Battle of Nashville historical marker
Now that I’m Commissioner Phillips of the Metro Historical Commission, here's a not-so-fun fact: You don’t automatically get a red phone that connects you to Batman when you become a Nashville commissioner. But I’ve been learning all kinds of interesting things about how the city works.
First of all, being on the Historical Commission is awesome. Once a month, you go to a meeting. You get to hear about things like upcoming historical markers or who’s trying to get on the National Register of Historic Places; someone gives a presentation about some historical business going on in the city; and then we all drive around in our classic cars, honking and jeering at new construction, until the meeting devolves into an old-fashioned duel about who would win in a fight — Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln. OK, that last bit isn’t true, but as soon as I can afford a ’57 Chevy and can talk the rest of the commission into it, it will be! (As much as I appreciate Jackson’s willingness to shoot people on behalf of a fat woman, I’m Team Lincoln, because he was once a wrestler.)
But now I’m on a quest to learn how one amends the city charter, because we’re about to get a new Metro historian (hurray!) and the job is still unpaid (boo).
Our previous Metro historian was Dr. Carole Bucy, and she was everywhere doing all the things. She gave lectures. She advocated for historic cemeteries. She spoke to schoolchildren. She answered her phone whenever anyone in town had a history question. One time, she and I were walking through Mt. Olivet Cemetery looking at headstones that had been toppled in a recent storm, and she told me that she got reimbursed only for mileage.
This means that the qualifications for Metro historian were/are: someone who knows a shit ton about Nashville history, and who can afford to work for free. In essence, this limits the job to people who have a separate, flexible job, or people rich enough that they don’t need paid work. This is so dumb that I think I must have instantly purged it from my mind.
Schools, stone walls and Trail of Tears witness structure also listed under threat
But it’s come up again — for me, anyway — because I’m now in a spot where I’ll be seeing the Metro historian regularly, and I’ll be hearing about the things they’re up to. I had assumed that someone had addressed this.
I looked at the Metro Charter, and ... no. Worse, state law says this person can’t be paid. This is embarrassing.
What are the historian’s legal responsibilities? According to Tennessee Code 5-18-101: “Collecting and preserving local and state history” while working with the state historian, the Tennessee Library and Archives, and the Tennessee Historical Commission. According to Metro Code, this person also has to serve on the Metro Historical Commission as an ex-officio, non-voting member, and has to work with “entities within the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, to document and share with the public the county’s history.” Plus they have to serve on the Davidson County Public Records Commission.
This is genuine, valuable work. You want someone to attend two commissions' meetings, plus be available to anyone in Metro who might need them, and liaise with the state, all while documenting and sharing history? For free?! And we want them to have at least a master’s degree, so we’re also imagining a person who can do all this for free while paying off unending student loans?
Who even is this mythical historian, and how do they manage their finances?
Either this is a mostly ceremonial position that one takes for the prestige and the expectations are just that you attend some meetings and appear in some pictures, or it’s real work and should be compensated as such. Right now, we’re in the worst of both worlds.
I’m not sure how to start to get this fixed. It seems like we need to start with the state, but that’s going to require Nashville's state lawmakers working with Republicans and convincing them, and that seems like an impossible task.
But it still seems like something we should try to do. And not only would it benefit our historian — it would open the possibility of paying all city historians.
