Mary Elizabeth “Bee” DeSelm earned a B.S. in Nursing in 1946 and a B.S. in Education in 1948 from Ohio State University. She also participated in multiple levels of the County Officials Certificate Training Program at the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service and audited a variety of classes at the University of Tennessee School of Law. Highly involved in local Knox County, Tennessee, politics, Mrs. DeSelm was one of the earliest female members of the Knox County Commission, a position she held for 22 years. Mrs. DeSelm has participated in a myriad of civic activities, including the League of Women Voters of Knoxville and Knox County, the Community Alternatives to Prison Board, the Faculty women’s Club of the University of Tennessee, and the Knoxville Police Community Advisory Committee.
In retirement, Mrs. DeSelm has also been an important figure in such actions as the lawsuits against the County Commission for violating the sunshine laws and has also mentored young children through Project Grad at Maynard Elementary School. In 1998, the Women’s Political Caucus named a scholarship after Mrs. DeSelm and in 2000, the West Knoxville Library became known as the Bee DeSelm Branch.
The approximately eight linear feet collection of Bee DeSelm includes papers, photographs, newspaper articles and correspondence. Campaign materials for each of her public service campaigns, documents pertaining to her lawsuits, and materials preserved during her career as a public servant in Knox County, Tennessee, are also included.