Hometown Tennessee Exhibit Opens April 7 at Legislative Plaza
An exhibition, organized by the Tennessee State Museum, celebrating the history, industry, and community spirit of towns throughout the state opens April 7, at Legislative Plaza in the War Memorial Building.
Visitors can examine the past through everyday artifacts such as postcards, patent medicine bottles, and white oak baskets associated with great Tennessee towns. The exhibit will showcase the history of local communities, as well as the museum’s vast collections which document the state’s storied past. It is free and open to the public through May 1, 2008.
A variety of everyday artifacts from 25 representative communities from around the state were selected to provide visitors with glimpses of Tennessee’s heritage.
"The State Museum collects artifacts from communities all across the state. These holdings contain an abundance of crafts, military collectibles, household items, childhood toys, business artifacts, sports memorabilia, and other objects that comprise the material culture and heritage of our state," according to Miranda Fraley, the museum’s manager of curatorial interpretive planning.
The unique past and cultural significance of each featured community will be presented through historical banners and selected artifacts. Jonesborough, known as the earliest town in Tennessee, dating back to 1779 has a heritage district listed on the National Register of Historic Places is among those included. An 1892 advertising trade card for George L. Smith, Clothier and Furnisher will be on display, along with period photographs and graphics.
"Mule Day" in Columbia, Tennessee, has been a tradition since around 1840, when the first Monday in April drew huge crowds to the animal livestock show and Mule Day Market. Columbia is a community rich in agricultural heritage, pastoral beauty, and such historic sites, as the home of President James K. Polk, as visitors will learn from the Hometown Tennessee exhibit. Included in the show is a Mule Day button from 1939.
The urban communities of Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis have all played important roles in Tennessee’s diverse history and are rich with stories. Highlights include a photograph, originally made in 1949, showing B.B. King holding a guitar with the call letters for Memphis radio station WDIA; a 1940s radio representing how Americans once listened to Nashville’s WSM Grand Ole Opry, and a program from the 1951 Cotton Bowl where the University of Tennessee football team’s victory captured the national championship.
Hometown Tennessee will be on display through May 1, 2008, at the Legislative Plaza in the War Memorial Building. The entrance is located off of Sixth Avenue across from the Polk Cultural Center which houses the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Tennessee State Museum. The exhibit is free to the public and can be viewed from 8a.m. to 4:30p.m., Monday through Friday.
Visitors may also wish to tour the Tennessee State Museum and learn more about the state’s rich history and culture. The museum preserves the legacies of communities throughout Tennessee for the enjoyment and education of visitors today and for future generations. Located at Fifth and Deaderick Streets in downtown Nashville, the museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum which is closed on Mondays is free to the public.
For further information
Contact: Mary Skinner
615-741-2692, ext. 103
Mary.Skinner@state.tn.us
Visitors will learn about the "Manhattan District" and the huge contribution the Oak Ridge area made to World War II. Prior to the war the area was a rural place with many small farms. During the 1940s the federal government chose this area as the site for a secret city where classified work on the atomic bomb would occur. More than 70,000 workers moved into hastily constructed housing in the new town of Oak Ridge to assist the American war effort. A badge worn by a security guard at the Manhattan District atomic bomb facility is one of the objects to be showcased.