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The Jean & Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University are a major research library system with extensive collections, services, and materials.

The Jean & Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University is a major research library system with extensive collections, services, and materials. Connect with a subject specialist to guide you through research, find a space for individual or group study, and locate books, articles, laptops, and iPads to support your academic experience. Stop by for a visit! We are here to help.

10/21/2026

We are still rockin’ from the Jackie Shane Archives opening!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate a Nashville music icon on Oct. 6. A special note of gratitude to Vonnie Crawford-Moore, Jackie’s niece, for an inspiring and heartfelt speech about the importance of Shane’s personal archive being available for public education and research. Thank you also to Maxine Spencer for her performance of “Comin’ Down,” as well as beautiful speeches from Dwayne Jenkins, president of Nashville Black Pride, and Jerry Ivery, CEO of MashUp Nashville.

We couldn’t think of a better way to honor LGBTQ History Month than recognizing the trials and triumphs of such a trailblazing soul singer. To explore the Jackie Shane Papers, please visit vu.edu/scua or email [email protected].

Photo credit: Alex Austin

10/15/2026

A new episodes of the “Made in Tennessee” podcast is now available for listening. 🎧

Hosted by Vanderbilt Special Projects Librarian Celia Walker and Tennessee-based appraiser Sarah Campbell Drury of Case Auctions, “Made in Tennessee” is supported by a Tennessee 250 grant and recorded at the Vandy Libraries’ Studio 608.

In this episode, Tara Spada and Larry Dahl, curators of military history at the Tennessee State Museum, discuss the development of the new Tennessee Military Veterans Museum set to open in Nashville’s War Memorial Building in spring 2027.

Tennessee has a rich history of military service, alluded to by our state nickname, “The Volunteer State.” The curators discuss the collections they’ve uncovered in preparation for the new museum and give tips on how to better understand military artifacts handed down from family members.

Learn more: madeintennessee.org

📷: Images of military artifacts; artist’s renderings of the new Tennessee Military Veterans Museum at War Memorial Plaza (courtesy of Tennessee State Museum)

10/14/2026

Vanderbilt Libraries Dean Jon Shaw will be in conversation this Saturday with biologist, writer, and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David George Haskell at the Southern Festival of Books!

They will discuss Haskell’s “How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries” at 3 p.m. Oct. 17 in the Hiwassee Tent near the Tennessee State Museum. Haskell’s book is an exploration of how the evolution of flowers transformed Earth’s ecosystems, catalyzed biodiversity, and made human existence possible.

The session is one of several at the festival to be broadcast by C-SPAN.

09/28/2026

Mark your calendars! 📖 🎶 Grammy and Emmy award-winning entertainer Harry Connick Jr will join the Heard Libraries for a book talk on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m. in Langford Auditorium. The event is hosted in collaboration with Parnassus Books and .

In his debut book, Connick pays heartfelt tribute to his late mother and unpacks the emotional journey of his latest musical composition. Featuring personal photography and measures from the score, “Babe: Elaboratio” is a celebration of music and a meditation on the power of a mother’s love to shape a life forever.

Tickets include one general admission seat and a pre-signed copy of the book. Learn more: vu.edu/connick-book-talk

09/25/2026

The Blair Big Band opens its 2026–27 season on Monday, Sept. 28, with a musical journey into Vanderbilt’s jazz archives, celebrating the life and legacy of pianist, composer and arranger Mike Longo. “Archive Grooves: The Music of Mike Longo” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Ingram Hall.

Ahead of the concert, explore the digital program featuring video interviews with the Anne Potter Wilson Music Library's Kate Linton, the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music's Ryan Middagh, and Blair senior and guest vocalist Viji Burma.

View the program here: view.blair.live/books/Blair_Big_Band/ =1

In addition, check out the exhibit “Mike Longo and a Legacy in Jazz” at two locations, the Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall lobby and Central Library’s second-floor gallery, through November 2026.

09/14/2026

Two new episodes of the “Made in Tennessee” podcast are now available for listening. 🎧

Hosted by Vanderbilt Special Projects Librarian Celia Walker and Tennessee-based appraiser Sarah Campbell Drury of Case Auctions, “Made in Tennessee” is supported by a Tennessee 250 grant and recorded at the Vandy Libraries’ Studio 608.

