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Military

Up close view of the card from President Clinton

In celebration of the holiday season, Metro Archives is featuring the Jo Ann Connor Collection in our latest exhibit. The collection consists of Christmas cards that Jo Ann received from various U.S. presidents over the years, following her husband's MIA status during the Vietnam War. The cards span from President Nixon to President Obama. Here's the story behind how she received the cards, and how they ended up in our repository!

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

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. 

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. 

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. 

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...

 

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. 

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.  

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.   

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