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Accession Number: 81
The Edna Lynn Simms Collection
Papers, 1855-1963
3.6 Linear Feet
Online Catalog
Record (BANC)
Overview & Series Description
History
Series I - Personal / Biographical
Series II - Mountain
Family Documents and Records
Series III - Printed Material
Series IV - Photographs
Series V - Note Cards
Series VI - Scrapbook and Ledgers
Overview
These are letters, family documents, note cards, articles, and
photographs relating to the life and work of Edna Lynn Simms,
founder of The Mountaineer Museum in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
History
Edna Lynn Simms was born in Lexington, Kentucky around 1880. After her marriage
to Charles Sumner Simms in 1900, she moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. The couple
had two children, Charles Jr. and Ruth Simms. Edna worked as a free-lance journalist
and photographer while also participating in local women’s clubs and parent-teacher
organizations. Her articles appeared in The Mother's Magazine and Concrete and
she served as an editor for The Forest Farm and Mascot Concentrates.
Simms was also an avid hiker and horseback rider and became interested in the
lives of mountain people she met on the trail in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.
This interest lead to her founding the Mountaineer Museum, which opened May 30,
1931. Until her death in 1961, she continued to collect information on mountain
culture via photography and note taking. Simms' collection of notes, photographs,
and artifacts were donated to Berea College in 1962 and became the core of the
Berea College Appalachian Museum.
Series Description
This series consists of materials related to Simms' career as a journalist and
founder of The Mountaineer Museum. An article she wrote for the Mascot Concentrates is
included, along with another from the Christian Science Monitor about
her and the Museum. An account ledger and some other miscellaneous items, such
as an invitation to the 1939 New York World's Fair, are also included.
| Series
II |
Mountain Family Documents and Records |
Box 1, cont. |
This series consists of pre-Civil War letters, poems, family records, legal documents
and other papers documenting the Trentham and Ogle families. Also included is
a map of eastern Appalachia and an address book.
This series consists of newspaper clippings and notes related to the establishment
of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, local news, poems, obituaries, and
archeological and historical findings.
This series consists of over 160 images depicting mountain people and lifestyles
made by Simms and various professional photographers. They are arranged in numbered
order and an identification label with information about the photograph is attached
to each.
This series consists of a set of categorically arranged note cards on which Simms
recorded much of her research data. The cards have been preserved with Simms'
sub-headings, labels and filing order. Topics within the note card collection
include herbs and cures, Appalachian speech, traits of mountain people, and information
on the Smoky Mountains.
This series consists of a scrapbook of Knoxville News-Sentinel clippings
from 1928-1935 relating to The Great Smoky Mountains. Also included are five
guest register ledgers from the Mountaineer Museum.
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