Martin, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin hosted a reception Feb. 23 to honor John Tanner, former U.S. representative for Tennessee’s 8th District, and thank him for the donation of his Congressional papers to the university’s Alliene and Jimmie S. Corbitt Special Collections. Tanner’s documents have been digitized and are now available online for research use around the world.
Tanner hopes this record of his work with the U.S. House of Representatives and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will help future generations learn from the past.
“I hope this collection of papers and so forth will benefit young people in the future,” said Tanner. “We live in a different time, perhaps, than some of the work that I did through NATO, but if people can look back and see what happened then, it might give them a better perspective of what happens now.”
Tanner filled the seat vacated by Rep. Ed Jones in 1989 and represented the district until 2010.
“It is our mission to conserve, preserve and make available the historical record of this university and West Tennessee,” said Sam Richardson, university archivist and head of the Corbitt Special Collections. “We here at the Corbitt Special Collections consider ourselves the caretakers of the 8th District and the 8th District’s historical record. We, today, are making public a large part of that history.”
“This collection will bring great interest to researchers who are interested in Tennessee and 8th District politics, as well as national and foreign affairs in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,” Richardson continued, addressing the Tanner family. “We here at UT Martin appreciate your generous donation, and we appreciate that you have trusted us to bring that to the public.”
The Tanner documents can be accessed online through the Paul Meek Library website.
For more information, contact Karen Elmore, senior library assistant with special collections, at 731-881-7094 or kelmore@utm.edu.
Photo: From left, Tanner with wife Betty Ann and UTM Chancellor Keith Carver.
