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Lamb works to save community's past



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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Sunday, December 13, 2009 4:09 am
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Lamb works to save community's past | Heritage, Barry Lamb, Generations

This view of the northside of the Square was taken during the early 18360s. On the left is Robert Donnell Reed's jewelry store. Photo courtesy Barry Lamb
Generations come and go, leaving their indelible mark on Rutherford County.

Over time, faces and names are forgotten from the community’s collective memory with only a street name here or a building name there to commemorate a person’s contributions.

But local historian Barry Lamb hopes to preserve the community’s memory for the future with the second installment in his “Rutherford County Illustrated” series.

“I’ve always loved history since I was a boy,” Lamb said, noting his fascination started with the Civil War and the Battle of Stones River. And that childhood love has carried over into adulthood.

His most recent project, “Leaders in Progress” follows up on 2007’s “Images of Rutherford County: Its Homes and People.”

The newest book documents Rutherford County’s early leaders, featuring more than 320 historical photographs of early settlers, business owners, doctors, attorneys and political figures.


Lamb took the photos and paired them with a short biography and business letterheads he found at the Rutherford County Archives to give the reader a more complete story of early life in the community.

He said he enjoyed researching and writing the book as a whole, but finding photos of early Murfreesboro mayors meant a lot to him.

When he was growing up, Lamb spent time with his cousin, former Murfreesboro Mayor Hollis Westbrooks. Westbrooks collected photographs of other Murfreesboro mayors, and Lamb helped locate some of the pictures that hang in City Hall.

“Finding some of the mayors he didn’t find was exciting,” Lamb said.

One specific photo is of James O. Oslin, who owned the City Stables and City Hotel in the late 1800s, as well as serving as a city alderman from 1883-1894 and mayor from 1898-1900.

Lamb said he found a good-quality newspaper flyer depicting Oslin and reproduced it for his book.

Back to the future

After finishing his first book, Lamb said he had hundreds of historical photos and nowhere to put them.

“I had enough to put together a decent book,” the Murfreesboro native said. “They wound up being early leaders, leaders in progress, of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.”

He was inspired by boyhood memories of spending time at his grandfather’s store, O.A. Lamb & Son, on the Square.

“As a boy I used to visit the store and I was fascinated by businesses on the Square,” he said.

And his love of history comes from a boyhood fascination as well.

Like most boys growing up in Murfreesboro, Lamb was impressed early on by the Battle of Stones River and that early fascination grew into a 25-year research project into his family’s roots.

He began researching and collecting photographs of his own family history in the 1970s, which ended up being four volumes, one for each of his grandparents’ lines.

In the course of his research, he collected more than 1,000 photographs and portraits of family members and other notable Rutherford Countians, which fueled his last two books.

“I thought I’d do the same for the town because I love Murfreesboro,” he said.

And his love of Murfreesboro doesn’t end here. Next he plans on combining his boyhood love of the Civil War with historical photographs.

He has collected more than 300 photos of Civil War soldiers from Rutherford County and is currently researching each.

He’s also listed the rosters of every single Rutherford County Civil War soldier.

“I think it’s a worthwhile and worthy project in addition to the biographies (of the pictured soldiers),” Lamb said.

The book should be released in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or at mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.
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Tags: Barry Lamb, Generations, Heritage
Member Opinions:
By: appdancer on 12/13/09
Barry is to be complimented for the thoroughness and accuracy of his work! He goes the extra mile to make sure that what he publishes is correct!

steve cates


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