelphia Coliseum." Would you believe Metro Archives has several photographs taken of the construction process? If you enjoy a little Titans nostalgia like I do, check out some of the best photos below. 

By the way, the title is in the tune of announcer Mike Keith proclaiming "TOUCHDOWN TITANS!" 

Yeah, cheesy title. We know. But, want to know more about the woman who set the standard for women's early roles in television? We've got you covered.

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Frank's sole purpose in life is to experience the pleasures of the world, without consequence. Frank's brother just wants to be good husband, and live a quiet domestic life. Frank's actions pull his family into a horrifying world full of horror.

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Registration for Nashville Public Library's 7th Annual LEGO Competition is now open! 

The Special Collections Division holds a surprisingly wide array of resources about local radio stations and radio culture.

If your New Year’s resolution was to cook at home more often, this is the cookbook for you.

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Mkombozi was supposed to be Theia's savior, but destroyed it instead. Now, it has fallen to Eden to save Earth from the same fate that befell Theia, whether she likes it or not.

Tennessee stayed true to their nickname as the "volunteer state" after the attack on Pearl Harbor, that occured 75 years ago this month. Here are a few news clippings and photographs from the days after the attack.  

Unique and frightening, this anomaly of a novel combined mystery and horror to illusory, bewildering effect.

December 10th is Human Rights Day and the library has the information to help you answer "What is that?"

It's December, which means it's time for "best of" lists everywhere you look. Hurray!

Though this was the first year that Metro Nashville Government closed for Veteran's Day, we've never neglected honoring the ever-important holiday. Check out some of the documents and memorabilia from Metro Archives.   

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Not enough poultry in your life? Then you need POYO!!!

It's been a rough week: we've lost some talented people. Longing to know more about Gwen Ifill, Leon Russell, Leonard Cohen, or Janet Reno? We offer these selections.

Looking for a place to hang out and have fun with your friends or family?  Read, learn, and play during International Games Day @ your library on Saturday, November 19th.

Listening to The Bird and the Rifle for the very first time, I spontaneously burst into tears during track six.  That’s some impressive song crafting.

 

Metro Archives recently received a small donation of documents/photographs/clippings for a couple of local Nashville families' vertical files. The families that are related by marriage are the McClanahans and the Weakley - 2 families that I found after a little research, have prominent roots in Nashville. The photographs donated date to around the early 20th century and are without doubt, very remarkable. However, many came without a caption or any identifiers at all, and they're not all in Nashville. The families appeared to have traveled a lot. Can you help us out and help identify a few of these locations?  

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I love this cookbook for so many reasons--its fun, veggie-filled recipes, its attention to fixed grocery budgets, and its PDF version with a creative commons license for online sharing.

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Bob Dylan joins the ranks of previous American laureates in literature--Faulkner, Hemingway, and Steinbeck--with the honor of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." On the occasion of this award, we offer a Dylan primer.

The educational system in Nashville has changed quite a bit over the years, but the core subjects have always remained at the forefront of teaching. But with a few changes, would you have excelled if you had been in school about 100 years ago?

It's Burn Notice meets Psych with just a hint of Jack Bauer for zest. How much better can you get?

When was the last time you were stopped in your tracks by a pleonasm or a zeugma? You probably wouldn’t know unless you consulted Mark Forsyth’s The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase (Berkley, 2013).

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The 59th remembrance of a courageous action is coming upon us. Take some time to remember, or learn, about one of the most well-known events involving school desegregation in the South: the Little Rock Crisis.

Graphic novels appeal to many readers, but are not always appropriate for young children. Luckily, TOON Books are here! TOON books are high-quality comics for children ages 3 and up. They are especially leveled for developing readers in grades Kindergarten through third, and are fun to share at any age!

Something about old Bibles has always intrigued me. The "family pages" carefully chronicle the story of those who create the records the Archives carefully protects. Stories of beginnings, births, baptisms, and deaths comprising the framework of lives well lived.

Did you know that Nashville has a history with the Olympics? It's not a big one mind you, but it exists. Today, we recognize the 1996 Olympics as the last Summer Olympics that any U.S. city hosted, and that was in Atlanta (Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002). But what about Nashville? A lot of people might think we're too small and don't have the infrastructure, but that wasn't the concern many years ago when Nashville put together a pretty strong campaign to host the 1996 Olympics. 

The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom called on the United States to hold to its promise of freedom and justice for all, not just for the few. Though we have come far, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of freedom and equality, proclaimed that day, remains to be fully realized. The books below are a good place for preschoolers and other young children to begin learning about the March on Washington, MLK, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement.

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Art and music production camps, daily 3D design and robotics, and a whole lot of what Studio NPL calls HOMAGO: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out.

As another school year begins, thousands of parents will reconvene together with local schoolteachers in parent-teacher organizations and associations.

