The good in 2020
Thank you to five individuals who shared historical photos in 2020.
Read more about them and see a sample of photos below.
Mrs. Sandra H. Clark
Mrs. Sandra H. Clark contacted me on behalf of the Second Missionary Baptist Church after reading one of Mark Kennedy's first Remember When articles, noting she “enjoyed reading about your passion for preserving historic images.” Their church is over 150 years old – and they were looking for ways to help preserve fading photos and other documents, many of which I scanned for them.
Leona Chadwick
Leona, who lives on Signal Mountain, contacted me in July. Her father, W. M. York, worked with Chattanooga Railway and Light Company, an earlier predecessor to TEPCO and later EPB. She said he boarded with a family in East Lake. Mrs. Chadwick kindly loaned a few photos and other documents and allowed me to scan & return them.
Betsy Baker Chesney
George Baker was a well-known photographer with the Chattanooga Times, retiring after 40 years in 1994. His daughter Betsy found a few negatives that had been previously overlooked– and donated them to be scanned & shared. These are unique in that they are from the 1980s & 90s – a time period mostly still ‘in the wild’ and out of reach of historical preservation.
Charlie Whitaker
Charlie found a collection of photos and negatives at an estate sale on Signal Mountain in 2010. These photos include a fascinating view of the Bridgeport, AL area around 1920, featuring riverboats, trains and floods.
Gene Carter
Mr. Carter worked at Scholze Tannery retiring as Vice President, after 44 years. He also served several terms as Mayor of Trenton GA. I met Gene in Trenton over the summer. He provided surviving photos from the tannery operation that once thrived here.
The Remember When feature in the Chattanooga Times Free Press helped spread the word.
Mark Kennedy writes about photo sharing and more here: TIMESFREEPRESS.COM
Examples from shared history...
Photos stored away will likely never be seen.
Far too often, history is lost in settlement of estates or thrown away by well-meaning family members. Many public institutions and organizations are not set up to share, but rather to archive and garner donations.
Why ChattanoogaHistory.com is different.
No-charge photo & negative scanning is available for qualifying materials such as true photo (non-digital) prints, negatives, glass plate negatives, and 35mm slides.
I started this website in 2014 with the goal of sharing high-resolution historic photos from this region; invested in professional digital scanners, and other tools to ensure donated or loaned photos are quickly digitized. Originals and/or digital copies are provided back to you.
You or the original photographer (if known) are fully credited.
How to contact me
If you have qualifying historical photos to digitize and share - use the CONTACT form for a quick response.
