Tennessee State Museum

The Tennessee State Museum chronicles Tennessee’s history by guiding visitors through the museum’s collection using exhibition galleries, a digital learning center, and a Grand Hall.

The mission of the Museum is to procure, preserve, exhibit, and interpret objects which relate to the social, political, economic, and cultural history of Tennessee and Tennesseans.

The museum’s exhibitions include historical artifacts and displays of art, silver, weapons, furniture, textiles, and photographs. The Museum’s Civil War holdings consist of uniforms, battle flags, and weapons. 

The State Museum, which first opened in 1937, gained a new larger facility in 2018, capable of hosting large reproductions of a historic print shop, a painting gallery, a grist mill, and much more. 

Highlights of the Tennessee State Museum

• The Tennessee Time Tunnel –  combining artifacts, exhibits, and stories with engaging media
• The First Peoples exhibit – the first peoples of Tennessee arrived at the end of the Ice Age and created complex farming societies
• The Forging a Nation exhibit – includes a complete print-shop and cutaway log cabin that provide a glimpse into the lives of early settlers
• The Civil War and Reconstruction exhibit – the story of how Tennesseans determined to secede from the Union, the Civil War experience, and the era of Reconstruction
• The Tennessee Transforms exhibit – highlights the impacts of post-war innovations on Tennesseans
• Exhibits highlighting the struggle of African-Americans to share in the new prosperity
• Displays showing the development of Tennessee’s music industries
• Natural History exhibits – highlighting Tennessee’s amazing landscapes with its diverse animal and plant life