The earliest known museum in Tennessee dates to 1817 when a portrait artist,
Ralph E. W. Earl, opened a museum at the public square of Nashville. The state museum opened in 1937 in the
War Memorial Building, after being authorized by the General Assembly. It decided that the state needed a museum to deal with various collections from the state and mementos from
World War I. Most of the museum operations moved to the James K. Polk Building in 1981, which it shared with the
Tennessee Performing Arts Center through May 2018. The museum in the Polk Building exhibited a variety of paintings, silver, weapons, and furniture. Larger exhibits included reproductions of a historic print shop, a painting gallery, and a
grist mill. The state museum featured a museum store offering handmade crafts, jewelry, and Tennessee memorabilia. The Military Museum, focused on overseas wars, is still housed in the War Memorial Building across the street. Its exhibits range from Tennessee participation in the early battles of the
Spanish–American War to World War II. The new Tennessee State Museum opened in October 2018 at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill by the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. 137,000-square-foot facility is one of the largest in the nation. The museum also owns the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee, part of the non-profit, privately owned museum complex of the
National Civil Rights Museum. It leases the motel to the Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum Foundation on a long-term basis to be operated as part of the museum complex. Under the terms of its 20-year lease made in 2007, the Tennessee State Museum reserves responsibility for major maintenance of the Lorraine Motel. The Foundation owns and operates the other buildings and properties associated with the complex. Certain parts of the motel have been preserved for their historic aspects related to the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. ==References==