East Tennessee History Center Wins Nine Awards at Statewide Conference
The East Tennessee History Center (ETHC) was the recipient of nine awards at the recent Tennessee Association of Museums (TAM) Annual Conference. The TAM Awards ceremony was held at the Knoxville Museum of Art in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the evening of March 13, 2025. TAM Awards were presented to museums across the state for exceptional projects, programs, and events held during 2024.
The following ETHC projects, developed in partnership between the East Tennessee Historical Society and Knox County Public Library, were presented with TAM Awards of Excellence:
- TAM Award of Excellence–Temporary Exhibition: They Sang What They Lived: The Story of Carl and Pearl Butler
- TAM Award of Excellence–Publication: Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee, 1800-1900
- TAM Award of Excellence–Special Recognition: Discover Your Story: ETHC Exterior Improvement Project
- TAM Award of Excellence–Digital Media: eastTNhistory.org Website Redesign
- TAM Award of Excellence–Public Programming: WETN Radio
- TAM Award of Excellence–Special Event: Over There: Tennessee and Her Allies in World War II
In addition, ETHC received three special TAM Awards:
- TAM Award of Excellence–Volunteerism: In recognition of Cara Lusk who, in 2024, volunteered more than 600 hours scanning and photographing materials from the museum’s collection
- TAM Award of Excellence–Community Support: This award is given to projects that strongly impact the community; it recognizes MIA: Museums Increasing Accessibility, a web-based platform that assists low- and non-sighted museum guests. Developed by Girl Scout Mia Warren and ETHC team members, MIA was doubly recognized, as it was also nominated for the 2025 TAM Presidents Award, the state’s highest honor for museum-based projects.
- The Spirit of TAM Award: This award recognizes special creativity in Tennessee museums; it was bestowed on Discover Your Story: ETHC Exterior Improvement Project, making the project doubly recognized for its achievements in creative conceptualization, design, and impact.
About TAM Awards:
The purpose of the TAM Awards program is to recognize, encourage, and promote excellence within the activities of the Tennessee museum community. Nominations were made by museum staff and individuals and sent to their regional representative in December 2024. Each entry was presented to the TAM Awards Committee, which is composed of a chairperson, seven regional representatives, and three at-large members. Nominations were evaluated on creativity, originality, resourcefulness, success, support of the museum’s mission statement, and utilization of staff and volunteers. Award categories include permanent, temporary, blockbuster and traveling exhibits; educational school and public programming; special events; publications; digital media; audio visual; special recognition; and volunteerism.
“This year we presented 99 awards, representing 36 museums, including six awards recognizing Emerging Museum Professionals, five awards recognizing outstanding volunteerism, and our overall winner of the TAM President’s Award, chosen by the past presidents of TAM, which this year was presented to the Metal Museum in Memphis,” stated Tori Mason, Historic Site Manager at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, who serves as the chair of the TAM Awards Committee. “Once again, Tennessee museums showed their creativity, resourcefulness, commitment and heart, while providing outstanding programs and opportunities for their audiences. Tennessee is fortunate to have so many excellent museums and historic sites that are committed to providing exceptional exhibitions, events and educational programming for visitors to enjoy.”
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Radio Roundup
The streetscape here at the Museum of East Tennessee History has undergone some changes and gained a few new additions to showcase. In particular, the three cases to the left of Trolly 416 are now inhabited by artifacts that give a glimpse into the rich history of radio in Tennessee.