About the Digital Archive
The vision of the A. Schwab Digital Archive is twofold: while serving to preserve in digital form the artifacts, printed, and photographic materials associated with A. Schwab's history it is our hope that the materials made available here will be learning resources for scholars, students, tourists, and the general public.
Established in Memphis, Tennessee in 1876 by a French Jewish immigrant, Abraham Joseph Schwab, A. Schwab is the oldest continually operating dry-goods store in the Mid-South. The business is now the only remaining original business left on the famous Beale Street. Beale Street is itself a National Historic Landmark and is Tennessee’s top tourist attraction. It is our hope that by the preservation of the company’s 136 years of materials and artifacts that the archive can contribute to the overall history of commerce, culture, and regional identity for the Mid-South.
Until today, only people that have been able to travel to A. Schwab have been able to see and appreciate a small sample of their historic materials. Our digital library will offer opportunities to overcome temporal and geographic issues by making a digital library of the materials available on the Internet where they can be studied and enjoyed by everyone.
