Objects

Public Chapter 15 of the Public Acts of 1941 created the Tennessee State Guard. An earlier state guard existed during the Reconstruction era but had lapsed. State officials resurrected the concept of a state guard as part of their home-front…

The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) collects and preserves books and records of historical, documentary, and reference value and encourages and promotes library development throughout the state. It is the state agency responsible for preserving materials which document Tennessee's…

The Tennessee State Museum is devoted to collecting, preserving, and interpreting objects related to the history and culture of Tennessee. These items generally are conserved and displayed at the museum's main facility at the James K. Polk Center in downtown…

Interest in the construction of a penitentiary dates back to 1815, when a state Senate committee recommended construction of the structure using funds obtained through public subscription. This effort failed, and political infighting in the general assembly over the penitentiary…

Tennessee is divided into thirty-three state senatorial districts from which the members of the upper house of the Tennessee General Assembly are elected. Senators serve four-year terms, with those from even-numbered districts being elected in the same general election, and…

Tennessee is particularly rich in official state symbols. As of 1998 the list includes the flag, capitol and seal, two birds, two flowers, two fish, two rocks, two trees, eight songs, a poem, four insects, a reptile, an amphibian, a…

Opened in 1912, Tennessee State University (TSU) has become one of Tennessee's most recognized public higher education institutions, both nationally and internationally. Its athletes, including Ralph Boston, Wyomia Tyus, and Wilma G. Rudolph, have won twenty-nine medals in the Olympic…

Tennessee's first constitution did not create a state supreme court. The Constitution of 1796 provided only for "such superior and inferior courts" as the legislature should create, with the judges to be elected by the general assembly to serve "during…

In 1915, following an intense lobbying effort on the part of Putnam County's state representatives, the general assembly chartered Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (TPI), located on the grounds of Dixie College in Cookeville. Established in 1909 by the Church of Christ,…

Previously established in Houston, Texas, as the Houston Oilers, the Tennessee Titans, the first National Football League (NFL) team to be based in Tennessee, secured a move to Nashville in 1996 after reaching an agreement with the city that included,…

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is an independent public corporation founded by Congress in 1933 to control flooding, improve navigation, assist farmers, provide cheap electric power, and make "surveys of and general plans for [the Tennessee River] basin and adjoining…

The Tennessee Vocational School for Colored Girls opened in Nashville on October 9, 1923. Prior to its opening, the state confined African American girls who needed correctional services in institutions with convicted adults. In opposition to this practice, Frankie Pierce,…

The institution now known as Tennessee Wesleyan College was established in 1857, when the Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South acquired the property of the Athens Female College, chartered in 1854 by the Order of Odd Fellows. The…