Memphis is a city founded on some of the great vestiges of our past. City staples such as steamboats, cotton plantations and exchange centers, relics symbolic of the city's rich industrial and agrarian legacy, have either been forgotten or completely lost. Every city, especially one as thoroughly modern as Memphis, naturally loses even the more recent aspects of its past through growth and expansion. Join Memphian and library historian Laura Cunningham as she unearths the lost hallmarks of Memphis, from the city's earliest beginnings to the present. Filled with rare and archival images that range from whimsical to haunting, Lost Memphis provides a glimpse into the vanished landmarks and bygone ways of life that once defined the city. Though the people and places featured in Lost Memphis are gone, this collection of compelling photos ensures that they will never be truly lost to history.
Laura Cunningham is a native Memphian and currently works at the Memphis Public Library. She is a graduate of the University of Memphis, where she completed her BA and MA degrees in history. She has worked with a number of the city's museums and historic sites, including the Mallory-Neely and Magevney House Museums. In 2006, she was awarded the Ruth and Harry Woodbury Graduate Fellowship in Southern History. She is also the author of Haunted Memphis.