The UT Libraries, along with the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Pi Beta Phi Elementary School, recently finished a digital project that preserves the education, arts and history of the Great Smoky Mountains.

The project’s culmination comes after UT Libraries received a nearly $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The project, entitled "From Pi Beta Phi to Arrowmont,” has almost 4,000 images of old articles, photos, letters and scrapbooks. It also has a 360-degree gallery of interactive art objects such as vases, jars, bottles and bowls. In addition it has historical essays on topics such as health, family, arts, crafts and student life.

The Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women founded the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in Gatlinburg, Tenn. in 1912 as a service project to commemorate its 50th anniversary, which began the fraternity’s involvement in the Smokies. As the school offered more arts and crafts classes in an attempt to preserve the region’s traditions, it became known as the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Anne Bridges, UT’s history librarian, said the project records the history of Gatlinburg but also tells a story about the history of women. She said the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women created opportunities for themselves at a time when there were limited chances for women.

The content on the website has also been used on UT Libraries' Digital Library Center and the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project.

According to its website, “The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.”