Franklyn McCord papers, 1862-1984 (bulk 1940-1979)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Organization: Grouped loosely by topic as follows: Personal papers (folders 1-14); General history (folders 15-20); Confederate and Civil War history (folders 21-33); Writings: Frank (folders 34-41); Writings: Margaret (folders 42-44); Family history (folders 45-53).

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Many extraneous materials, both documents and artifacts, were weeded from the collection during processing. Most of the artifacts, including some Civil War items, were transferred to the Tennessee State Museum. A 1930 yearbook from Central High School was transferred to Metro Archives.

An essay on physician Boyd McNairy by Frank McCord was published in the compilation, "Send for a Doctor."

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: The Franklyn McCord Papers span the time frame of 1862-1984, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1940-1979. Most items relate to Frank McCord's interest in Confederate, Civil War, and Tennessee history, and include some materials relating to or written by his second wife, Margaret, who shared his interests. Materials consist of essays, photographs, and a variety of other materials such as correspondence, scrapbooks of news clippings (1957-1958), family history research, and a few original Civil War-era items. Although not formally arranged in series, items are grouped into the following categories:

Personal (folders 1-14) - consists of personal photographs of family, including Frank and Margaret McCord, photographs relating to Frank's work at Vultee and service in the Tennessee State Guard, identity documents and certificates. Other items relating to Avco (the successor to Vultee) include: a 1973 company telephone book, listing departments, personnel and positions; and a 30th anniversary yearbook for the Nashville Avco Management Club, including lists of names and photographs of members. In addition, early organizational records from 1975 of the "Friends of the Library Association of the Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County, Main Library Branch," more commonly known simply as "Friends of the Library." One otherwise unidentified item (housed in "Misc." folder 13), probably written by either Frank or Margaret, perhaps as a letter to the editor, provides a personal response to the Selma to Montgomery protest march in Alabama, 1965. The document proclaims that people are trying to keep the South in a "state of subjugation" and that the writer of the letter has no intention of voting in any future national elections.

General historical materials (folders 15-20) contain snapshots taken in the early 1970s of a few historic homes in the Franklin and Nashville areas (Merritt House; Magnolia Hall; and gateposts of Melrose) and Etowah Indian mounds in Georgia; photos of a windmill, probably located at Shelby Park, taken in 1939; and images relating to the Bailey and Lusk families to accompany an article on James Edmund Bailey for the Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Other items include a tabulation of the foreign-born and occupations in Nashville, according to the 1850 and 1860 Federal censuses, and a history of Ridgetop, Tennessee by Mary Louise Derseweh, entitled "A Summer House, A Winter House."

Confederate and Civil War history items (folders 21-33, plus oversize) include: the constitution and a history of the Confederate Historical Society of Nashville (1956-1969); copies of original Confederate currency and its history; items about music of the Confederacy and the song, "Hold the Fort," as well as an original songsheet printed in New York in 1862 entitled: "Raw Recruits: or, Abraham's Daughter"; two scrapbooks containing news clippings from 1957 and 1958 concerning Civil War topics; and a variety of other items, including color photographs of mannequins, possibly in a museum. A 1960 street map of Nashville with annotations showing battlelines of the Battle of Nashville superimposed has been separated from the collection and is housed with Battle of Nashville maps in the Nashville Room Map Collection, Drawer D-1 (as of Apr. 2017).

Writings, mostly essays, by both Frank (folders 34-41) and Margaret (folders 42-44) McCord comprise nearly half of the collection. Many items were apparently written as part of their classes with Dr. Alfred Leland Crabb at Watkins Institute in the 1960s and 1970s, in a group known as the "Night Writers." Topics generally relate to Tennessee or Civil War history, or autobiographical subjects. One essay (folder 39), written in 1964, is a speculative view of the year 2000.

Family history materials (folders 45-53) contain information and correspondence about the McCord family; two folders contain information about the King and Caldwell families of Margaret McCord.

Unprocessed additions: An additional accordion file of photographs, mostly snapshots, was discovered after processing. These materials have not been archivally processed or incorporated into the collection as of Apr. 2017. They comprise Box 3 of the collection.

Cite as: [Description of item or folder title]; Franklyn McCord Papers, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Copyright status is undetermined. This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)

Estate of Franklyn McCord;,Bequest;,1988;,Acc. RT-387.

Related materials: Multiple oral history interviews with Franklyn McCord conducted in 1980 can be found in the Century III Oral History Project in the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library.

Franklyn "Frank" McCord was born in 1911 in Nashville. He spent his early childhood in East Nashville on Shelby Avenue, and attended Lockeland School (1918-1923), Warner School (1923-1927), and Central High School (1927-1930). He worked at a bank from 1930-1935, did commercial photography as freelancer, 1937-1940, and worked at Avco as an engineer from 1940-1974. From 1948 until his death, he lived on Currey Road in the Glenncliff area of Nashville. Frank served as a first sergeant with Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Tennessee State Guard, although the exact time period of his service is not known, probably in the 1940s or 1950s. He was a charter member of the Confederate Historical Society of Nashville, established in September 1956, and served as its president in 1964-1965. He was a founder of the Friends of the Library for Nashville Public Library, serving as chairman pro tempore during its first organizational meetings in the fall of 1975. He had a lifelong interest in history, especially the Civil War. He and his second wife, Margaret, took creative writing and history classes from Dr. Alfred Leland Crabb at Watkins Institute in the 1960s and 1970s, where they wrote numerous essays on historical, biographical, and autobiographical subjects. He died on January 1, 1988 and was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, with the Confederate Historical Society of Nashville serving as honorary pallbearers.

Margaret McCord was born on May 26, 1912 in Loudon, Tenn. to John Henderson Caldwell, Jr. and his wife, Genevieve Rice. Margaret's father was a civil engineer, and her family moved often when she was young, living in various locations in Tennessee, Florida, and Kentucky. She attended the University of Tennessee and graduated, then married her first husband. After more moves, the couple eventually came to Nashville in 1937, where they stayed for ten years, except for some brief relocations during World War II. She worked for Vultee in Nashville, Miami, and New Orleans, during World War II. After a brief post-war stint in Fort Myers, Florida, she and her husband returned to Nashville in 1950, where her husband worked for Avco (formerly Vultee). Around 1958, she became widowed. In the 1950s, she was a homemaker, did substitute teaching, worked at a funeral home, and began working for the Metropolitan Health Department in 1962. In May 1963, she married Franklyn McCord. She died on October 27, 1987 in Nashville, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. The McCords had no children.

In English

In the possession of Frank McCord until donated to the Nashville Public Library in 1988 by his estate.

Process;,2017;,Linda Barnickel.

No further accruals are expected.