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The name Tennessee derives from that of the Cherokee village Tanasi. Paleo- Indians are believed to have hunted and camped in what is now Tennessee as early as 12,000 years ago.
Tennessee was the last state to formally leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. What is now Tennessee was once part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state.
This guide offers a selection of resources and strategies for Tennessee local history and genealogy research. These include the print and digital collections of the Library of Congress, as well as external repositories and web sites key to finding forebears in the Volunteer State.
The Library of Congress has one of the world's premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications, numbering more than 50,000 compiled family histories and over 100,000 U.S. local histories. The Library's genealogy collection began as early as 1815 with the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's library.
