Clarksville Community Progress Scrapbooks, 1959-1962

This collection includes four scrapbooks documenting Clarksville’s participation in the Tennessee Community Progress Program. The scrapbooks consist of newspaper clippings, documents, photographs, booklets, and other ephemera. Each scrapbook documents the activities of the Clarksville Community Progress Program Committee’s participation in the state program over the course of one year, beginning in 1959 and continuing through 1962.

The Tennessee Community Progress Program officially began in 1959 and ran for four years. Sponsered jointly by the Tennessee Municipal League and the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Commerce, the Community Progress Program prompted Tennessee cities to inventory and evaluate different aspects of the community. The goal of the program was to help cities generate data and promotional materials to entice new industries and businesses to the area. Participation was voluntary, and several cities and small towns across the state joined.

The program consisted of different “projects” that each city could complete, with a certain number of them being required for participation. Generally the projects were structured so that the participating city was required to do an inventory of assets and shortcomings within the specified category and then essentially sell the positive aspects and highlight any efforts to improve. This required gathering a lot of data and other documentary materials, that participants then compiled into a scrapbook organized by project. At the end of the competition year, each participating city was required to submit this scrapbook to the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Commerce for review. Cities were divided based on their size, and competed against each other for various awards.

The Clarksville Chamber of Commerce headed Clarksville's effort to participate in the Tennessee Community Progress Program and coordinated with other civic organizations and offices of the city government for each project. Some of the project categories that appear repeatedly from year to year include "Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Month," Hospitality Month, Community Industrial Inventory, Community Folder or Booklet, Community Inventory and Progress Plan, Agricultural Development, and Business and Industrial Open House. The items submitted as documentation for these projects contain information on population statistics, educational facilities, business and industry development, reports from the Clarksville Regional Planning Commission concerning city development, the Urban Renewal Project, and city recreation programs, among other topics.