The Rutherford County Archives is located on the third floor of the County Courthouse, and is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 – 3:30. Our phone number is (615) 867-4609. Two graduate students from Middle Tennessee State University, who receive a tuition waiver and monthly stipend through the county, staff the Archives. The cooperation between the county and university allows the Archives to maintain regular hours, offer assistance to the public, and it provides the graduate students with a valuable learning experience.

The County Archives maintains records from county departments including, Chancery Court, Circuit Court, County Court, General Sessions, County Executive, County Judge, and the County Trustee. The dates of these records span the years 1804-1994. Other materials include birth and death records, obituary notices, county histories, and a copy of materials published by the Rutherford County Historical Society. Although all county records are not retained by the Archives, the Archives remains a reference point for research inquires. The Archives is used by patrons with a wide variety of purposes including lawyers, genealogists, college students, high school students, home school students, tourists, and researchers.

Several projects have been underway this past year. The most comprehensive project involves processing loose Chancery Court records. In order to insure that these records are preserved and accessible to the public, we are identifying individual cases and entering relevant information into a database. Patrons will find these records a valuable source of readily accessible information. Presently we have identified over 4,000 cases.

The Archives staff recently applied and received a $3000.00 grant offered through the Tennessee State Library and Archives. The money will be used to purchase supplies to complete the Chancery Court processing project, supplies for the conservation of records, as well as other archival supplies and equipment.

In the future the Archives staff looks forward to developing a web site that will promote the facility and its resources, and develop a closer association with other depositories of county and historical resources in the area. Finally, the staff wants to implement a volunteer program to aid in the preservation and cleaning of county records.

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