Collections -- Spring 2015

Cornelia Crenshaw was born on March 25, 1916 in Millington, TN. In 1969 she refused to pay the city service fee for garbage collection and in return MLGW shut off her utilities. For the next ten years she lived without utilities until she was finally…

Memphis The City Beautiful was written by Frances Akers Greeson in 1947. The book chronicles the Memphis City Beautiful Commission’s history from 1929 to 1947. The Memphis City Beautiful Commission was founded by E.H. Crump, former mayor of Memphis…

This letter was sent from the Christmas Lighting Committee to encourage “friends” to enter the City Beautiful Commission’s annual Christmas Lighting Contest. This letter encouraged citizens to “Make Memphis Shine at Christmas Time”. This letter…

The Commission Government sent a letter to “the housekeepers of Memphis”, to promote Fire Prevention Week, October 6-12, 1957. The letter encouraged Memphians to get with neighbors and friends and to check homes and neighborhoods for fire hazards. …

The City Beautiful Commission sent a letter to their Representatives to encourage them to participate in the 1958 Best Kept and Beautified Alley Contest. Members were asked to invite all Garden Clubs, P.T.A’s, Civic Clubs and any others to…

This letter was sent to Ms. Compton about the area she was to inspect. She was to inspect the area once per month and was asked to note: stopped up drains, dirty streets and gutters, insufficient garbage cans (less than 2), bad garbage conditions,…

The City Beautiful Commission, the Memphis Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Memphis government sponsored Plant-Up campaign of April 9 – 18, 1959. Invited guest were asked to participate in a bus tour of the city of Memphis, to look at both good…

The City Beautiful Commission was founded in 1930. The first of its kind in the country, the City Beautiful Commission was defined as “good outdoor housekeeping”. The Commission was the brain-child of E.H. Crump. He felt that the best way to keep…