When you step into the County Archives at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza, you will be greeted by an energetic, sparkly eyed octogenarian who will immediately start asking you if you are from the local area and what your ancestors’ names are. Judy Henley Phillips has been the county archivist since 1983, and it will be hard to find anyone with more knowledge of the families and early history of Coffee County, as well as Grundy, Franklin, and Moore Counties.

Phillips was born in Sewanee, to Robert Ernest Henley and Flossie Mae Yates. Her earliest memories are of her father carrying her on his shoulders as he hiked through the hills of Lost Cove and even waded through a cave. She has always had an interest in nature, which comes from her father wanting to show her the wonders that could be found once you open your eyes and look around you. Her Granny Henley also lived with the family. Her grandmother was born in 1878, and her parents were born in the 1830’s. But her granny made it clear that Phillips was to live in the present and not worry herself about the past and was reluctant to share any family stories with her.

While she was a young child, Phillips’s family moved from the mountain down to the Camp Forrest Military Reservation. When their property was condemned by the government to begin shelling practice on what was to become Arnold Air Force Base, they moved to Tullahoma. Here, Phillips grew up playing around the viaduct, even witnessing President Truman’s entourage traveling through town heading to the base for the dedication. She was extremely disappointed that he did not return her wave as he went by.

Phillips’s family moved to the Awalt Community in Franklin County when she was in the eighth grade. She was so interested in listening to Elvis and sending off for autographed movie star pictures that it wasn’t until she was an adult that she realized her Granny was very close-mouthed regarding anything to do with family. That made her even more curious to see what she could discover. After finishing high school, she had the opportunity to travel and live in several different states. One of the first things she would do after getting settled was to find the local library, where she would spend hours researching a variety of topics. This served her well as she began to devote more of her time to genealogy and family research.

After returning to Coffee County, Phillips worked at First National Bank in Tullahoma for fifteen years. She took an early retirement, looking forward to having time to research and write on her favorite subject: the local history of southern Middle Tennessee. One of the first things that caught her attention was discovering that the 1820 Federal Census had been written up alphabetically, instead of geographically. She wanted to know where these people lived, and who their neighbors were. This led her to begin researching and putting the families from the census into the communities where they lived. This project is something that she is still working on, and it comprises several volumes, as she continues to dig into the families and find out where they moved from as well as who they married and who their children married.

After the Tennessee Homecoming in 1976, many Tennessee counties began to have an interest in the preservation of early courthouse records. Phillips participated in the preparation of the records of several counties for preservation. These records were often in attics or basements, covered in dirt, dead bugs, tobacco juice, and things most people would not touch. The records needed to be cleaned and sorted by court office to be ready to start the preservation process. Phillips traveled to Wilson, White, Moore, Grundy, and Franklin Counties to work with a few other people to make sure this was done properly. As the other counties began to have enough volunteers to take care of their own records, Phillips focused on Coffee and Franklin Counties. She has been Archivist for Franklin County since the early 1980s. You can find her in Coffee County on Tuesdays and Franklin County on Wednesdays.

In 1996 TNgenweb was created as a website for county genealogies, histories, and records. Phillips was involved from the beginning of this site, taking on Moore and Franklin Counties, and teaching herself HTML. She has also been active in the Coffee and Franklin County Historical Societies, serving on both boards and has also served as the Director of the Tullahoma LDS Family History Center. She has written several family history books and has also published transcriptions of many county records. Phillips also ventured into writing fiction books a few years ago.

In 2023 Phillips was recognized by the Society of Tennessee Archivists as the recipient of the John Thweatt Award for Preservation of Historic Records. Carol Roberts, who is the Bedford County Archivist, and a member of the Society of Tennessee Archivists, said, “Judy is one of the most successful archivists in the South Central region of Tennessee counties. Through her dedication to preservation of county records and genealogical research, she has encouraged at least five different counties to move forward in archival work, all on a voluntary basis.”