Most of us remember laboring through The Odyssey as high school freshmen; we learned at the time that there was another book by Homer—The Iliad—which was about the Trojan War prior to the taking of the City of Troy. If it wasn’t assigned, we didn’t read it, but what an opportunity missed, and how great it is that we can decide to read it as adults! 

Everyone is familiar with the name and what they are most known for, but do you really know about the history of the American Red Cross? Specifically, the history of the local chapter of the American Red Cross. This is part two of their story (explained as brief as possible) discussing their involvement during the second world war and the many years after. 

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Do you ever get to the bottom of a page and have no idea what you just read because your mind was wandering? While the book may be interesting, you find yourself worrying about the future or dreaming of the past? Come back to the present moment with the simple practice of mindfulness. 

Are you anxiously awaiting your copy of The Girls? Here are a few suggestions to tide you over until your hold arrives.

The Red Cross is a storied and dedicated organization that spans decades, continents, wars, and various disasters. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton. And though the Nashville Chapter received their official charter in 1917, their relief work for local troops and citizens began long before then. In honor of their dedicated service, next month, Metro Archives will be exhibiting artifacts and documents from our American Red Cross collection. 

26% of Nashville Public Library visitors do not have internet access at home. Close to 50% use the Library’s internet when they come to our buildings. Without basic internet service at home, people are unable to apply for jobs, complete online homework assignments, or look up needed services.*

On March 22, 1916, a fire raged through East Nashville. By the end of day, more than 600 homes and businesses were destroyed by fire over 35 city blocks.

June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness month, and the Special Collections Division has numerous veterans' stories which discuss this issue.

While students may be breathlessly awaiting the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation, parents may feel a bit differently. Namely, they may wondering what are they going to do with those kids all day now that school’s out for summer.  Not to worry, Nashville Public Library is here to help! Summer is a busy time for us: we have stuff going on all summer long, for you and the kids. Read on to learn about some of the many things NPL has in store for the summer.

Good gossip! Here’s a book chock-full of juicy tidbits about the Presidential families, going all the way back to the Truman administration. You'll get to witness first-hand the details of life in the White House during some of its most tense and historical moments: the assassination of President Kennedy, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the Nixon disgrace and resignation, the Clinton sex scandal, told by those who saw the events unfold. These stories add another layer of interest to what we learned about these events through the news media.

We've all seen some of the amazing puppet shows that Wishing Chair Productions has put on, and therefore, we've seen the diverse collection of puppets that they have. But there is one set of puppets that is no longer performed with but still represents the uniqueness of their collection - a very old set of Punch & Judy puppets. In honor of the Nashville International Puppet Festival coming up in June, this set of archaic dolls will be on display in Non-Fiction for your viewing pleasure.

Texas transplant, song-writer supreme Guy Clark died May 17 at age 74. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2004.

Having read The Girl with All the Gifts, I was really excited to pick up the second book under Mike Carey’s new pen name. Mike Carey is very well-known in the comic book scene as the writer for the Vertigo comic book series Lucifer and 35 issues of Hellblazer (which was the basis for both the movie and television show Constantine).  He is the current ongoing writer for X-Men: Legacy and the Ultimate Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics.  These are just a few of his credentials in the world of comic books – he’s written fiction novels, as well.

First, I should say that I know this book isn’t new. It came out in 1987 when I was a delicate three-year-old child, who had not quite gotten to chapter books just yet. Misery is a psychological thriller about an author of famous Victorian-era romances who is rescued from a car crash by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes. The only problem? Annie Wilkes is completely off her rocker.

53 years ago, the government that Nashville now knows well as the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County was implemented, consolidating 2 separately-operating governments into one. Learn a little more about that consolidation process and how it has defined us as a city today.

Happy Poetry Month! If you're not a big poetry fan, you need to check out Mary Oliver's new book because she'll convert you.

This week is National Library Week, and the American Library Association has selected "Libraries Transform" as its theme. While the Nashville Public Library has received widespread recognition in recent years, we have a long history of innovation and outreach to our community.

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Jane Smiley discusses her book, Golden Age, the last book in the trilogy The Last Hundred Years, as part of the Salon@615 author series.

I transferred to the Archives a month ago and I've been trying to learn all that I can about the Archives collections. One of the coolest collections I recently stumbled upon is the small collection we have for the Nashville College for Young Ladies. In honor of Women's History Month, what better topic to discuss than women's education?

What? The library doesn't have enough weather books for you? Have no fear! ILL is here!!!

Imagine being a single mother to thirteen girls - all before you turn 21! Not many people would choose that life, but Katie did.

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Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. C.T. Vivian visted Nashville Public Library to discuss how the ideas and practices from the summer of 1964 still echo today. Selected excerpts from the award winning film Freedom Summer by Stanley Nelson were part of the conversation.

