The School of Information Sciences Recognizes Steve Cotham as 2005
Distinguished Alumni
The University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences (SIS) Alumni
Board honored alumnus Steve Cotham (1978) with the Distinguished Alumni Award for 2005. Janet Drumheller, president of the SIS Alumni Board, announced Cotham’s award at the school’s SIS Alumni & Friends Day, which was held last Saturday, May 21, at the East Tennessee History Center (ETHC). Cotham, who was already part of the afternoon program, led a behind-the-scenes tour of the ETHC and Knox County Archives to the group of regional librarians.
Cotham is manager of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection and since
1986 has overseen operations at McClung and the Knox County Archives. He
played a major role in the development and planning of the recent
renovation and expansion of the ETHC building which now takes up a city
block between Market and Gay Streets in downtown Knoxville and which boasts
state-of-the-art climate-controlled archival and museum facilities.
Cotham was named Knox County historian in 2000, a position held by only two
others, and which is named by the Knoxville mayor to a person who not only
knows local history, but can also explain its importance.
Knoxville News-Sentinel history reporter Fred Brown noted that Cotham has
built the McClung Collection into one of the more respected repositories of
information in the nation.
"I think Steve is an unsung hero," said former director Kent Whitworth.
“Not only has Cotham worked to build the historical collection for
genealogists, both professional and amateur, he has also worked to make the
collection something for the scholar. There are some wonderful and
historically significant things in the McClung, and that is not by
accident."
Cotham earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history and a second
master’s degree in Library Science in 1978, all from the University of
Tennessee. Two years later, he launched his career with Knox County
Libraries.
