During your visit to the East Tennessee History Museum, explore three centuries of life in East Tennessee through the East Tennessee History Museum collection and award-winning exhibits. In the Museum Shop, you will find a variety of books, crafts and gift items unique to the East Tennessee History Museum.
East Tennessee History Museum Collection
Over 13,000 artifacts can be found in the Museum Collection of the East Tennessee Historical Society and provide a foundation for fulfilling the East Tennessee History Museum’s mission “to preserve, interpret and promote the history of East Tennessee’s 35 counties.” The Museum Collection is mainly comprised of artifacts of material culture that were made or used in the region or illustrate East Tennessee life and experience in a significant way. Great care is taken to ensure people of varied backgrounds and from many time periods are represented in the collection. Of particular importance in the Museum Collection are furniture and paintings from the decorative arts collection, quilts from the textiles collection, and Civil War artifacts from Union and Confederate armies that represent the “divided loyalties” that dominated East Tennessee.
Exhibits
Exhibits invite you to explore the region’s history and heritage. The East Tennessee History Museum’s core exhibit, Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee will take you on a journey through more than 300 years of life in East Tennessee. Additional exhibits include the East Tennessee Streetscape and changing exhibits installed in the Rogers-Claussen Feature Gallery that showcase special stories from East Tennessee’s past.
Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee
Artifacts, images and technology bring to life three centuries of East Tennessee history. Walk through time with the Cherokee and pioneers or learn about the divided loyalties of the Civil War. Other topics explored in Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee include the industrial growth, the women’s suffrage, the hillbilly stereotype, mountain crafts, African American contributions, the beginnings of country music, the upheaval of families relocated due to a national park, TVA lakes and the “Secret City” and Manhattan Project of World War II.
East Tennessee Streetscape
The East Tennessee Streetscape is an exhibit that offers visitors a true step back in time. Explore the Corner Drug Store or climb aboard Island Home-bound Streetcar No. 416.
Be sure to stop by the Museum Shop. A large selection of gift and history-related items including regional crafts, jewelry, logo and children’s items as well as a variety of books on East Tennessee and state history are available to purchase. Additionally you will find information on historical sites, museums and historical and genealogical organizations across the region.
Travel Tip
- The East Tennessee History Museum is ADA complaint.