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This month's post is about the holiday season and some of the literary treats that accompany it, such as the classic Christmas tale A Christmas Carol.  It also includes instructions on creating ornaments from recycled Christmas Carols!

The holiday season brings with it tables full of home-baked goodness. Cookies, cakes, pies, turkey, ham, potatoes, casseroles – the list is nearly infinite. The next time all the cooking seems to be just too much for you – consider our foremothers a century ago.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is a film about the history of the Black Panther Party containing rare archival footage and interviews with the people who were a part of it, including members Kathleen Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Ericka Huggins, and Jamal Joseph. 

What’s a girl to do when she has to leave her home, move to a strange country, and marry a man she’s never met? What can any woman do when she finds herself miles away from everything she knows, hemmed in on all sides by intrigue and shackled to a man who may be old, ugly, diseased, a drooling imbecile or all four at once? If she’s a queen, she might just take a handsome lover!

An original author, creating a fictitious author writing what amounts to fan fiction, that was then borrowed by another fictitious character for more fan fiction, and then back to the original author who took the fictitious author's character and wrote her own fan fiction? What's not to love about that?

You might not expect a novel about killer plants to be thoroughly lacking in over-the-top corniness, but John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids handily pulls it off.

When we travelled to Italy, I really wanted to learn more of the language because Italians don’t, as a rule, speak much English. What no one tells you before hand is that Italian is hard to learn. When I came across this book, I was hoping that it would give me the added insight to get better at Italian.

What is "ephemera"? And how do you pronounce it, anyway? Ephemera (pronounced: "i-FEM-ur-uh"), refers to anything short-lived. Today we may be more familiar with the adjective, "ephemeral," used to describe fresh-cut flowers, a misty morning, or the rapidly changing colors of a fading sunset. But the noun, used in a library or archives setting, more often refers to two-dimensional objects, usually made out of paper, designed for limited use, often for just one day.

 A Southern family dynasty romance? I’m so in. I have a real soft spot for Southern literature and family sagas, so to put those together was very exciting.

I often marvel at how amazing it is that we have letters from Civil War soldiers, store ledgers from the 1900s, and interviews with people that lived through the Great Depression.

Who do I love? Hmm...let's see. I love my husband. I love my crazy kittens. I love my family. I more than like my job. I love...

Wait.

What?

Oh. Who Do You Love is the title of a book by Jennifer Weiner?

When two people got married in Nashville during the 19th century, it was not unusual for the officiant to write something like, “I hereby certify that I solemnized the rights of matrimony between the above named” on the back of the marriage certificate, and sign it. Some of these notes are wordy and elaborate, some are short and sweet. In the case of Justice of the Peace Willie Barrow, the notes also contained flashes of dry wit and sarcasm.

A few years ago we all (and I mean ALL of us) geeked out over a little book called Ready Player One. It was an epic battle filled with gaming, fun 80′s stuff, and adventure. It even made our Best of 2012 Popmatic Podcast episode as one of our favorite books of the year. Thanks Crystal for bringing us so much fun and entertainment!

One of our most prized possessions at the Metro Archives is a rare cookbook compiled for the first Tennessee State Fair, held in Nashville at the fairgrounds in 1906. There are few of these left, and it's an artifact that marks a tradition that has been part of Nashville's history for over a century.

Working downtown like I do it’s hard...no, nigh unto impossible to ignore the existence of the food truck phenomenon. A few of them even park directly in front of the library on 6th Avenue. And yet…I’ve never officially eaten at one.

Our whirlwind library culinary tour continues with one of my favorite ingredients - is it savory or is it sweet? Nope. It's just The Egg.

If Julia Child is the grande dame of cooking, then MFK Fisher is her counterpart in the land of food writers. There is no way we could possibly Savor Summer without mentioning her brilliance.

In anticipation of the release of the new Harper Lee title, Go set a watchman, you may want to visit the classic, the title by which all American modern fiction is measured, To Kill a Mockingbird. The new title was written before Mockingbird, remained unpublished and is a sequel to Mockingbird, telling the tale of the adult Jean Louise Finch Scout.

Food: the final frontier. These are the recipes of the Star Trek Franchise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new dishes, to seek out new delicacies in new civilizations, to boldly go where no diet has gone before.

Kramer has teased readers with this work for thirty years. Four years ago, I mentioned I was anxious for it come out. All 775 pages of Volume 1 have finally arrived. Need blurbs? It’s the gay history of the United States. Kramer’s theories are so controversial his publisher would only release American People as fiction though it started as straight (forgive the pun) nonfiction. 

Superhero movies have dominated Hollywood for nearly a decade, but superheroes' popularity is nothing new. Characters like Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman have been popular for over seventy years, but many of their caped brethren have fallen through the cracks of history.

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The Summer Challenge theme this year is "Every Hero Has a Story." Check out these books with antiheroes - characters who lack conventional superhero characteristics, such as courage, idealism, and morality. You may just find your next favorite read!

