Cas Walker
Cas Walker was, by his own estimation, a “living legend” in Knoxville for much of the twentieth century. He rose from blue-collar beginnings to make a fortune as a grocer then, eventually, becoming a businessman, politician, broadcasting personality, and newspaper publisher. The book chronicles his colorful life through interviews with a score of notable Knoxvillians, various newspaper accounts, Walker's own autobiography, and other sources.
Description
Illustration, Typography
Client
University of Tennessee Press
Photography


John George Nicolay
Arguably no one was closer to Abraham Lincoln during his tenure in the White House than John George Nicolay. He served as Lincoln’s personal secretary and, owing to the extraordinary challenges facing the White House, became in effect its first chief of staff. This book represents the first scholarly biography of this self-effacing man who, while strove to preserve and shape Lincoln’s legacy, was so long overshadowed by him.
Description
Illustration, Typography
Client
University of Tennessee Press
Photography


Doing the word
A touchstone for women’s studies and church history alike, Doing the Word reopens a lost chapter in the evolution of women’s leadership during the twentieth century—a tumultuous period in which the Carver School of Church Social Work, under significant pressure to reverse course, sought to expand the roles of women in leading the church.
Description
Typography
Client
University of Tennessee Press
Photography



process
The first iteration of the cover censored the women's faces as a representation of the glass ceiling the women faced. In its early establishment, the school acknowledged that the denomination needed educated, female leadership but also sought to limit this leadership to missionary work and away from pastoral ministry and other forms of leadership. The cover was adjusted to better reflect the book's focus on the changing nature of the school and the denomination as a whole, rather than its past.
Randy Wood
In the 1960s and 1970s, Randy Wood was one of the pioneers in the vintage instrument industry. He brought cherished pre-WWII instruments back to life and crafted his own instruments as well. The book presents Wood as an important component of the overall history of country music in Nashville and beyond. The typography was inspired by Wood's custom inlay work for the fingerboard of Elvis Presley's Gibson Dove. The book will be available in March 2020.
Description
Illustration, Typography
Client
University of Tennessee Press
