Metro Nashville Archivist Ken Feith hosted Belmont Honors students in “The Making of the Modern Global City,” taught by Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, at the Downtown Library on Thursday, Jan. 14. Feith lectured on the urban history of Nashville and Davidson County and invited students to view many primary sources including marriage licenses, maps and photographs.
Feith also toured students through archival storage, the Special Collections and Nashville rooms, which feature Nashville Banner archives on microfilm, non-circulating primary and secondary sources related to Middle Tennessee and the Civil Rights room and permanent exhibit. Special Collections Librarian Ryan Darrow gave a brief presentation on the many materials housed in Special Collections.
Darrow hoped to whet student’s appeitite for research. “Now you have chance to create your own academic Indiana Jones moment,” he said.
Students will complete a primary source analysis and “Urban Spaces” interdisciplinary project that focuses on Nashville later in the semester, allowing students to combine breadth and depth of course content related to the evolution of cities and urban development since the 1890s.
