SB 30 Episode 57: Behind the treasures of DIGital Memphis with Jamie Corson of the Memphis Public Libraries

StoryBoard 30

“History’s not stuffy. And it’s not as far away as you think it is. And either looking at the images and wondering ‘where is this?’ and ‘why is it different?’ and ‘what does that mean?’ . . . makes you feel more connected to the city and with the past. You realize that ‘Oh, these are people like me, and they have the same concerns and the same fears and same challenges.’ I find it inspiring to see how people overcame these challenges in the past and how it informs the future.”

That’s Jamie Corson, Digital Projects Manager for the Memphis Public Libraries, talking to SB 30 host Mark Fleischer about why the vast digital collection of manuscripts, clippings, images and photographs is so important to understand our not-so-distant past.

Jamie curates DIG Memphis, the digital archives and collections of the Memphis and Shelby County Room of the library, and during this entertaining discussion, guest and host talk about the archival process, the archives’ recent Memphis Mysteries, the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and 19th Amendment, and a particularly thrilling Elvis discovery in their Indiana-Jones-like archeological work curating the Mid-South Coliseum Collection.