More than 100 years of Memphis history have been collected and packed into one room in east Memphis. Assignment #276 in the 365 Things to Do in Memphis is to visit the Memphis and Shelby County room at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.

If you want to read an issue of the Commercial Appeal from the day Elvis died, you can do it in the Memphis and Shelby County room. You can also find all of the birth, marriage and death records from Shelby County since the beginning of time. If you want to know what businesses were open in 1865 Memphis, you can find that there, too. Also, there are drawers upon drawers of vintage photos of Memphis that sort of work like an analog version of Google street view.

Many of the materials in the Memphis and Shelby County room can be scanned, copied or photographed. If you can't find what you need, ask the librarians - they've got access to the good stuff that's tucked away in the room's special collections.

The Memphis and Shelby County room is open during the main library’s regular hours.

Go There:

Memphis and Shelby County Room

Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library

(901) 415-2700