DURHAM, Walter T. 1924-

PERSONAL: Born October 7, 1924, in Nashville, TN; son of George Franklin and Celeste (McAlister) Durham; married Anna Armstrong Coile, April 23, 1949; children: Anna Durham Windrow, Robert Coile, James Franklin, Elizabeth Durham Lindsey. Ethnicity: "Caucasian; English, Scottish." Education: Attended University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1943-44; Vanderbilt University, B.A., 1948, M.A., 1955. Politics: Democrat. Religion: United Methodist. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, politics, music.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—1010 Durham Dr., Gallatin, TN 37066. E-mail—WTDurham@bellsouth.net.

CAREER: Durham Manufacturing Co., Inc., Gallatin, TN, partner, 1948-73, chair, 1973-98. State of Tennessee, appointed state historian, 2002. Gallatin Aluminum Products Co., Inc., cofounder and treasurer, 1958-63, president, 1963-73; First and Peoples National Bank, chair of board of directors, 1964-92; First American National Bank, chair of advisory board, 1992-96. Tennessee State Industrial Development Commission, member, 1963-72. Tennessee Library Advisory Council, chair, 1991-93; White House Conference on Library and Information Services, member of task force, 1991—. Tennessee American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, member, 1973-75; Tennessee Heritage Alliance, founding president, 1982; Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board, member, 1993-96; Tennessee Historical Commission, past chair; Cumberland Museum and Science Center, member of board of directors; Hermitage, member of board of trustees; APTA Endowment Trust, member of board of trustees. Gallatin Chamber of Commerce, past president. Tennessee Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, past chair of board of trustees; Tennessee Conference Methodist Youth Fellowship, president, 1939-40. Military service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 1943-46; served in Italy and Africa; became sergeant.

MEMBER: Architectural Aluminum Manufacturers Association (past divisional vice president and member of board of directors), Tennessee Building Material Association (vice president, 1967), Tennessee Historical Society (president, 1973-75), Sumner County Historical Society (past president), Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, Sigma Nu, Gallatin Lions Club (past president), Vanderbilt Alumni Association (past member of board of directors), Friends of Vanderbilt Library (member of board of directors; past president), Heard Library Society.

AWARDS, HONORS: Distinguished Service Award, Gallatin Jaycees, 1968; Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History, 1973; Distinguished Public Service Award, Volunteer State Community College, 1974; Tennessee History Book Award, Tennessee Historical Commission and Tennessee Library Association, 1991; Library Leadership Award, Vanderbilt University, 1994; John H. Thweatt Archival Advancement Award, Tennessee Archivists Society, 2002.

WRITINGS:

The Great Leap Westward: A History of Sumner County, Tennessee, from Its Beginnings to 1805, Sumner County Library Board (Gallatin, TN), 1969.

Old Sumner: A History of Sumner County, Tennessee, from 1805 to 1861, Sumner County Library Board (Gallatin, TN), 1972.

A College for This Community, Sumner County Library Board (Gallatin, TN), 1974.

Daniel Smith, Frontier Statesman, Sumner County Library Board (Gallatin, TN), 1976.

The Building Supply Dealer in Tennessee: A History of the Tennessee Building Material Association, 1925-1976, Tennessee Building Material Association (Nashville, TN), 1976.

James Winchester, Tennessee Pioneer, Sumner County Library Board (Gallatin, TN), 1979.

Rebellion Revisited: A History of Sumner County, Tennessee, from 1861 to 1870, Sumner County Museum Association (Gallatin, TN), 1982.

Nashville, the Occupied City: The First Seventeen Months—February 16, 1862 to June 30, 1863, Tennessee Historical Society (Nashville, TN), 1985.

(With James W. Thomas) A Pictorial History of Sumner County, Tennessee, 1796-1986, Sumner County Historical Society (Gallatin, TN), 1986.

Reluctant Partners: Nashville and the Union, July 1, 1863 to June 30, 1865, Tennessee Historical Society (Nashville, TN), 1987.

Before Tennessee: The Southwest Territory, 1790-1796, Rocky Mount Historical Association (Piney Flats, TN), 1990.

Wynnewood, Bledsoe's Lick, Castalian Springs, Tennessee, Bledsoe's Lick Historical Association (Castalian Springs, TN), 1994.

(With James W. Thomas and John F. Creasy) A Celebration of Houses Built before 1900 in Sumner County, Tennessee, Sumner County Historical Society (Gallatin, TN), 1996.

Volunteer Forty-Niners: Tennessee and the California Gold Rush, Vanderbilt University Press (Nashville, TN), 1997.

The Life of William Trousdale, Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat, 1790-1872, Clark Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy (Gallatin, TN), 2001.

(With Glenda Milliken) Gallatin 200: A Time Line History Celebrating the Bicentennial of Gallatin, Tennessee, Hillsboro Press (Franklin, TN), 2002.

Josephus Conn Guild and Rose Mont: Politics and Plantation in Nineteenth-Century Tennessee, Hillsboro Press (Franklin, TN), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Tennessee State of the Nation, 2nd edition, edited by Larry H. Whiteaker and W. Calvin Dickinson, American Heritage Custom Publishing (New York, NY), 1995. Contributor to history journals, including Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Journal of Confederate History, Journal of East Tennessee History, Middle Tennessee Genealogy, Confederate Veteran, and Cumberland.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A biography of a colorful early Tennessee member of Congress.

SIDELIGHTS: Walter T. Durham once told CA: "I am motivated by a personal interest in bringing relatively obscure historical experiences to a readership who may find them helpful in preparing for the future by better understanding the past. I have been inspired by the glories and the baseness of the westward movement in American history and challenged by the prospect of looking at the people who gave it those characteristics. It may be the old question of reconciling our less than noble human qualities with our propensity to hitch our wagons to a star."