Data Preservation & Historical Document Collections

The Tennessee Geological Survey curates a large collection of historical documents relating to the geology and mineral resources of Tennessee. These include maps of various types and scales, reports, geochemical analyses, field observations, drillers logs, personal correspondence, and other documents organized in collections by theme or source. Some of these materials are made available to the public through the TGS Search for Geology Documents site and associated Map Viewer. The collections are searchable via categories (see details below) and most items can be viewed and downloaded directly. 

Note: Collection documents not currently available here can be acquired by contacting the TGS. 

The Collections 

Most of the historical documents and other archived material owned by the Tennessee Geological Survey (TGS) have been assigned to a particular TGS Collection. TGS has partnered with the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program to compile the metadata for each document in these collections. These metadata are uploaded to the USGS Registry of Scientific Collections (ReSciColl). The objective is to improve the discoverability of documents in each of the TGS’s collections when conducting an internet search. The 17 TGS collections currently in ReSciColl are:  

1. Collection of Borehole Data from Tennessee Using National Index of Borehole Information Standards (NIBI) 

2. Collection of Chattanooga Shale Uranium and Oil Shale Reports from Tennessee 

3. Collection of Coal Analyses from Tennessee 

4. Collection of Coal Exploration Logs from Tennessee 

5. Collection of Coal Field Measured Sections from Tennessee 

6. Collection of Coal Geology Maps from Tennessee 

7. Collection of Coal Related Tennessee Valley Authority Mine Maps and Reports from Tennessee 

8. Collection of Coal Samples from Tennessee 

9. Collection of Coal Strip Logs from Tennessee 

10. Collection of Department of Energy Documents from Tennessee 

11. Collection of Historic Field Notebooks, Maps, and Photographs from Tennessee 

12. Collection of Mineral Resources Documents from Tennessee 

13. Collection of Non-Coal Hand Samples from Tennessee 

14. Collection of Oil and Gas Well Rock Cuttings from Tennessee 

15. Collection of Rock Cores from Tennessee 

16. Collection of Tennessee Valley Authority Documents from Tennessee 

17. Collection of Zinc Mining Maps and Reports from Tennessee 

Collection names in bold text in the above list have metadata in ReSciColl for some or all of the documents in that collection. Many of the collection documents have been scanned and can be downloaded from the TGS Search for Geology Documents site. 

Document search categories 

To assist with discovering what documents are available to download, the following provides a brief explanation about the eight search categories on the TGS Search for Geology Documents site: 

NDC COLLECTION NAME – Refers to TGS’s collections of historical material that are listed in the ReSciColl (which was previously called the National Digital Catalog). The ReSciColl Collection Name search term to use here is shown in the table below. For example, to retrieve a list of the 3155 documents currently available in the Collection of Zinc Mining Maps and Reports from Tennessee, the search term to use is “Zinc_Mining”. 

Table 1. Abbreviations to use for controlled list in “Collection Name” field. 

COUNTY CODE – Refers to the three-digit Tennessee County FIPS Code number (for example, 001 for Anderson County). Some documents have not been assigned a specific county code. The reason may be that the document covers the entire state of Tennessee, or the areal extent has not been determined. Use County Code 000 to retrieve a list of these documents. 

DOC DATE – This is the date, if known, of the original document, which is entered as YearMonthDay (YYYYMMDD). Note that entering only the Year (for example, 1973) also retrieves search results. 

DOCUMENT TYPE – Can be either Diagram or Map. Note that the search result will be a list of all currently available collection documents assigned that Document Type. 

ID NUMBER – Is a shorthand alphanumeric identifier for each document so that it can be specifically searched for here. TGS collection documents discovered using ReSciColl will indicate the specific ID Number for each document.  

MISC – Can be either Log or Report. Note that the search result will be a list of all currently available collection documents assigned that MISC term. 

QUADRANGLE – Refers to the name of the 7.5-minute topographic map quadrangle in the state of Tennessee. If a topographic quadrangle map name contains two or more words, then an underscore, not a space, is used between the words (for example, “Shady_Grove”). Some documents have not been assigned a specific quadrangle name. The reason may be that the document covers the entire state of Tennessee, or the areal extent has not been determined. Use QQQ for the Quadrangle search term to retrieve a list of these documents. 

TITLE – This is a document’s original digital file name. TGS collection documents discovered using ReSciColl will indicate the original digital file name for each document. 

Additional tips for searching the collections 

To allow for expanded searches, the Document Viewer & Search database is designed to generate partial matches of the search fields. However, if multiple search terms are used and any of the terms entered do not match a record, then no search results will be generated; thus, less search information entered will generate broader search results. There are no spaces in search terms and leading/trailing spaces are ignored. Special characters known as “wildcards” can be helpful when searching for ranges of values or when there is uncertainty about the spelling of a search term. The system recognizes two wildcards: 

For example, searching for “Wi%son” in the document title would return “Wison”, “Wilson”, “Willson”, “Witson”, etc.  Inserting a lone % into any of the search categories will retrieve a list of all the documents that are available on this site (limited to 5,000 entries).