The Tennessee State Museum Military Branch, an outpost of the Museum located in historic War Memorial Building in downtown Nashville, will close for approximately six weeks this fall in order to update its exhibitions. The Branch is scheduled to close to the public on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 and reopen on Friday, December 13, 2019. Because the Military Branch is traditionally closed on Sundays and Mondays, it’s last day open to the public before the temporary closing will be Saturday, November 9 from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

The Tennessee State Museum, through a partnership with the Tenement Museum in New York City, invites Tennesseans throughout the state to share personal stories of cultural identity, American immigration and migration through their everyday objects. Your Story, Our Story, is a national initiative of the Tenement Museum and its partners across the United States. It works with museums, colleges, schools, libraries, and community groups who all contribute stories from their part of the United States, with the goal of uncovering the patterns and differences of our experiences across the country. Users can explore stories from across the country, upload a story that carries meaning in your family, and join the Tenement Museum and Tennessee State Museum, in telling the stories of American migration and cultural identity.

The Tennessee State Museum has been officially designated as a stop on the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development’s statewide Tennessee Music Pathways trail. The designation, marked with a sign near the Museum’s Rosa L. Parks entrance at its Nashville location and an entry on the Music Pathways website, recognizes the Museum’s significance in identifying, explaining and preserving the legacy of music in Tennessee. Music Pathways locations connect visitors to the people, places and genres significant to music history.

The Tennessee State Museum, in partnership with Nashville Opera, will present a free performance for voice and piano of American composer Samuel Barber’s 1947 classic, “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” in the Grand Hall of the Museum on Sunday, July 7, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. The composition, based on Knoxville-native James Agee’s 1938 prose poem of the same name, will help mark the final day of the Museum exhibition, Between the Layers: Art and Story in Tennessee Quilts.”

The Tennessee State Museum will explore the rich and diverse history of Tennessee’s food through a new exhibition, Let’s Eat! Origins and Evolutions of Tennessee Food, set to open on August 9, 2019 at the Museum’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park location in Nashville and run through February 2, 2020.

The Tennessee State Museum will mark 20 years of the Titans in Tennessee with Touchdown Titans! The NFL in Tennessee, a special display in the Grand Hall of the Museum that will run from Tuesday, April 23 – Sunday, May 5, 2019. Scheduled to coincide with the NFL Draft in Nashville from April 25-27, the display in the Grand Hall includes artifacts related to the team’s arrival as the Tennessee Oilers in 1997, its historic 1999 “Music City Miracle” season, and its continuing growth.

The next quarterly meeting of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission will be held on Monday, April 8, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. CDT in the conference room of the Tennessee State Museum. The DHSMC Nominating Committee will meet prior to the quarterly meeting at 9:00 a.m. CDT. All meetings are open to the general public.

A special free screening of Mr. Temple and the Tigerbelles, a documentary telling the story of legendary Tennessee State University (TSU) track and field coach Ed Temple and 40 African American female athletes who broke the color barrier at the 1960 Rome Olympic games, will take place at the Tennessee State Museum on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. The Museum is located at 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. at the corner of Jefferson Street on Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Registration for the free event is requested through Eventbrite or TNMuseum.org/calendar-of-events.

Charles “Red” Grooms, the Tennessee-born, internationally-acclaimed pop artist, will discuss his life and work as part of “In Conversation: Red Grooms” on Saturday, December 15 at 2:00 p.m. at the Tennessee State Museum. The event is free and open to the public, though seating is limited and reservations are required.

The Tennessee State Museum’s first new exhibition since its grand opening will be “Between the Layers: Art and Story in Tennessee Quilts.” Slated to open February 8, 2019 and run through May 27, with quilts selected from the Museum’s vast collection, the show will highlight Tennessee’s quilt artistry and the stories embedded in those quilts, across more than two centuries and all three grand divisions of the state.

The new Tennessee State Museum opened its doors to the public today with a ribbon cutting ceremony, comments by dignitaries and Museum officials, performances by area musicians and the participation of local schoolchildren.

The permanent and temporary exhibitions on view when the Museum opens to the public on October 4, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. tell a variety of stories ranging from the First Tennesseans up to the present day.

The Tennessee State Museum is scheduled to open to the public on Thursday, October 4, 2018 at its new location on the corner of Rosa Parks Blvd. and Jefferson Street at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Grand opening events will take place throughout the weekend.

The next quarterly meeting of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission will be held on Monday, July 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. The DHSMC Best Practices Committee will meet prior to the quarterly meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the MER. All meetings are open to the general public.

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.