Finding Aid for the Sternberg Overton Park Expressway Collection

Abstract

The materials listed in this finding aid were collected by Irma O. Sternberg during her work to keep a six-lane expressway from being built through Overton Park (Memphis, Tenn.) in Memphis, Tennessee. The collection contains published articles, correspondence, legal case descriptions, editorials and her personal notes which were used in building the case against the construction of the expressway. She also used these materials to write her booklet, “Overton Park is Your Park, Memphis” which she published in 1971.

She and other concerned Memphis citizens formed CPOP, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (Memphis, Tenn.). They fought the proposed segment of I-40 through litigation and public hearings. The U. S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of CPOP and the expressway was never finished. (Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (Memphis, Tenn.) v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 1971)

Katie Lane, Class of 2007 who worked in the Archives from 2005 until 2007, processed the materials and created the finding aid to the collection. Jessica Shainker, Class of 2018, edited the finding aid during the summer of 2017.