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Rutherford County News Index MICROFORMS Site Index: Newspapers Indexed - Scope of Index - Index Guide Last update: 18 May 1998 by Sandra Elaine Fuentes, User Services Librarian Middle Tennessee State University Please send us your questions and comments.

List of Newspapers Indexed

* Notes: For this newspaper there is a question concerning the dates. There is only one page for Sept. 7. September 27 does not have a first page with masthead. The first page that can be determined as September 27, 1827 has been numbered as page 1 in this index.

Scope Of Index

The index is a web version of a pre-existing, card catalog. No new indexing has been done for the web version. Various staff and librarians worked on the index over a number of years.

Because of the nature of the project, several cards have pieces of information missing, such as page numbers or dates. A time allows, we will go to the older sources and attempt to fill in the missing information. Also, some cards no longer have a context. For example, we may not know if a name belongs to a person or a thing. Wherever information is missing or unclear, you should see brackets and a question mark -- [?]

Items of interest concerning Murfreesboro and Rutherford County's people, places, and events were indexed. One should be aware that various individual's names will be spelled differently at times. If it was unclear to the indexer as to whether or not different forms of a name belong to the same person, then multiple entries were made for each name. Names of businesses were entered according to the Wall Street Journal Index.

Because of the lack of last names for slaves, a card was entered with the heading "Slaves" giving the owners and slaves' names. For other aspects of slavery, the heading "Slavery" was used. "Blacks" was also used by previous indexers as a heading, even though in modern usage the term refers to free persons.

Some Cannon County items were included. National or state events and individuals were entered if these were somehow locally involved. Editorial comment on national events was not included because it was felt that a researcher would work by chronological period rather than subject.

When possible, we will work to streamline and refine this index. Please send your comments or suggestions to Ken Middleton, User Services Librarian.

Index Guide