William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow (1805-1877) was an influential East Tennessee minister, journalist, and governor. In 1838 he became owner/editor of an Elizabethton newspaper popularly known as Brownlow's Whig . His newspaper, which on the eve of the Civil War reached nearly eleven thousand subscribers across the nation, moved to Knoxville in 1849. The Parson was a prominent spokesperson for the Whig Party and a staunch defender of the Union. After Tennessee left the Union, Brownlow continued speaking out against the Confederacy. He was eventually jailed in Knoxville and later expelled from the Confederacy for his anti-secession editorials. After traveling on a speaking tour throughout the North, the Parson returned to Knoxville with the Union troops in the fall of 1863, continuing to rail against the Confederacy and secession. In March 1865, Tennessee Unionists chose Brownlow to succeed Andrew Johnson as governor of Tennessee. After two terms as Tennessee's Reconstruction-era governor, Brownlow was chosen to represent the state in the U. S. Senate. He served only one term before returning to Knoxville, where he died on April 28, 1877.

Other William G. Brownlow materials may be found in MS.0225: William Gannaway Brownlow Papers, undated, MS.0266: William Gannaway Brownlow Papers, 1831-1877, MS.0936: William Gannaway Brownlow Letters, 1836-1862, MS.1940: William G. Brownlow Papers, 1848-1902, MS.2285: William G. Brownlow Carte de Visite, undated, MS.2663: Love Letter Mentioning Parson Brownlow, 1862 June 2, and MS.2750: William G. Brownlow Tennessee Bonds Circular, 1866 May 9.