Some Old Knoxville Newspapers

Here are some of the newspapers published in and around Knoxville...

Calvin Morgan McClung historical collection of books, pamphlets,
manuscripts, pictures and maps relating to early western travel
and the history and genealogy of Tennessee and other southern states (1921)

Norwood's Knoxville Directory  (1884)

Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History (1920)

B.B. Smith and The Flashlight Herald

I was speaking with Louisa Trott, who is the Digital Projects Librarian at the University of Tennessee. For sometime she has been the Project Coordinator of the Tennessee Newspaper Digitization Project.

On that site is a list of African-American Tennessee newspapers.  A title from that list that has intrigued me is The Flashlight-Herald.  In the spreadsheet that the TNDP maintains there is no publisher/editor listed.

Using the resources of the Knox County Public Library and their Papers to Pixels Project I was able to find out more about The Flashlight-Herald.

From The Knoxville News-Sentinel I've collected just a few of the many instances where The Flashlight-Herald is mentioned.

It starts in early 1931.  B. B. (Bernis Branner) Smith published a paper in Kentucky and was coming to Knoxville.

Smith was in and out of legal trouble during his career.  Sometimes he lost.

Sometimes he won.

This is the only photo of Smith that I could find.  He's on the far right.

Trouble followed him and he was shot in the hip.

Smith died in 1958 and is buried at Longview Cemetery in Knoxville.

There's much more to the story of the Smith and The Flashlight-Herald to be told.  Maybe another day.

Some Periodicals of Johnson Bible Collge

I stopped by Johnson University this morning to ask if they might have any records regarding the 1921 basketball game between the University of Tennessee and then Johnson Bible College. Their holdings of yearbooks don't go back that far.  I was referred to Denny Eaton, Periodicals Clerk at the Glass Memorial Library.  I've worked with Denny before.  She was very helpful in providing resources for early baseball images and text about Johnson Bible College.

We took a quick look through the archives and nothing popped up, but I asked about early newspapers and newsletters associated with the school.  She pulled out an archive box and graciously allowed me to take some quick snaps.

The School of the Evangelists was founded in 1893 by Ashley S. Johnson, so the first two papers, The Christian Watchman and The Querist, predate that.  Here's a link to the history of Johnson University.

The Christian Watchman - December 1, 1880

The Querist - January 1, 1890

From what I can tell, the publications were of an evangelical bent, with a bit of school news tossed in.

Kimberlin Review - September, 1902

Kimberlin Review - masthead (date not noted)

The World-wide Witness - January, 1904

Johnson Bible College News Letter - October, 1912

Johnson Bible College News Letter - October, 1913

Blue and White - October 15, 1928

The Monthly Kimberliner - January, 1950

From what I saw, there wasn't much local news, although there were advertisers from downtown Knoxville in a few of the issues.

From archive.org I found the Periodicals of the Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups which list several of the publications that I've shown above.

I don't yet know the extent of the holdings of Johnson University.  As with many interests, this requires more research.

I'd like to thank Denny Eaton and the staff of the Glass Memorial Library for permission to share these images.