Edna Lynn Simms Appalachian Collection

Edna Lynn Simms was born in Lexington, Kentucky around 1880. Marriage to Charles Sumner Simms in 1900 resulted in her moving to Knoxville, Tennessee.  The couple had two children, Charles Jr. and Ruth Simms.  Edna worked as a free-lance journalist and photographer while also participating in local women’s clubs and parent-teacher organizations.  Her articles appeared in The Mother’s Magazine and Concrete and she served as an editor for the Forest Farm and Mascot Concentrates. She became interested in the lives of people she met while hiking and horseback riding in the mountains of east Tennessee.  This interest lead to her establishing the Mountaineer Museum in Gatlinburg that opened May 30, 1931. Until her death in 1961, she continued to collect information on mountain culture, via photography and note taking.