Walker Library / Special Collections / Warden Collection
The task of finding materials relevant to your research can be daunting to first-time and infrequent users of archives. But every collection held by an archive will have a corresponding finding aid, which is the primary resource for identifying collections you want to examine and the location of specific items within the collection. Please read this brief finding aid explanation: A guide to using archival finding aids in Special Collections.
Located in the Special Collections department of James E. Walker Library, the Margaret Lindsley Warden Collection for Equine Studies comprises a substantial research resource on practically all aspects of the horse and horsemanship with the exception of veterinary subjects. It consists of books, periodicals, pamphlets, photographs, research files, letters, and other materials assembled by Margaret Warden, who wrote the weekly “Horse Sense” column for the Nashville Tennessean from 1939 until 1994
Encompassing over 900 books, the Collection includes rare historical editions printed from the 1500s to the early 1800s as well as numerous modern titles. It contains approximately 45 periodical titles, some with issues dating back into the 1800s. There are approximately 2,900 photographs in the Collection with hundreds of additional photographs currently being sorted out and processed. The Collection also includes approximately 30 linear feet of interview and research notes compiled by Ms. Warden.
Four other equine collections complement and extend the Warden Collection’s scholarly potential: the Gilbert McWilliams Orr Papers, William J. McGill Papers, Ethel Rankin Papers, and the Joan Hunt Collection. These consist of periodicals, photographs, correspondence, personal documents, and other materials. The Joan Hunt Collection includes between 800 and 1,000 books, chiefly published in the twentieth-century.
Special Collections actively acquires bibliographies and other resources (usually printed materials) to support research relying on the equine collections. These are cataloged and located in the department’s reference collection.
