Tennesseans are invited to be part of the state’s history by adding their name or the name of a loved one to a special pathway leading to the new Tennessee State Museum. The walkway will be made up of personalized, commemorative stones that will include names of individuals, families, and businesses. These pavers will be made of crab orchard stone, a rare and durable sandstone that comes from Crab Orchard Mountain in East Tennessee.

Tennessee State Museum will present three free Lunch & Learn lectures in April and May before it closes in its current location. The Museum will reopen in October in its brand new building on Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. Lunch & Learn lectures will focus on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 19), the history of the Tennessee State Museum (April 26), and in a special event at the Nashville Bridge Building, the Cumberland River (May 3). Information about all three events is below. The Museum will host a "Pack the Wagon" closing party on Saturday, May 5 from 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and officially close at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 6. Information on the closing party is at tnmuseum.org.

NASHVILLE,Tenn.— April 3, 2018—The next meeting of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission will be held on Monday, April 9, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. in the Museum Experience Room (MER) on Level D of the Polk Cultural Center at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville. It will be preceded by a nominating committee meeting at 9:30 a.m. All meetings are open to the general public.

The Tennessee State Museum was recognized with six awards at the Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) Awards Ceremony last week at the Latta Preforming Arts Center in Selmer, Tennessee.

"Pack the Wagon" is the theme and goal of a free party the Museum will be throwing during its closing weekend, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 5. The Museum will be moving to its new location at Bicentennial Mall State Park in October, and in order to pack and move artifacts and offices, will need to close in its current location in the Polk Center. The Museum, which opened in 1937 in the War Memorial Building, has been in the Polk Center since 1981. The Museum will officially close at that location on Sunday, May 6 at 5 p.m.

Tennessee State Museum will present two free events in March in partnership with the arrival the Violins of Hope in Nashville, a display of a Holocaust Survivor’s Crate from the Museum’s collection, and a Lunch and Learn Lecture with Jack May about his uncle, Mortimer May, a Tennessee Holocaust Hero.

Two items from the Tennessee Historical Society Collection at the Tennessee State Museum will be on loan to the Clinton Presidential Center this February and March for an exhibit on the Louisiana Purchase. The two items, a Napoleon Bonaparte death mask and a portrait of Napoleon by John C. Grimes, will be on display February 2-March 4, 2018 at the Clinton Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, as part of The Great Expedition: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and its Impact on Arkansas. The exhibit is part of the Clinton Center’s annual program, Fusion: Arts and Humanities Arkansas, which promotes heritage and culture and celebrates human achievement by weaving the arts and humanities together. In addition to viewing the exhibition, Fusion program attendees will have the opportunity to engage with content-area experts and observe performances that will bring a new perspective on the history of the Louisiana Purchase.

The February edition of the Tennessee State Museum’s Lunch & Learn series will focus on Tennessee’s African American Music Heritage. On Thursday, February 15 at 12:15 at the Museum, historians Graham Perry, curator of Social History, and Mike Bell, curator of Popular Music, together with Lorenzo Washington, CEO and Founder of Jefferson Street Sound, will speak about and perform some of the music of black Tennesseans that transformed American music, including spirituals, blues, ragtime, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and soul music.

In conjunction with an exhibit at the Parthenon Museum in Nashville on the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, the Tennessee State Museum will welcome attorney David Ewing, a well-known local historian, collector, and blogger, for a free Lunch and Learn presentation on January 18 at 12:15 p.m. Recognized for his social media brand, The Nashville I Wish I Knew, and his extensive collection and research, Ewing is well respected for his passion and knowledge of local history. On view at the Parthenon through the end of January, Day at the Fair is a celebration of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition and includes artifacts chosen from the David Ewing collection. He’ll discuss those artifacts and the significance of the Exposition.

The Tennessee State Museum will host a free day of fun and historical activities for homeschool families on Friday, February 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The theme of the day will be Black History Month, and will include an exclusive viewing of the award-winning travelling exhibit, Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation, a “detectives of history” hands-on program, and many more educational activities. Participants will experience the Museum’s living history programs and learn more about the contributions that African Americans have made to Tennessee’s history and culture. The Tennessee State Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville, and metered and lot parking is available nearby. While the event is free, families should plan on paying for parking in downtown Nashville. The main branch of the Nashville Public Library, at 615 Church Street, has a public parking lot and is a convenient walk to the museum. For questions about Homeschool Day, please contact Rachel Helvering at (615) 253-0149 or Rachel.Helvering@tn.gov.

The next meeting of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission will be held on Monday, January 8, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. in the Museum Experience Room on Level D of the Polk Cultural Center at 505 Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville. All meetings are open to the general public.