All Dig Memphis Posts

Explore DIG’s brand new online collection, The Funeral Programs Collection. Designed to support genealogy and historical research, this collection honors our ancestors and preserves the…

From Wayne Dowdy, Manager of the Library’s History Department: “Clayborn Temple is one of the most significant sites in the history of the American Civil…

This week is our final mystery in the Fall series focusing on newly digitized materials. The photos come from a collection that was used in…

This week’s newly digitized photos were gifted together by Gordon Fox and are all part of the M Files mini collection: Sports in Memphis. Can…

Lights, camera, action! 🎥🎬As Hollywood gears up for Oscar night, we’re rolling the tape back to 1929, when a Memphis-made movie bucked the rules of…

Today’s #MysteryMonday photos continue our Fall series highlighting newly digitized materials – this time with a focus on streetscapes! We have two photos that were…

Mystery Three“Sports Team” The M Files, Sports in Memphis, BCC1620 This photo holds a few mysteries. Our only clues can be found on their uniform…

Mystery Two“Early Football Team” The M Files, Sports in Memphis, BCC1621 Looking closely at the center of this image, we can tell this is another…

This photo of an early football team comes with plenty of clues! The back of the photo includes a list of names: Row Bottom. L…

“Old Dueling Grounds”. Digital ID BCC1630 Included with this photo is a note that reads, “old dueling grounds, state line.” Perhaps this location is somewhere…

Today’s #MysteryMonday photos came from a folder of historic photographs of Memphis Buildings taken by Poland Photographers. While the folder included easily recognizable images like…

BCC0197 This week marks the final mystery in our summer series, and it’s a challenging one. Some of the more puzzling photographs are images with…

8/21/2023: “D. Canale & Co.”. The M Files, DIG MEMPHIS. (Digital Identifier Transport067) This week’s mystery photograph shows wagons lined up outside the offices of…

Winter 2023 2/27/2023: “Woman on Beale”. Robert Lanier Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital Identifier RLC204) This week’s mystery will be the final one in our Winter…

“Midtown houses”. Robert Lanier Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital Identifier RLC023) This week’s mystery brings us another stretch of unlabeled houses in Memphis – this time…

“Memphis houses”. Robert Lanier Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: RLC253) The above image titled, “Memphis houses”, was taken November 2, 1969. We know the date,…

“Building”. Pink Palace Photograph Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: PP852) The description accompanying this image only states, “Building with columns & four boys next to…

8/28/2022: “Trolley power lines”. Pink Palace Photograph Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: PP1250) Today marks our final mystery in the summer series! For this week’s…

Winter 2022 3/14/2022: “Urban Renewal on Beale”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: Street1048) The photograph above is titled, “Urban Renewal on Beale” and…

“Christmas party”. The George W. Lee Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: XMAS019) “Bringing Christmas cheer”. The M Files, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: XMAS017) Do you…

In honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we’re sharing a couple photographs that highlight family, friends, and food! Here are two mysteries from the archive…

DIG Memphis contains a large number of professional portraits, but many of them are unlabeled. Here are a handful from the archive without any indication…

In honor of Veterans Day, we’re sharing photographs of those who have served in the past. There are many images of veterans in the DIG…

“Native American family”. Pink Palace Photograph Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: PP062) November is Native American Heritage Month. To celebrate the history, traditions, and culture…

“Woman with candlestick”. Saul Brown Photograph Collection, DIG MEMPHIS (Digital ID: SB310) Along with the crisp air and falling leaves, Fall usually ushers in a…

“Crump Boulevard at night”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0144) As a final mystery for 2020, this photograph (our cover image) has yet…

“Poplar Avenue”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0811) Here’s a photograph from an unusual perspective. The caption on top of photograph appears to…

“Colonial Road”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0030) The data accompanying this image indicates that the photograph was taken in 1962. Beyond that,…

“S. Third Street, 1938”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0361) Many of our unmapped images are from the Municipal Reference Library and depict…

“McLean”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0476) This undated photograph shows McLean Boulevard surrounded by trees. The only description given on the digital…

“Castalia Street”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0006) Many of the remaining mystery photographs in our Memphis Streetscapes Collection depict areas undergoing various…

“Hollywood Avenue”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0524) This photograph is a challenge to locate due to the lack of notable structures or…

“Dunn Avenue”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0068) Taken in 1956, this photograph captures construction workers along Dunn Avenue. The description on the…

“Riverside Drive”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0291) This image shows Riverside Drive while it was under construction. The caption on the back…

“Madison Avenue”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0496) This image shows Northcross Machine Mfg. Co. on Madison Avenue, and the record indicates that…

“Chelsea Avenue (2)”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0014) The markings on the back of this photograph indicate that it was taken on…

“Medical Center”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0402) This photograph, taken in the 1960s, depicts an intersection in the Medical Center district; however,…

“Suffrage parade “. Pink Palace Photograph Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID PP1038) 100 years ago today, on August 24, 1920, Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts…

“Hernando Street”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0519) This 1895 photograph shows homes along Hernando Street. The age of the image and the…

” “Idlewild Avenue”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0527) The above image is another photograph that is part of the series showing old…

7/27/2020: “Vance Avenue residences”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0965) These two pictures show Victorian-era houses on Vance Avenue around the turn of…

“Scene on Speedway (2)”. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0354) This photo shows the Speedway with trees and gardens along both sides. Can…

“Houses on Washington Avenue “. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0395) This picture, c.1900, shows Victorian-era houses lining a stretch of Washington Avenue….

Residences on Union Avenue, 1900. Memphis Streetscapes Collection, DIG Memphis. (Digital ID Street0377) These two photographs (each measuring 7.25 x 4.25 inches) labeled “Scenes on…