Bearden’s Legacy Project archives present-day Memphis

Feature news story for The Memphis Daily News

Feb. 17, 2011

The Memphis & Shelby County Room at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library is a treasure trove of information about the area and its people.

Among the library’s catacombs of flat files, cabinets, boxes and shelves are hundreds of thousands of newspapers and magazine articles, maps, oral histories, school yearbooks and pamphlets.

And, of course, there are photographs. More than 12,000 photographs, many old black-and-white-street scenes and portraits in and around Memphis. These images are absolutely essential to researchers, historians and filmmakers.

“It’s just something I was thinking about, my God, how many images have I used? I’ve used thousands of their images,” said Willy Bearden, local maker of films such as “One Came Home” and documentaries for WKNO’s Memphis Memories television series highlighting Elmwood Cemetery, Overton Park, local garage bands and the history of the cotton industry … (read more)