"Delivered at Last"
This political cartoon, from August 1920, features a man labeled "Tennessee 36th state" presenting a woman with a gift labeled "The Vote" and saying, "Allow me the pleasure." The woman wears an apron that says, "American Women."
The cartoon is from the Carrie Chapman Catt Papers. Carrie Chapman Catt was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and her leadership was a key factor in Tennessee becoming the "Perfect 36," the state that gave the 19th Amendment the 3/4 majority needed for ratification.
This primary source and many others like it can be used when teaching about the 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage. It can also be used to discuss the significance of leaders such as Carrie Chapman Catt and the role of Tennessee as the “Perfect 36.”
This source is relevant to Tennessee State Social Studies Standards 5.09 and US.18.
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Save the Date! September 27, 2025
Calling all National History Day students! Join Tennessee History Day and the Tennessee State Library & Archives for a Research Roundup!
Research Roundup: Tennessee History Day at the Tennessee State Library & Archives is an open house event that gives students the opportunity to:
- Get research & project help from Library & Archives and History Day staff during 1:1 consultations
- Attend mini-lessons on how to conduct research at the Library & Archives
- Attend mini-lessons on various parts of the History Day process, like process papers & annotated bibliographies
- Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Library & Archives at 11:00 and 2:00
- View sample projects from past History Day contests
- Find additional research through online databases, books, and help from librarians and archivists
All events are first-come, first-served and open to current and prospective History Day students and educators. History Day is open to students in grades 6-12.
Pre-registration is encouraged to ensure our staff is better prepared for your visit. To register for the event, visit our website!
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2025-2026 Educator Workshop Series
The Tennessee State Library & Archives is pleased to offer our free in-person teacher workshops for the 2025-2026 school year. Join us for this professional development experience, where we will collaboratively explore strategies for teaching topics such as Prohibition, the Scopes Trial, popular culture, the causes of the Great Depression, and more through activities aligned with the Tennessee Social Studies Curriculum Standards.
During hands-on activities, we'll explore Tennessee and American history through diverse media formats, including political cartoons, newspaper records, photographs, advertisements, music, and other informational texts. Teachers will leave with primary sources, activity ideas, graphic organizers, and the knowledge of resources designed for teaching the 1920s in the classroom in order to help build student background knowledge and engage the classroom in a cross-curricular approach.
Teacher participants will receive lunch and 6 hours of professional development credit. There is no cost to attend a Library & Archives educator workshop.
Workshops will be held in eight locations across Tennessee, including Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, and many points in between. Workshop dates run from October 2025 to April 2026.
To register, click on one of the listed locations on our website here.
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Check out our Online Exhibits!
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Greetings from the new Education Outreach Newsletter Editor
Hello, teachers! Our former newsletter editor, Janis Perry, has retired. Janis spent over 30 years in the school system as an educator, librarian, and administrator and 12 years with the Library & Archives! We wish her a well-deserved retirement!
My name is Gena Henderson and I am beginning my 3rd year with the Education Outreach department here at the Library & Archives (and 7th overall at TSLA!). I am a former ELA teacher with degrees in public history, education, and most recently library science. In addition to the newsletter, teacher workshops, and helping with field trips, one of my main projects is managing the DocsBox program, where I love bringing primary sources to your classroom!
If you have suggestions for additional programming, please feel free to reach out to me at
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DocsBox Reservations Now Open!If you have never experienced one of our DocsBoxes, now is a great time to try one! Our DocsBoxes are free-to-use, ready-made teaching kits complete with activity guides, tons of primary and secondary sources, and reproduction historical items.
We offer topics ranging from the Civil War to Women’s Suffrage. Our brand-new box is on the American Revolution. In addition to those topics, we also offer 4th, 5th, and 8th-grade review DocsBoxes.
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Tennessee History Day Starter Pack SeriesJoin Tennessee History Day and special guests in an introductory webinar series on the basics of the National History Day program and earn up to 6 hours of professional development credit. Sessions will take place at 5:30 PM CT / 6:30 PM ET on select Thursdays during the fall semester.
The upcoming session for September 18 is titled “Developing Research Questions and Refining a Topic” and will feature Kira Duke and Dr. Layla Smallwood from the Teaching with Primary Sources Southern Region at Middle Tennessee State University.
Teachers can register here.
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Tennessee Council for History Education Conference 2025Join the Tennessee Council for History Education (TNCHE) for their annual conference, which takes place on September 30 - October 1, 2025, at the Martin Professional Development Center in Nashville.
This year’s theme is Doing History and will feature a podcast on the evening of September 30. The October 1 session will be an all-day event with a keynote speaker, engaging breakout sessions, and an educator poster session.
The podcast host will be Dr. Benjamin Sawyer, professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. The October 1 keynote speaker will be Dr. Lorri Glover, Bannon Endowed Chair in the history department at Saint Louis University. Her presentation is titled, 1776 to 2026: Doing Justice To History.
There will be a special presentation of the Gilder Lehrman Teacher of the Year Award.
Click here for registration information and more details.
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