Rick Warwick presents "The Material Culture of Williamson County"

In-Person Event at The Franklin Theatre

Williamson County Historian Rick Warwick will share his favorite examples of our material culture from Williamson County. In 2005, Warwick published Williamson County: More Than A Good Place To Live, a survey of the county’s material culture--chairs, sugar chests, quilts, chicken rocks, baskets, among others. The project began with an exhibit at the Williamson County Library of local chair-markers in 1990, followed by an exhibit at the Carter House in 1991 on local sugar chests. In 1993, the Carter House hosted an exhibit of samplers made in Williamson County by young schoolgirls dating from 1805 to 1859. In the spring 1994, the Carter House hosted an exhibit of forty-six coverlets woven by long forgotten weavers of this county. Join Rick as he journeys through the years to discuss how our local material culture has shaped and influenced our community.

After many years in the classroom and as a school librarian, Rick Warwick now applies his energy to collecting the history of Williamson County. Considering himself a better gleaner of facts and tidbits of history than a writer, he has compiled a shelf of published works on Williamson County over the years. As publication chairman of the Williamson County Historical Society since 1990, he has published the annual journal, as well as projects of his own choosing. This body of work includes: Leiper’s Fork and Surrounding Communities (1999), Leiper’s Fork and Family Albums (2000), Historical Markers of Williamson County-A Pictorial Guide (1999), Williamson County-In Black & White-A Racial History (2000), Williamson County-Out There In The First District (2001), Meet Me At Chapman’s Pie Wagon (2002), Triune-Two Centuries at the Crossroads (2004), Williamson County-More Than A Good Place to Live (2005), Williamson County-The Civil Wars Revealed Through Letters, Diaries and Memoirs (2006), Freedom and Work in the Reconstruction Era: The Freedmen’s Bureau Labor Contracts of Williamson County (2006), Williamson County-Civil War Veterans-Their Reunions and Photographs (2007), Wish You Were Here—A Postcard Tour of Franklin & Williamson County (2007), and Williamson County & the Civil War—As Seen Through the Female Experience (2008), Portraits of Williamson County (2010), Historical Markers of Williamson County, Tennessee Revised (2010).

Rick graduated from Middle Tennessee State University (B.S. 1969 and MAT 1971). He served on the Tennessee Historical Commission from 2005 to 2015. He volunteers as historian for the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County. In January 2017, the Williamson County Commission appointed him County Historian, replacing Mrs. Virginia McDaniel Bowman, who had served that post since 1972. He has served on the following boards: Heritage Foundation, Carter House, Carnton, African American Heritage Society of Franklin and Williamson County, and Franklin’s Charge.

Since 1975, Rick and his wife Elaine have lived in an 1831 cedar log home reconstructed on Warwick’s Knob off Southall Road. Since moving to Franklin in 1970, Rick has collected locally-made furniture and items related to Williamson County history with noted success. He has collected over 15,000 photographs related to Williamson County.

Rick Warwick, appointed Williamson County Historian in 2017, and while not formally an employee of the Heritage Foundation, we work closely together as he maintains his office at the Heritage Foundation’s LeHew Magid Big House for Historic Preservation. He can be reached in his office or by email, rick@historicfrankin.com.