Museum and Outreach Programs

A variety of options are available for curriculum-aligned school museum and outreach programs.

At the Museum of East Tennessee History, the 2008-2009 school year offers tours and hands-on programs of temporary museum exhibits and the permanent streetscape exhibit which features a recreated drug store and restored streetcar.

ETHS offers interactive classroom outreach programs as well. They address many areas of the social studies curriculum and there are options for all grade levels.  Spring 2008 saw the opening of the new "Voices of the Land" signature exhibit.

Each program below is customized to the curriculum objectives for the grades served:

Everyday Expressions--Early Tennessee People and Culture
"Everyday Expressions" is an interactive exploration of the ways in which European, African, and Cherokee cultures blended to create the folkways and styles of early nineteenth century Tennessee. Students will understand how today's culture is rooted in the traditions of the groups who settled the state.

Objects Over Time--Timeline Overview
The group helps to construct a table top timeline of objects illustrating the history of East Tennessee. Everyone gets to handle this unusual collection of assorted objects (18th-century pipe, 19th-century rug beater, 20th-century 45 rpm record) representing life in East Tennessee over the past 200 years.     learn more...

Discovery Boxes-- Tennessee Settlement and Culture
Students unravel the mysterious identities of historic characters by collecting clues from these eight discovery boxes. Objects belonging to a slave, a frontier farmer, a long hunter, a Cherokee woman, and others, are carefully packed for students to handle, examine, and identify.     learn more...

Brother Against Brother?Civil War Debate
East Tennessee was fiercely divided over the Civil War. Although strongly Unionist, the region also contained a large pro-secession minority.     learn more...

Programs which teach skills in using primary documents:

In Their Own Words?Slavery in East Tennessee
How do we know that slavery existed in East Tennessee? How can we document the stories of African-American slaves in the region?     learn more...

History Detectives?Family History and Tennessee Heroes
(intermediate grades)
Students "dig" through documents and photographs for clues, peer through magnifying glasses, and calculate dates and ages of historic characters. This is an introduction to primary source and family history research.     learn more...

Each program above can be conducted in the classroom by ETHS staff, or at the museum during a visit. Each classroom program requires 45 minutes unless otherwise noted. Fees are $3.00 per student, with scholarships provided for students on fee waiver.

Family History Classroom Resources
We also have a number of resources available for teachers to use in their classroom to introduce the concepts of family history (genealogy) research and oral history.     learn more...

Field Trips
Education programs at the museum can be scheduled Monday through Friday. We can schedule tours from 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Other times are available upon request. For outreach programs, we can begin at 8:30 a.m. Program fees can be paid at the time of the visit. If an invoice is required, let us know when making reservation.

Location of the East Tennesee History Center
601 South Gay Street at the corner of Gay and Clinch Avenue, directly across from the Tennessee Theater in downtown Knoxville. The East Tennessee History Center houses the East Tennessee Historical Society, The Knox County Archives, and the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Contact the East Tennessee Historical Society education staff to arrange tours or research visits to the archives or the McClung Collection.

Teachers
For your convenience, click here  to download a copy of the ETHS Field Trip Risk Assessment form for your records.