Wintfred Smith made his mark as a UT Martin biology professor. Future generations might better remember him as a Reelfoot Lake scientist and historian. His career-long fascination with the legendary body of water resulted in a detailed personal collection of materials about the lake. Now, that collection is being preserved as a gift to Corbitt Special Collections in the Paul Meek Library.

Richard Saunders, curator and university archivist, describes the Reelfoot Lake material as “collectively irreplaceable” and is pleased that Smith chose UT Martin as the collection’s permanent home. “It makes sense that the largest collection of data regarding the lake would remain in the institution closest to it,” he said. “I am delighted that it is here and feel it will be one of the major collections at our institution.”

Smith, professor emeritus of biology, came to UT Martin in the fall of 1964. He left to attend graduate school in 1969, returned in 1972 with his doctorate from the University of North Dakota and resumed teaching at UT Martin until he retired in 2001. He first saw Reelfoot Lake in 1963 while taking a graduate herpetology course at Tennessee Tech. The appearance, the quiet and the remoteness of the area appealed to him. “It struck me as a primeval place, and I thoroughly liked it then, and I thoroughly like it now,” he said.

Smith said that he seriously began collecting Reelfoot materials and information in the middle 1970s. “I’ve always enjoyed photography, and the first thing I started doing was collecting old photographs showing Reelfoot Lake,” he recalled. Photographs offered a way for him to better understand the lake’s development, but his collection gradually grew to include more than just images.

Beyond photographs, he documented literature about the lake, gathering everything from references to the lake, to copies of material, to originals of “papers, stories, books, which in one way or another involve Reelfoot Lake.” A database developed by his wife, Shirley, currently shows 7,383 written references to Reelfoot Lake, including scientific papers, popular literature, and reports from local, state and federal agencies.

Other items include tape-recorded interviews with people at the lake and some videotapes. Newspaper references about the lake date back into the 1800s. “I think of it as a kind of all-inclusive collection,” he said. “I suppose you might describe it as a kind of obsession to collect all of these things. …”

Unique items include a 1915 booklet written about duck hunting and fishing at Reelfoot Lake. Beyond advice for hunters, the publication describes how the lake appeared and what people were doing then around the lake. The book even describes the lake freezing over in 1912 “and cracking on occasions so loudly that the ice crack could be heard all the way to Hornbeak,” about 15 miles away.

Not yet in the donated portion of the collection are two of his favorites: family photograph albums made in Lake County that include identifications and dates from the late 1800s to about 1930. A lady in Tiptonville, whom he first talked with in the late 1970s, gave the albums to him. He originally borrowed the albums, made photocopies and studied them for about two years. He continued to go back with questions, and on the third visit, she gave him the albums. “It’s really quite a pictorial history,” he said.

Even as he describes the photo albums as favorites, he does so reluctantly. “It’s hard to nail down any particular item (as a favorite) because all of this has sort of grown on me, and it’s hard for me to separate one piece from the other,” he said. “And, my task right now is to sort all of this out and synthesize the information into, I hope, a kind of story which other people will enjoy as well.”

The important task of sorting through the volumes of material also falls to the library, but for Saunders, the outcome will be worth the effort. “When it is complete and processed, the largest gathering of material about Reelfoot Lake will be accessible within an hour’s drive of the lake and lake communities,” he said, estimating that the task of organizing and cataloging the material will take up to two years.

After several decades of researching and collecting, Smith is still very interested in the lake and hasn’t stopped his quest for more Reelfoot material. He searches eBay about once daily, spotting Reelfoot items at least weekly in one form or another. “Vintage photographs are still regularly coming to light in Lake and Obion counties, and I’m absolutely certain that there are many more out there,” he said.

Besides personal interest, his work has another purpose, the one that actually started the collection. An examination of the material reveals how and why Reelfoot Lake is changing. His ultimate hope is that the body of work will help point to solutions for environmental problems associated with the lake, noting that humans have interacted with the lake for at least 200 years.

“We’ve affected the lake. The lake’s affected us,” Smith said. “The lake affects what we can do in that area, and to Northwest Tennessee, it’s a huge economic resource, which sometimes I think goes a bit unappreciated. But, it’s still very important.”

Although Smith has been to the lake many, many times, he still goes back to visit. He said that he’s even been known to go to the lake, find an isolated spot, and just sit, especially when he needs inspiration for writing that he continues to pursue. Friends and contacts remain in the lake area, and a camera is never too far away for taking more photographs.

Future researchers and historians already owe a debt of gratitude to Smith for this generous gift. And, if the lake could talk, it would thank him as well. Reelfoot Lake doesn’t have a better friend than Wintfred Smith.