While visiting the Wilson County Archives, a man stepped inside without knowing the treasure he was about to discover. The gentleman paused in the archives hallway to answer his phone in a serendipitous location. As he browsed the photos on the wall, cellphone in hand, he was startled to find himself face-to-face with a photo of an ancestor he had never seen before.
Wilson County Archives Director Linda Granstaff says those moments remind her why preserving history matters.
“He called his wife to come and look at his ancestor in a picture. He had never seen a picture of him before to know what he looked like,” Granstaff said. “He was able to get a copy, and he was so thrilled.”
Granstaff has spent nearly her entire life in Wilson County, only leaving briefly for 13 months to follow her husband, Buddy Granstaff, to East Tennessee, where he set up an engineering lab for TRW.
Growing up, Granstaff’s father worked as a tenant farmer, moving the family through different communities across the county. She attended schools in Watertown, Mount Juliet, and Lebanon. She worshipped in different churches and spent time in the general stores where older men gathered around a stove to swap stories.
“I not only know where the communities are; I lived in them. I walked in many different creeks catching frogs, crawfish, and minnows,” Granstaff said.
As she grew up in Wilson County and frequented its parks, towns, and events, she became passionate about preserving its rich history. Granstaff took records management courses at Cumberland University and completed preservation training through the Tennessee State Library and Archives in 1986. She worked under Dr. Charles Sherrill, who went on to become head archivist at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Under his leadership, she helped build the genealogy section at the Lebanon-Wilson County Library. Granstaff has been a member of the Society of Tennessee Archivists for 26 years.
“There’s so much history in the old newspapers and in the old records of the county,” she said.
The Wilson County Archives has an abundance of history to be discovered within its walls. County records, family histories, old maps, and historical video interviews with residents give viewers a glimpse into the past and its people. There are folders on buildings, schools, churches, cemeteries, and businesses to peruse. Granstaff says she works alongside dedicated people such as Judy Harris, her part-time assistant of 8 years. She has four dedicated volunteers who have served for over two decades — Lee Atwood, Catherine Nolen, Areatha Oakley, and Shirley Wilson, who has been there since the start. The volunteers sort old county records, ISSU which contain a wealth of information about historical churches, schools, and businesses.
“The four volunteers I have now add up to 104 years of volunteer work,” Granstaff said.
The Archives are an invaluable resource utilized by many: lawyers, county commissioners, farmland owners, and researchers, to name a few. Families also visit to find records of their ancestors from Tennessee and other states. Granstaff wanted more people to enjoy these remarkable collections.
Granstaff published the “Pictorial History of Wilson County” series in 2025, featuring historical photos and the stories that accompany them. She has currently published five volumes of this series in partnership with Creative Graphics. Each volume has taken about a year to complete, and Granstaff verifies every single photo before it goes to print. Granstaff said Volume 4 expanded the representation of Black history in Wilson County, which was an important goal for her. It featured the Wharton family, particularly A.C. Wharton Jr., the former Memphis mayor. It also covered the Annette Stafford family.
“The people who really make each community — many have become successful in their own right but never were brought out in history,” Granstaff said.
A donation from Jack Howard originally funded the series. Every dollar earned from book sales goes directly back to the Wilson County Archives and has been used to print the next volumes. They can be purchased from the Wilson County Archives for $40 each or $180 for the set (with additional shipping cost if required).
Even after 28 years of preserving local history, Granstaff says receiving donated photos feels like Christmas morning. She mourns the loss of those stories that were not saved. The old buildings that were torn down and family photos tossed aside all represented stories that were never written into the county’s formal history.
“I wish that someone years ago had saved old pictures for us to see. So many pictures have been lost due to family pictures being thrown away or lost in other ways,” Granstaff said.
She has seen firsthand what these old photographs mean to people.
One woman bought a book for her terminally ill father just before Christmas. He spent his final days looking through the photos, reminiscing. It was a moment his daughter and Granstaff would never forget.
“That made my day,” Granstaff said. “The book was worth doing just to know that somebody like that had enjoyed it so much.” GN
For more information, visit: www.wilsoncountytn.gov/159/ Archives. To learn how to submit photos and information to be added to the archives, email archives@wilsoncountytn.gov.
