Union Station oral history project, 1976-1977
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Digital files and CDs are identified by the project abbreviation: "UNSTAT" which serves as a prefix. Arranged thereunder alphabetically by the last name of the interviewee.

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Conversion of analog interviews to digital format made possible by funding from the Nashville Public Library Foundation in 2007.

Participants include: Alfred Adams; Anonymous; Dorothy Armistead; Catherine Berry Avery; William F. Baltz; Mrs. Melville Barnes; Paul Beasley; Sarah H. Berry; Louis Bervoets; Mary Sperry Blake; Margaret (Mrs. H. C.) Brearley; Neill S. Brown; Jane Berry Buntin; Corinne Ware Burton; Cornelia Park Byrns; Mary French Caldwell; Monroe Carell, Sr.; Joseph Edward Carson; Saidee J. Cauvin; Earl G. Civils, Jr.; Evelyn B. Cook; Alfred Leland Crabb; Wilbur F. Creighton, Jr.; Pearl Creswell; Earl E. Cunningham; John H. Dewitt; Sam G. Doak; Alice Doak; Sophia Dobson; Mary Stahlman Douglas; T. J. Drumright; Lucy F. Dye;

Bernard Evers, Sr.; Anna Ruth Evins; Andrew Ewing; Pauline Brown Folk; Fedora Small (Mrs. Isadore) Frank; Lewis Frazer; Jimmie Fulghum; Charles Cecil Gentry; Zan Gibson; Betty Gossett; Hazel Carter Graham; W. H. Gwin; Marguerite Langston Hailey; Coleman A. Harwell; Minerva Hawkins; Senator Douglas Henry; Thomas Hester; Ed Hodge; John Houston; Elizabeth L. Jacobs; Mae B. Johnson; Alethea Ward Johnstone; Ted Johnstone; Ernest Jones, Sr.; Elizabeth Thompson Kennon;

W. M. Latta; Mary Leake; Mrs. James LeSueur; Martha Lindsey; Evalien Campbell Little; Woodrow M. Looney; Frances Blum Lusky; Mary Tom Mallison; Morris W. Mashburn; Dan May; James G. McCanless; Lillian McGlothlein; Robert McKissack; Frances C. McLester; Ruth Deal McNish; Mrs. W. A. Moody; Lera Bush Moore; John Baxter Myers; V. T. Nelms; La Una Gay Parkes Nielsen; Jeannette Acklen Noel; Dorothy Adcock Norman; Edwin E. O'Brien; Thelma Jean Petty; W. W. Pinkleton; Jennella Proctor; Wallace Pullen;

Fred Russell; Olivia Carson Sawyer; Anita Lewis Frazer Shadoin; E. K. Shaffer, Jr.; Mrs. Cecil Sims; Lacy P. Sinclair; Chloe Cook (Mrs. Marvin M.) Sloan; Margaret Howe (Mrs. John) Sloan; E. Gray Smith; Larkin Smith; James G. Stahlman; Curtis Stamp; Laura Kinzer Stockard; Walter Stokes, Jr.; Eleanor Allen Sullivan;

W. K. Tate; Ezelle L. Tavel; Libby (Mrs. Stanley) Teachout; John Thompson; Julia Malone (Mrs. Charles C.) Trabue; Ellen Wallace; William Joseph Wallace, Jr.; William Waller; Mrs. J. M. Ward; Margaret Lindsley Warden; Ellen Stokes Wemyss; Alma Whitaker; Esther Fleming White; Talitha Wilson; Mark Womack; Melba A. Wood; Margaret Fall (Mrs. Douglass) Wright; D. C. Youngblood; Dr. Kate Zerfoss.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Abstract: Over 100 audio-recorded interviews of individuals recalling their experiences at Union Station as travelers, railroad or station employees, relatives of employees, or in other capacities. Recollections span the time frame from the construction and dedication of the station in the late 1890s to the time of the interviews in the mid-1970s. Further details about topics discussed and interview participants may be found in the collection finding aid. The interviews were used in 1977 in the writing of a book: Speaking of Union Station.

Cite as: [individual interview], Union Station Oral History Project; Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

System requirements for sound discs: computer with CD drive and MP3 capable software.

Interviewees who signed release forms waived publication rights, however, no explicit provision was made regarding copyright or intellectual property rights. A number of interviewees have no release forms on file. Therefore, portions of this collection may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code).

Junior League of Nashville;,Gift;,1977,Acc. RT-391.

Related materials: Historic Nashville, Inc. Records on Union Station document HNI's efforts to preserve and restore the historic station, and are held by the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library. A brief account of the alligator pools at Union Station in the early twentieth Century can be found in the manuscript collection: "Some Tidbits of Nashville History," by Paul H. Beasley, also held by the Special Collections Division.

Union Station opened on October 9, 1900 to serve as Nashville's main passenger and freight terminal for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) and the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis (N.C. & St. L.). It served Nashville's transportation needs until the 1950s, when rail travel began to be superseded by the automobile and aviation, but portions of it remained in service as a passenger terminal until 1979. By the time passenger service ceased, the station had already fallen into grave disrepair, and was shut down for code violations in 1975. The building had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and received National Historic Landmark status in 1975, but this status was revoked in 2003 due to the demolition of the historic Train Shed in 2001. In 1986, intensive restoration and renovation work began, and on December 31, Union Station reopened as a hotel. In 1997 the Mercury statue was replaced on top of the building, after the original had plummeted to the ground in 1952.

The efforts of Historic Nashville, Inc. (HNI), beginning in 1975, were instrumental in the salvation and restoration of this important structure. As part of this effort, the Junior League undertook a major oral history project in 1976-1977, resulting in the publication of Speaking of Union Station. The book was based on the oral histories, and proceeds from its sale went to the Union Station Trust Fund.

In English

Finding aid available in repository;,interview level control.,https://catalog.library.nashville.org/Record/CARL0000813260/DownloadSupplementalFile?fileId=169

Materials created by and in possession of the Junior League of Nashville Inc. until donated to the library in 1977.

catalog;,2019;,Linda Barnickel;,new cataloging as a unified archival (oral history) collection; use of Dewey call number discontinued

inventory;,2018;,Rose Mary Reed, volunteer.

original analog audiocassette recordings,reformat,2007;,Safe Sound Archive;,Jim Havron via outside vendor;,converted to .mp3 digital files.

catalog;,1997;,NPL cataloging dept.,assigned Dewey call number: 976.855 U582

No further accruals are expected.