Tim Fisher, Genealogist & Jason McClure, Obit Data Entry Clerk
The Rel and Wilma Maples History Center on the third floor of the library contains a wealth of information and resources on county history. Staffed by a lifelong Sevier County resident and trained genealogist, this resource is a gem of the community that people from far and wide flock to, to do genealogy research, explore the Great Smoky Mountain Park history, and to learn about this region of the state.
The Maples History Center collections includes books, maps, microfilm, photographs and negatives, church and community records, periodicals, vertical files, and ephemera. Holdings in the History Center are for reference use only. Materials do not circulate and are not available for interlibrary loan.
Some of our collections include:
- The Scott Ellis Civil War Collection
- The Bob Hogan Civil War Collection
- The H. Donald Winkler Civil War Collection
- The Beulah Lynn Papers Collection
- The Great Britain Public Record Office Calendar of State Papers (Colonial Series Volumes 1-40)
- Laura Cooper Collection (Cowen and Silver families)
- Henderson Family Research Collection
- Doris Noland Parton (former Sevier County teacher’s research into African-American communities in Sevier and Cocke counties)
- Smoky Mountain Storytelling Collection
- Appalachian Collection
- Frances Ostergeren Collection (painted homes, buildings, and scenes of Sevier County)
- Herb Lawson Collection (pictures, papers, and area postcards)
- Orton Duggan Papers Collection
- Wheatlands Plantation Collection
- Family Bibles Collection
