The Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee . The current facility opened on October 4, 2018, at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill by the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park . The 137,000-square-foot building includes a Tennessee Time Tunnel chronicling the state's history by leading visitors though the museum's permanent collection, a hands-on children's gallery, six rotating galleries, a digital learning center, and a two-story Grand Hall. Exhibitions include significant artifacts related to the state's history, along with displays of art, furniture, textiles, and photographs produced by Tennesseans. The museum's Civil War holdings consists of uniforms, battle flags, and weapons. There is no admission charge for visitors.
8-722: Museum operations and policies are overseen by the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission, a group of citizens appointed to represent the public interest. The earliest known museum in Tennessee dates to 1817 when a portrait artist, Ralph E. W. Earl , opened a museum at the public square of Nashville. The state museum opened in 1937 in the War Memorial Building , after being authorized by the General Assembly. It decided that
16-643: A historic print shop, a painting gallery, and a grist mill . The state museum featured a museum store offering handmade crafts, jewelry, and Tennessee memorabilia. The Military Museum, focused on overseas wars, is still housed in the War Memorial Building across the street. Its exhibits range from Tennessee participation in the early battles of the Spanish–American War to World War II. The new Tennessee State Museum opened in October 2018 at
24-776: A long-term basis to be operated as part of the museum complex. Under the terms of its 20-year lease made in 2007, the Tennessee State Museum reserves responsibility for major maintenance of the Lorraine Motel. The Foundation owns and operates the other buildings and properties associated with the complex. Certain parts of the motel have been preserved for their historic aspects related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Ralph E. W. Earl Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl (born 1785–1788; died Nashville, Tennessee September 16, 1838),
32-565: Is reflected in the younger Earl's earliest works. He traveled to London in 1809, where he studied for a year with John Trumbull and was advised by Benjamin West to learn perspective, anatomy, and three-dimensional illusion. He remained in England until 1814, living with his maternal grandfather and uncle in Norwich and executing portrait commissions. He then traveled to Paris before returning to
40-893: The United States in December 1815 to create grand-scale history paintings on the European model. As preparation for a planned project depicting the Battle of New Orleans , Earl met General Andrew Jackson and visited him at his Tennessee home, The Hermitage , in January 1817. Earl painted portraits of Jackson and his family and married Mrs. Jackson's niece Jane Caffery on May 19, 1819. She died in childbirth in 1820, as did their son. After his wife's death, Earl became Jackson's close friend and lived with him at The Hermitage. When Jackson became President in 1829, Earl accompanied him to
48-765: The corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill by the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. 137,000-square-foot facility is one of the largest in the nation. The museum also owns the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee , part of the non-profit, privately owned museum complex of the National Civil Rights Museum . It leases the motel to the Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum Foundation on
56-603: The state needed a museum to deal with various collections from the state and mementos from World War I . Most of the museum operations moved to the James K. Polk Building in 1981, which it shared with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center through May 2018. The museum in the Polk Building exhibited a variety of paintings, silver, weapons, and furniture. Larger exhibits included reproductions of
64-477: Was an American painter known as the "court painter" to President Andrew Jackson . He also painted the portrait of Rachel Jackson . Earl was the son of portrait painter Ralph Earl and his second wife Ann Whiteside, and thus a member of the prominent Earle family. He was born c. 1785–1788, probably in New York City, and likely received his early training in portraiture from his father, whose naive style
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