KCME Unique and Largest Donation: The Ron Allen Donation

   The Museum received its first donation the first week it was open in 2005.   Ron Allen brought labeled, ready to display historical documents, including a yearbook from Baker Himel, dated 1897-1898, Mynders School Certificate ofHonor    11/17/1879, Karns yearbook 1915, Sequoyah yearbook 1927 (Central High), Kalendar yearbook 1916 (Park City High School), 26 items in all.           Ron’s daughter, Jennifer has donated multiple copies of books written by Ron including Knoxstalgia, which includes 300+ short histories of schools prior to 1950, theaters, churches, hotels and other buildings.    Additional books include Theaters In Knoxville, Gay Street, The Street Has Changed, Same Old Smokies, Fairs and Circuses, Nose Guards and Wild Cards, Cas Walker to Downtown Hawkers, and 11 more!    Jennifer also donated his files and equipment.           One of the largest donations consists of Ron Allen’s private record collection of 78 vinyl records – over 200 albums of individual records.    The albums range from Caruso to Voices of D-Day to Dinah Shore to Frank Sinatra.  

The collection includes a description index!

BOOKS BY RONALD R. ALLEN KNOXVILLE,

TENNESSEE IN THE GAY NINETIES
GAY STREET: A History of Gay Street  
OLD TENNESSEE SONGS
THEATRES IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, 1872 – 1982
THE STREET HAS CHANGED
RUNNING PLAYS AND PASSING DAYS KNOXVILLE 1948
KNOXVILLE MISCELLANY
FROM CAS WALKERS TO DOWNTOWN HAWKERS
SAME OLD SMOKIES
NOSE GUARDS AND WILD CARDS
FAIRS AND CIRCUSES IN KNOXVILLE  
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, SUMMER 1915 – SPRING 1916.  
DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 1792 – 1950
THE PLAY’S THE THING
TENNESSEE IMPRINTS 1791 – 1875
SOME TENNESSEE RARITIES
MORE TENNESSEE RARITIES