Mornin’, Nooga. 👋 Trista here, and back in February, which was — flips through the calendar — about seven years ago, we launched a content series with the Chattanooga Public Library called BiblioChatt. If you’ve been following along with us, you probably know what BiblioChatt is; if you haven’t, the idea is that you, the readers, pick a local historical topic you want us to research and we get to work putting the story together using only library resources. Yeah, no Google, no psychic connections — just us and the library’s third-floor resources.

What we look like putting these stories together but picture a lot more coffee. | GIF via GIPHY

But why would you do this to yourselves?

Simple: we love our local library and all of its resources. The internet is great, don’t get us wrong, but our local history department has a bonkers amount of resources, and a lot of the information on the third floor can’t be found online.

We’ve also realized that y’all love to learn about our city’s past, and so do we. What better way to learn something new than through the library? We are trying to bring you stories you can’t simply Google, and we’re having a blast doing it.

Okay, I’m in. How can I participate?

You have 24 hours to fill out the form below with a question you have about Chattanooga’s history. It can be something that’s been on your mind for years or a tidbit of information you heard in passing. For reference, here are the two stories we’ve done since starting this project: Styles L. Hutchins + Underground Chattanooga.

We’ll narrow it down to about five or six and you’ll vote on your favorite. The question with the most votes will get the spotlight this month, then we’ll do it all again in October.

Question

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