Tennessee State Museum

Infobox Museum
name = Tennessee State Museum


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established = 1937
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location = Nashville, Tennessee
type = Heritage centre
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website = http://www.tnmuseum.org

Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Starting from pre-colonization and going all the way to the 20th century, the museum describes the American Civil War, the Frontier, and the Age of Jackson. The museum includes an area of more than convert|60000|sqft|m2 of permanent exhibits and a hall with changing exhibitions covering convert|10000|ft|m. The total ground area of the museum is convert|120000|ft|m spread over three floors.

The museum is situated in the James K. Polk building in downtown Nashville. The museum's collection of uniforms, weapons, and battle flags from the Civil War is one of the largest in the nation. [ [http://www.bonps.org/tour/statemuseum.htm Tennessee State Museum ] ]

The museum also has a military museum describing the country's military conflicts. This exhibition goes from the early battles of the Spanish-American War all the way to World War II. The museum features a museum store offering hand-made crafts, jewelry, and Tennessee memorabilia.

History

The earliest recordings of the museum go back to 1817 when a portrait artist, Ralph E. W. Earl opened a museum at the public square of Nashville. [ [http://www.tnmuseum.org/information.cfm/5 Tennessee State Museum ] ] The first larger state museum opened in 1937, when the General Assembly decided that the state needed a museum to deal with various collections from the state and mementos from World War I. The museum remained at the War Memorial Building until it moved to its current location in 1981.

Today the museum displays paintings, silver, weapons, and furniture and has reproductions of a print shop, a painting gallery and a grist mill.

References

External links

* [http://www.tnmuseum.org/ Official museum homepage]
* [http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/ Tennessee State Library and Archives]