This collection houses manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, cassette tapes, videotapes, trial transcripts, and other materials documenting Alex Haley's literary career. Of particular interest are those materials showing Haley's Roots and the subsequent plagiarism trials related to the book.

The collection consists of eight loose pages of the "How Judge Edward Terry Sanford Became a Member of the United States Supreme Court" article written by E. E. Patton that records the events leading up to Judge Sanford becoming an Associate Justice in the U. S. Supreme Court.

This collection houses a wealth of material illustrating the lives of J. K. Womack and his family in Rutherford County, Tennessee during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the items included are land deeds, indentures, genealogical information, material documenting the Baptist Church, broadsides, and correspondence and other information describing Joseph A. Johnson's application for a pension.

This collection contains material collected during the excavation and archaeological research conducted of Fort Loudoun, TN in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, there are a few documents from Knox County, TN from the late 18th century and the early 19th century concerning property and land ownership.

The Margaret Graeme Canning Collection is composed of scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, opera programs, awards and certificates of achievement, reel-to-reel audio tapes, correspondence, publications, and photographs dealing with the lives of Margaret Graeme Canning and her mother, Mary Margaret Hoskins Canning.

This collection houses over 300 pamphlets describing the TVA's activities between 1933 and 1965.

This collection houses reports (many originally intended for use only within the TVA), summaries, articles, and a thesis documenting the activities of the Tennessee Valley Authority between 1933 and 1973.