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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.

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.

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.

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.