From the Archives: Finding East Tennessee's Marble Story | A Brown Bag Lecture with Dr. Susan W. Knowles

"From the Archives: Finding East Tennessee’s Marble Story" is the subject of a lecture to be presented by Dr. Susan W. Knowles, Wednesday, December 7, at the East Tennessee History Center.

Her interest piqued by Tennessee marble she saw in the United States Capitol, Knowles set out to learn more about marble from the East Tennessee region and its use in buildings and monuments across the nation. The resulting research, images, and interviews became the subject of her doctoral dissertation and now form the basis of a feature exhibition Rock of Ages: East Tennessee’s Marble Industry, of which Knowles is the guest curator. 

East Tennessee marble is prized the world over. The exhibition explores the industry and offers a first-time look into the factors that launched the rock’s fame and crowned Knoxville as the Marble City. The beautiful exhibit features an array of artifacts, videos, and photographs showcasing the importance and diversity of East Tennessee’s marble industry. Lecture attendees are invited to tour the exhibition following the lecture

Susan W. Knowles is a graduate of the Public History program at MTSU, with an M.A. in Art History from Vanderbilt University, and a Master of Library Science degree from George Peabody College. She currently serves as the Digital Humanities Research Fellow for the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. Knowles served project curator for “Trials and Triumphs: Tennesseans’ Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity,” a website and digital collection on the “Jim Crow” era in Tennessee. She is currently overseeing the graduate research assistants at MTSU and coordinating building the “Southern Places” online research collections, which document more than thirty years of field work at the Center for Historic Preservation.

The program is sponsored by Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC and is and free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824.