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. 

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.  

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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). 

Something wicked this way comes...in the form of this blog post. It's the spookiest time of year, which means this blog post is filled with everything Nashville-Halloween-related from food to ghost stories. Read on, if you dare.

Since all of my September blog posts have an education theme, I think it's probably about time I write about the most obvious education-related theme—why Nashville is called the "Athens of the South."

The Metro Water Department and Metro Archives are commemorating the 130th anniversary of the completion of the 8th Avenue Reservoir and the George Reyer Pumping Station with an exhibit and this blog post!

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! 

If you read May's blog post about the Dury family, here is part II of the series that takes a sharp look at Katharina Dury's 19th-century diary. 

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. 

One of the hidden gems in Metro Archives is the collection of Nashville Tennessean magazines in bound form.

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.

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. 

The Nashville Globe and The Colored Tennessean were two notable newspapers that existed at different times in Nashville, but both made history with their missions and content. In honor of African-American History Month, here's a look at each of their stories. 

The first school to train dogs to be service animals for the assistance of the blind opened in Nashville on January 29th, 1929, as "The Seeing Eye."

50 years ago this month marks the anniversary of the first flight ever hijacked flying out of Nashville. Or if you'd prefer something cheerier, continue scrolling down to see photos around Nashville during the holiday season.

On November 28th, former Metro Government Mayor Richard Fulton passed away at the age of 91. Here's a look back at his years of service to the city of Nashville and Davidson County. 

While most of us are used to getting our yearly flu vaccine to help prevent that pesky illness from infecting us, there was once a time when that vaccine didn't exist. And the consequences were catastrophic.

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. 

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?

If you're like me, and often find very little when researching the history of Nashville schools, here's a blog post that might help out - a brief history of Nashville schools.