The Tennessee Room houses a non-circulating special collection devoted to genealogical and local historical research.
In addition to over 5,000 books, there are over 1,945 microfilm rolls containing Madison County Records, Tennessee Census schedules (1810-1930), Jackson, TN newspapers (various dates beginning in 1823), Tennessee Death Indexes (1908-1957), Tennessee Death Certificates (1908-1957), and other records .

The collection includes maps, Jackson city directories, funeral records, vertical files, special collections, and photographs.

The Tennessee Room also serves to pay tribute to Emma Inman Williams (1906-1992), teacher, writer, editor, historian, and the first Tennessee Room librarian (1972-1986). "Miss Emmy", as she was often called, served as Madison County historian for many years. Her book, Historic Madison was published in three editions (1946, 1972, 1986) and still serves as the primary introduction to Madison County's early history.

The Tennessee Room maintains a close working relationship with the Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society and has a complete set of back issues of their publication, Family Findings.

On the morning of May 5th, 2003, The Jackson Sun newspaper groaned the news of widespread damage throughout the city. Subsequent newspapers tracked the extensive damage and slow recovery.  The Tennessee Room stores a collection of print media articles about the Jackson, Tennessee tornadoes.   Recently, Tennessee Room staff member, Brendan Rowe, worked on identifying properties in a group of photographs transferred from the Madison County Archives.  These photos, two of over 700 in the TN Room special collection, represent only a small percentage of the actual widespread damage.  

Lisa Malhomes, a Jackson Madison County Library staff member, recalled her experience:
“It seemed like a normal, stormy night.  I was 16 and mildly irritated that the storm caused a power outage.  I went to bed early and was later awakened that night to a pounding roar outside.  I barely had time to find my mother and scream for my cousin before the tornado hit our home.  We all fell to the floor and were instantly covered with insulation and debris.  It seemed to last forever, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes.  The tornado had ripped the roof off our house, and we could see the sky above us. We slowly picked our way through the debris and huddled in a bedroom closet all night until the next morning, when our neighbors helped us escape our house. It was a truly horrible, life-changing night.”

Although it is painful to remember the loss of lives and property, the area’s recovery is tribute to many individuals, disaster response teams, and agencies.