Check out what’s happening at the Doak House Museum and the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library.
A happy, tired group of museum studies students pause to pose with Dr. Noll during their day of service. Pictured above with their professor: Tynan Shadle, Erika Allison, Maggie Brown, Corrinne Moore, Samantha Eldridge, Paul Johnston, Katherine Dooly, Chad Rogers, and Matthew Moyer.
May 2013
Near the end of the academic year, nine students in the Architecture and Historic Preservation course took part in a work day at the Architectural Salvage Warehouse in Jonesborough, TN. The salvage warehouse serves as a repository of architectural material that aids in the preservation of east Tennessee’s built environment. The students worked hard throughout the day assisting in the organization of doors, windows, and interior millwork. Students also fabricated storage racks for wood flooring and dividers for more than one hundred doors in the Warehouse’s inventory. The Warehouse is staffed by volunteers and the assistance of Tusculum students was a great benefit in their ongoing efforts.
April 30, 2013
At the Tennessee Association of Museum’s annual conference, March 20-22, the Museums of Tusculum College received an Award of Commendation for the Civil War Ball, “Heritage and Hoopskirts” and an Award of Excellence for the exhibit “Scholars then Soldiers: Tusculum College and the American Civil War.”
At “Heritage and Hoopskirts,” the Doak House Museum partnered with the 1860s Living History and Dance Society to demonstrate dances of the period and taught the dances to the audience. Olde Towne Brass, a group of professional musicians who perform in the manner of early American and Civil War bands, provided the music for “Heritage and Hoopskirts.”
This event was a part of the 2012 Greene County History Week and was made possible by a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Builds Communities program, which receives funds through the sales of specialty license plates.
The new “Scholars then Soldiers: Tusculum College and the American Civil War” exhibit at the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library received an Award of Excellence. The student-created exhibit features information about the 19 alumni who fought during the war and the effect that the Civil War had on Tusculum College, including the merger with Greeneville College that had most of its assets destroyed due to the conflicts.
The exhibit will be on display through the remainder of the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2015. The awards committee was very impressed with the quality of work and the involvement of Museum Studies students in this exhibit.
April 2013
May will bring the graduation of a bumper crop of future museum professionals. Samantha Bolen, Amanda Clampitt, Clare McBeth, Tom Salinas, and Sandy Salmons will extend a white glove to receive their hard-earned diplomas in just a few weeks. The Museum Program and staff at the campus museums wish this fine group all the luck in the world, but we’re sad to see them go and would keep them a while longer if we could!
Those students with graduation still on their horizon are working hard in the Architecture and Historic Preservation course. As part of the course, students will be performing some service learning at the Architectural Salvage Warehouse in Jonesborough where they will help organize and inventory windows, doors, and various other building parts. The course is being highlighted by a field trip to Old Salem Museum in Winston-Salem.
Over the course of the year, Samantha Bolen, Claire McBeth, Emily Shipsey and Corrinne Moore have been working on a unique project that combines historic photographs of Tusculum College with contemporary views of the College. The thought provoking results highlight the dramatic changes that have happened to the campus (and its students) over time. The exhibit, Time Crunched: Shifting Space and Time at Tusculum College, will appear both online and in print media in the near future.
April 22, 2013
Simon Appleford, associate director for Humanities, Arts, and Sciences at the Clemson Cyberinstitute (Clemson University), will be delivering a presentation, “Historians and Technology” on Monday, April 29, at 3:45 p.m. in Garland Library, Room105.
Appleford, who is also an adjunct lecturer in history, will lead a discussion on innovative ways scholars are using technology to make history.
The event is presented by the Tusculum College Department of History and Museum Studies.
August 2012
The upcoming academic year promises to be a busy one for the Museum Studies Program. We are excited to welcome six Museum Studies students to Tusculum! The new students will be part of a record setting introductory course that will strain the capacity of the classroom at Old College-what a great problem to have!
In addition to the usual schedule of coursework, this year, students will take a new course entitled: Introduction to American Material Culture. The course will require students to use material objects in the telling of American history and introduce the principles of connoisseurship.
This year will also see the inauguration of a new Museum Studies Club. One of the chief purposes of the club is to provide service to local institutions and agencies. As such, the officers are already planning weekend service trips to the local museum community.
Planning has begun for the next exhibit project at The President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library. Students will begin fundraising efforts for a new exhibit that, among other things, explores how opinions on Johnson’s presidency have changed over time. Most contemporary textbook authors do not give a favorable impression of the Johnson administration, but this was not always the case. The new exhibit will explore how changes in American society are reflected in the scholarly treatment of Johnson’s presidency.
Students will also work on a temporary exhibit that features historical images of Tusculum College digitally combined with modern images of the same subject. The project will rely on the photographic collections at the museum and include not only the college’s distant past, but also the more recent decades within the memory of recent alumni.
2012/13 is shaping up to be a busy year – welcome back students!