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Linda Barnickel

Linda is an archivist who works in the Special Collections Division where you can find all kinds of nifty historical stuff about Nashville, like maps, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and more! Learn more about the Special Collections Division.

Latest Blog Posts

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.