Sandy Conatser, a dulcimer player and former educator, and Ryan Dooley, senior curator of music at the Tennessee State Museum, discuss the form of Tennessee music box dulcimers that evolved from instruments brought down the Great Wagon Road and Wilderness Road by German and Scots-Irish settlers. First appearing in Tennessee around 1900, many of these early dulcimers have been identified and archived by a small group of devoted historians, Conatser among them.

Ryan Dooley, senior curator of music at the Tennessee State Museum, joins a spirited discussion about the history and artifacts of Tennessee wh***ey. While you may have tasted Tennessee wh***ey, you may not know exactly how it is made, how wh***ey products evolved within the nation and the state, and how items collected by the Tennessee State Museum aid in interpreting this history. Dooley also gives us a generous pour on the roles minorities and women have played in the distillation of wh***ey and discusses new leaders in the field.

Learn more: madeintennessee.org

📷: Appalachian Dulcimer Archive
📷: Ahoerstemeier/Wikipedia

09/01/2026

The Special Collections and University Archives team is saddened by the loss of Dolly Parton. 🦋✨

Born in 1946 and raised in East Tennessee, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, Dolly went on to build a legendary career in country music while becoming a champion of literacy and the arts. Through her music and her longstanding commitment to childhood literacy through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, she inspired generations of listeners, readers and writers.

We invite you to celebrate her legacy by viewing photographs and interviews from Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives documenting Dolly and her career.

Image 1: Headshot of Dolly from the program for the second annual Dolly Parton Day, 1971. (Edwin Hamlett Papers MSS.0188, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

Image 2: Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander greeting Dolly at the opening of Dollywood, 1986. (Lamar Alexander Papers MSS.0734, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives) https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.39162995?seq=1

Image 3: Dolly in her Sevier County High School Band uniform. (Edwin Hamlett Papers MSS.0188, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

Image 4: Letter of thanks to the attendees and organizers of the second annual Dolly Parton Day, 1971. (Edwin Hamlett Papers MSS.0188, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

08/24/2026

Two new episodes of the “Made in Tennessee” podcast are now available for listening. 🎧

Hosted by Vanderbilt Special Projects Librarian Celia Walker and Tennessee-based appraiser Sarah Campbell Drury of Case Auctions, “Made in Tennessee” is supported by a Tennessee 250 grant and recorded at the Vandy Libraries’ Studio 608.

Jeff Sellers, director of education and public programs for the Tennessee State Museum, discusses one of the largest historical artifacts in the state, the Tennessee State Capitol building. How did Nashville attract the highly successful architect William Strickland to design this Greek Revival structure? From where were the building’s raw materials and interior ironwork sourced? Why does Tennessee’s capitol not have a dome like most other state capitols? Sellers answers these questions and shares the evolving story of the enslaved, immigrant and incarcerated workers who built the structure in the years prior to the Civil War.

Miranda Fraley and Tranae Chatman, curators at the Tennessee State Museum, discuss “Tennessee Voices, American Stories,” an exhibition on view through 2026 that uses costume, textiles and other material culture to explore the stories of some exceptional Tennesseans. You may be familiar with state founder James Robertson, but what do you know about his wife, the equally important Charlotte Robertson? Listen to the curators as they share a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of this exhibition – who they selected, why they are important, and how they are represented.

Learn more: madeintennessee.org

08/11/2026

A manuscript from Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives is featured in the exhibit “Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions,” currently on display at The Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan. The show explores the 600-year evolution of tarot from a card game played by Italian nobility—where each card was a hand-held work of art—to an occult practice and popular entertainment. ✨

The exhibition includes the Vanderbilt-Steele Manuscript, which dates to circa 1450–circa 1500. This manuscript is best known for a sermon titled “De Ludo" (“Of the Game”) that contains one of the earliest references to tarot.

The title of the manuscript derives from its current owner (Vanderbilt) and previous owner (Robert Steele). Steele was a British scholar whose early association with William Morris sparked his interest in medieval manuscripts. The manuscript was purchased by The United States Playing Card Company and acquired by Vanderbilt in 2019 as part of a purchase of the larger George Clulow-United States Playing Card Company Gaming Collection.

Learn more about the manuscript: vu.edu/vanderbilt-steele-manuscript

Learn more about the exhibit: vu.edu/morgan-library-tarot

07/01/2026

All Vanderbilt library locations will be closed from Friday, July 3, through Sunday, July 5, in observance of Independence Day. Regular summer operating hours will resume on Monday, July 6.

For a complete list of building hours, visit: library.vanderbilt.edu/hours.

Address

419 21st Avenue S
Nashville, TN
37203

Website

http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/

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