News

Knoxville, TN –March 1, 2021

The East Tennessee Historical Society is pleased to announce an inaugural virtual fundraiser event, A Night at the Museum of East Tennessee History, which will air at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday evening, March 25, 2021.The event is presented in honor of retired Executive Director Cherel Bolin Henderson, for her leadership and service over a 33-year career. The 50minute, professionally produced event will feature interview segments highlighting ETHS achievements under Cherel’s leadership along with her stories from that journey. Features will include a “behind-the-...

Knoxville, Tenn. - Aug. 18, 2020. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote nationally, the East Tennessee Historical Society announces the opening of a new feature exhibition in the Museum of East Tennessee History’s Streetscape entitled Marching to Victory: East Tennessee’s Role in Votes for Women. The exhibition, which will run from August 18, 2020 through November 2020, tells the story of Tennessee’s history in politics and civic engagement and showcases how Tennessee became the “Perfect 36th” state needed to secure national ratification of the 19thAmendment to the U.S. Constitution. This...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 29, 2020 – “ETHS staff and board are very pleased to announce that the Museum of East Tennessee History is officially re-opened as of Saturday, August 1, 2020, which makes the East Tennessee History Center fully re-opened to the public,” said Executive Director Cherel Henderson.  “The Museum and all public programming at the History Center has been closed since March 23, 2020, as ETHS worked to do our part in helping keep our community as safe as possible from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) desires all to stay healthy and with our re-opening we continue to work to help...

Retiring Executive Director Cherel Henderson (left) and Dr. A. Warren Dockter, ETHS's New President and CEO (right)

Executive Director Cherel Bolin Henderson has announced her plans to retire from the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) effective December 31, 2020, reported ETHS Board Chairman Jerome Melson. Cherel, a Jefferson County native, joined the ETHS staff in 1987, was promoted to associate director in 1995, and became executive director in 2003. Over the past 17 years under Cherel's leadership, ETHS has continued to thrive and grow.

Cherel's many achievements are noteworthy. She is the...

A local group has launched a project to identify all veterans buried in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The project will span both Tennessee and North Carolina sides of the park. So far the group has identified one hundred sixty-three veterans spanning the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War, and both sides of the Civil War.

Of the one hundred sixty-three veterans buried in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the team has identified one hundred three buried in Tennessee: twenty-six in Blount County; thirty-eight in Sevier County; and, thirty-nine in Cocke County. And, in North Carolina there are sixty known veterans...

PROGRAM: Knoxville's 1919 Race Riot: An Eyewitness Account

DATE: 12:00 p.m., Thursday, March 12, 2020

LOCATION: East Tennessee History Center601 South Gay Street Knoxville, TN 37902

ADMISSION: FREE

 

(Knoxville, TN) In a Brown Bag lecture at noon on Thursday, March 12, author Marilyn Mascaro will share and discuss the recorded testimony of her grandfather who was an eyewitness to the Race Riot of 1919 in Knoxville.

On August 30, 1919, a sense of foreboding hung over the city as word spread of an unruly mob forming with the intent...

Lecture and Book-Signing with Tyler Boyd

WHAT: Tennessee Statesman Harry T. Burn: Woman Suffrage, Free Elections & a Life of Service | Featuring a Lecture and Book-Signing with Tyler Boyd presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society.

DATE: Sunday, March 15, 2020, at 2:00 p.m.

LOCATION: East Tennessee History Center 601 South Gay Street Knoxville, TN 37902

ADMISSION: FREE!

(Knoxville, Tenn.)–In a Sunday afternoon lecture on March 15 at 2 p.m. in the Auditorium of the East Tennessee History Center, Tennessee Statesman...

WHAT: Black & White: Knoxville in the Jim Crow Era a new feature exhibition at the Museum of East Tennessee History

DATE: Open February 14, 2020—June 14, 2020

LOCATION: East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay Street Knoxville, TN 37902

(Knoxville, TN) Knoxville occupies a unique place in the American South. Following the Civil War, residents felt it was one of the few racially tolerant cities in the region. Unlike most cities in the South, African Americans in Knoxville could vote, hold public office, serve as police officers, and sit on juries. Despite...

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