My father is where I get my love of science fiction and fantasy. I grew up around Robert Heinlein and Marion Zimmer Bradley (I was even named after one of her books!). Both my parents encouraged me to read growing up, which has made me the bibliophile I am today!

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Hi there! Are you a fan of offbeat romantic comedies looking for fun vacation reads? Even better, titles to read as part of your NPL Summer Challenge participation? If so, add  I Take You to your  holds list.

 

3 nights at a 4 star hotel in a warm climate: approximately $1000

Car rental to get you to the beach: $100

Reading a good book at said beach while you dig your toes into the warm sand: Priceless. Oh wait. No, I’m sorry. The name of the book is Priceless. You don’t have to read it at the beach. You can read it anywhere you want.

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According to Merriam-Webster, a hero is someone who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities. Take a peek at these stories of bravery and outstanding achievement!

As baby-boomers redefine the cultural landscape, it is appropriate that we re-write the literature, cinema, and music of our time. That’s right, Stevie Nicks, it’s now the Edge of Seven-ty.

And now I want to go to culinary school. Don’t get me wrong I love my job and I really have no desire to start working every night and holiday in a hot, sweaty kitchen being yelled at by some Gordon Ramsey wanna be because my risotto’s al dente.

And yet.

Introducing Melanie, the smartest of a group of children being taught in an underground facility. They have a variety of teachers, some cold and calculating, others loving and caring like Mrs. Justineau. Mostly, they learn about literature and Greek myths. They are no tests. In fact, the children are all strapped into chairs, escorted by armed soldiers, and treated like animals.

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America's Pastime, baseball, is starting up. Picture yourself in the stadium. Smell the hot dogs and hear the crunch of peanut shells as their trampled. Now, pick up one of these books and enjoy!

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Believe it or not, many movies are adapted from books. More recently, several of those movies were once Young Adult books. Here's a list of upcoming feature films that are based on Young Adult novels.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love to watch the Food Network. I can watch hours upon hours of food TV even if I never make anything the fancy chefs are cooking. I do think, though, that my cooking has improved just by proximity. Watching all that good cooking - some of the tips and techniques had to get buried in my brain somewhere.

The worst thing about history is its lack of monsters. There’s Hitler, of course, the gold standard of historical bad guys, but when I say monsters I mean MONSTERS--mysterious, possibly hairy and/or scaly creatures of unknown origin, things you run from in the night and hope aren’t lurking under your bed. Unfortunately, monsters like Hitler are real and those other guys aren’t, but that leads us to the best thing about history: you don’t have to let facts get in the way of telling a good story.

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Suppose you were stranded in the scattered, floating remains of a demolished space vessel. Barely surviving by sheer will, hoping for rescue and constantly disappointed, hovering close to death for no less than 170 days…would you begrudge a passing ship that took notice of you but continued on its way? And what would you do about it?

Watching the new movie Selma was like seeing Nashville's Civil Rights "All Stars": James Bevel, Diane Nash, C.T. Vivian, John Lewis, Bernard LaFayette are all depicted in the film.

To tell you about this graphic novel, I must give a little background about the world of Dead Space. Dead Space takes place about 300-500 years in the future where the Earth is dying. Resources have become so limited that the people of Earth have started mining planets for resources, and have colonized several moons and planets.

Since New Year’s is all about making resolutions, I think one of the best resolutions a reader can make is to diversify what they read throughout the year. That being said, POPSUGAR has created a 2015 Reading Challenge, a list of different genres or themes to use as a jumping off point to expand your reading horizons.Here are a few highlights from the POPSUGAR list, and what I'll be reading for each one.

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When I mention the day after Thanksgiving what do you think of? Leftover turkey? Black Friday shopping? Football games? These are all great things about the last Friday in November but did you know that this day is also National Day of Listening?

In honor of the beginning of the next series of Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery, I went to the periodicals stacks to dig up some original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and came across something that interested me even more. 

This is hands-down the best historical fiction that I have read this past year. I cannot say enough about this book, it is so good. The story is compelling and poignant and the atmospheric setting immediately transports the reader to another place and time.

We lost one of our most vibrant and uncompromising voices with the death of poet, playwright, and cultural critic Amiri Baraka. Born LeRoi Jones, Baraka had the distinction of dropping out of three universities and being discharged from the Air Force for communist sympathies before starting his literary career.

Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson is called away from London to  review the handling of a murder investigation led by police in Northern Ireland. Gibson quickly finds procedural mistakes, and evidence that another recent murder may make this the work of a serial killer. When yet another victim is discovered, Gibson is put in charge of the investigation.

Audio books are my favorite way to sneak a little “reading” into the post-holiday grind. Thankfully, the library has three ways to do it with CD audio, Playaway audio, and downloads from Overdrive.