Austin Peay State University faculty edits Diary that provides glimpse of Clarksville during Civil War
August 5, 2020
Clarksville, TN – In the mid-1980s, an old store ledger was found inside a local smokehouse. At first glance, it seemed like little more than trash, but then someone opened the yellowed, water-stained pages and read surreal accounts of Clarksville during the Civil War.
“Clarksville is almost depopulated,” the ledger recorded. “All the escaped soldiers have been ordered to the main army via Clarksville before the Yankees get in. I ripped the stripes off a young man’s coat over at Uncle W’m’s this evening that he might not be detected on his journey. Once I enjoyed sewing them, but now I take them off as willingly.”
Austin Peay State University professor of history Dr. Minoa Uffelman holds the Diary of Serepta Jordan. (APSU)
Austin Peay State University commemorating Women’s Suffrage anniversary with year of Special Events
September 4, 2019
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) is celebrating the anniversary of Women’s Suffrage with a year of special events.
On the unbearable hot morning of August 26th, 1920, anyone fanning themselves with that day’s Nashville Tennessean newspaper saw a frontpage photo of Gov. A. H. Roberts signing the state’s passage of the 19th Amendment.
A model of the proposed Clarksville statue honoring the 19th amendment.
Celebrating a Tennessee Triumph: New monument to honor Clarksville’s suffragists
August 16, 2019
Clarksville, TN – On a July afternoon in 1914, more than 75 people crowded into a house on Madison Street for a meeting of the newly established Clarksville Equal Suffrage League.
The women who joined the league that afternoon spent the next six years facing ridicule and threats of violence in the pursuit of their goal – earning women the right to vote.
A woman casts her first vote in this miniature replica of the statue. (APSU)
City of Clarksville restores Arlington monument stones
July 18, 2017
Clarksville, TN – The City of Clarksville has completed restoration of the Arlington Hotel monument on Second Street, thanks to the Montgomery County Historical Society and an anonymous donor.
The stone monument commemorates the Arlington Hotel, a three-story brick building that stood on the site from 1887 until it was razed in 1973. The City’s Cumberland Place Parking Plaza garage was built on the site in 1992.
City of Clarksville, donor, Montgomery County Historical Society collaborate on project to restore Arlington monument stones.
Customs House Museum receives restored Civil War diary
June 29, 2017
Local Groups, Individuals provide funds to have Civil War Diary cleaned, restored, returned to Custom House Museum
Clarksville, TN – An important record of Clarksville’s past returned, cleaned and restored, this month to Customs House Museum and Cultural Center thanks to help from several local organizations and individuals.
Serepta Jordan’s diary from 1857 to 1864 in New Providence records murders, slave insurrections, the building of Fort Defiance (then known as Fort Sevier), mustering of troops, battles fought and lost during America’s Civil War, along with births, deaths, marriages, and details of daily 19th-century life.
Customs House Curator of Collections Kali Mason receives a $500.00 check from Jeff Harris, treasurer of the Montgomery County Historical Society, to help pay for restoration of the journal kept by New Providence resident Serepta Jordan from 1857 to 1864.
Austin Peay State University history professor Minoa Uffelman part of team to restore Civil War-era diary
February 28, 2017
Clarksville, TN – Military conflicts are not fought in isolation, and the American Civil War was no different. While civilians like Serepta Jordan never lifted a musket, Jordan and millions like her felt its impact, and it is precisely that neglected perspective that made the discovery of her diary by area historians so significant.
A working-class woman living in Clarksville during the war, Jordan was not a name remembered by history.
Minoa Uffelman holding the $3,000 Archive Development Grant check from the State of Tennessee.
Clarksville’s Customs House Museum receives Tennessee Grant for Serepta Jordan Diary project
February 11, 2017
Serepta Jordan’s writings recorded Clarksville life from 1857-64
Clarksville, TN – A large measure of teamwork is going into the restoration and publication of the diary of Serepta Jordan, who recorded her life in Clarskville from 1857 to 1864 in crisp hardwriting in a repurposed leather-bound ledger book.
The diary is part of the collection of the Clarksville’s Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, which welcomed a $3,000 Archive Development Grant on Thursday delivered by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.
Kali Mason, Customs House Curator of Collections, carefully handles pages of the diary of Serepta Jordon as Mayor Kim McMillan, Millie Armstrong, Tenessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Customs House Executive Director Jim Zimmer look at the fragile document. Hargett delivered a $3,000 state grant check to the museum Thursday that will be used to continue the restoration of the historic diary.
Votes for Women 100th Anniversary Commemoration
August 22, 2016
Votes for Women Memories Wanted
Clarksville, TN – Tennesseans changed the nation August 26th, 1920 by ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Although there were ardent advocates both for and against ratification, little is known about local activities and organizations on either side.
Do you know family or community stories of events or individuals involved in this major social and political change? A story about that first vote your grandmother or her mother cast? What people thought would change once women voted? What did change? They are valuable memories that deserve to be preserved and without delay.
Clarksville Women’s Suffrage. Constance Rudolph, in dark suit, front row, right, is the only person identified. (Montgomery County Archives)
Civil War diary edited by APSU faculty wins Duke award
October 28, 2015
Clarksville, TN – In 1862, the author of “The American Stud Book,” a breed registry for thoroughbred horses, became one of the least popular people in Montgomery County. His name was Col. Sanders Bruce, and as an officer in the Union Army, he oversaw the military occupation of Clarksville during the Civil War.
“Well upon Christmas day Colonel Bruce with his ‘whiskey jug’ and several regiments took possession of this place and here they have been ever since,” Nannie Haskins Williams, a 16-year-old Clarksville resident, wrote in her diary a year later. “And here I am too still writing in my journal about those detestable blue coats for whom I have such a disgust.”
Civil War diary edited by Austin Peay State University faculty wins Duke award
11th Annual Clarksville Writers Conference to be held next week
May 30, 2015
Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Arts and Heritage Development Council, in partnership with Austin Peay State University and the Tennessee Arts Commission, is pleased to announce the Eleventh Annual Clarksville Writers Conference, being held June 4th and 5th, 2015, on the campus of Austin Peay State University.
We are very honored to have as this year’s keynote speaker Sharyn McCrumb, award-winning Southern writer best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley and She Walks These Hills, and the forthcoming Prayers the Devil Answers.
Sharyn McCrumb to keynote 11th Annual Clarksville Writers Conference.
