Title: William Derris Slide Collection

Date/Date Range :   circa 1940s-1960s

Extent: 3.0 linear feet

Abstract:

The Derris Slide Collection is solely composed of approximately 4400 slides from the 1940's thru the 1960's of the Great Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee. Mr. William Derris was an amateur photographer and owner of the Derris Motel (later the Laughing Horse Inn) in Townsend, Tennessee, which he photographed at length and used the slides of those photographs in a slide show for the entertainment of his Inn's numerous and varied guests.

Call number: MS-2123

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Mr. Dwain Caylor donated the William Derris Slide Collection to the Great Smoky Mountain Research Project in 2000.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], William Derris Slide Collection, MS-2123. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of eleven archival slide boxes.

Mr. William Derris was the owner of the Derris Motel of the Smokies, which later was named the Laughing Horse Inn, located in Townsend, Tennessee in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains region of the state. Throughout his ownership of the Inn, Mr. Derris photographed guests, seasonal landscapes, flora, wildlife, personal pets, and surrounding the areas of East Tennessee. An avid amateur photographer, the years between the mid 1940's and the late 1960's at the Derris Motel/Inn have been fully documented and beautifully preserved by way of Mr. Derris' care of his personal collection of slide photography. Little else is known of Mr. Derris and his family at this time.

The Derris Slide Collection is solely composed of approximately 4400 slides from the 1940's thru the 1960's of the Great Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee. Mr. William Derris was an amateur photographer and owner of the Derris Motel (later the Laughing Horse Inn) in Townsend, Tennessee, which he photographed at length and used the slides of those photographs in a slide show for the entertainment of his Inn's numerous and varied guests.

This collection is comprised of eleven archival slide boxes containing twenty slide trays each, resulting in approximately 4400 slides divided into eighty-five series. The organizational methods and standards of the collection's originator have been fully preserved throughout the processing period as well as within this finding aid. The collection is organized alphabetically within eleven archival boxes containing twenty slide trays; each with approximately twenty to twenty-five slides per tray. Each of the eighty-four series is denoted by a slide tray divider, which bears the name of the series that proceeds it. Each series was identified by the collection's originator and has been maintained within the eighty-five series titles. Approximately ninety percent of the individual slides were previously marked with indicators and specific information regarding the content of the side by Derris.

• Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.) -- Photographs.