The East Tennessee Historical Society announces the 4th annual History Hootenanny, a celebration of East Tennessee history. History Hootenanny showcases the best of the East Tennessee History Center and its partners at this open house. This year’s theme is “Sports History” as we celebrate the feature exhibition, Home Runs & Home Teams: A History of the National Pastime in Tennessee. Guests can enjoy live music, sports-themed children’s activities, Knoxville walking tours, shuttles to the Historic House Museums of Knoxville, and more! History Hootenanny is a free public history event organized in partnership by the East Tennessee Historical Society, Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, and Tennessee Archive of Moving Image & Sound.

Featuring

• Mini lectures with local historians
• Music
• Children’s activities
• Walking tours
• Screenings from Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound at the Tennessee Theatre
• Self-guided tours of the Tennessee Theatre
• Shuttles to local museums
• Don’t miss a special screening of Clarence Brown’s Angels in the Outfield at the Tennessee Theatre!

History Hootenanny 2025 Schedule

All Day Events (10:00 am – 4:00 pm)

Museum of East Tennessee History

• Free admission all day
• Featuring the East Tennessee Streetscape, permanent exhibition Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee, and feature exhibition Home Runs & Home Teams.

Sports-Related Children’s Activities

• ETHS Trading Card Stations: From backyard tournaments to the Olympic Games, East Tennesseans have made their mark on sports history, showcasing their skill, determination teamwork, and taste for fun and games. As you tour the museum gallery, stop at five stations to learn about five types of sports in East Tennessee and earn collectible cards to keep.
• Sports themed children’s crafts and games

Calvin M. McClung Collection

• Revisit the glory days of local varsity teams while looking through a selection of year books dating back to the 1920s on the third floor in the Calvin M. McClung Collection.

The History Express (10 – 3)

• Location: Gay Street (in front of the East Tennessee History Center; the first History Express departs at 10:00 am. Last shuttles will run at 2:45 pm.)
• Route: Blount Mansion, James White’s Fort, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame,  Beck Cultural Exchange Center (10 am – 1pm), and  Mabry-Hazen House.

Regional Organization and Affiliate Booths

Timed Events

10:15 am Mini Lecture: Swinging Through History From Giants to Generations: Black Baseball Roots in Knoxville with Rev. Renee Kesler (30 min)

10:30 am Story Time: Children’s story time with special guest Joan Cronan

10:30am Walking Tour: 

• Bats, Balls, and Wheels – Long before UT went orange, Knoxville’s athletes ran, jumped, and rolled to excellence in all kinds of sports and games. Join Laura Still with Knoxville Walking Tours for a walk through downtown to learn more about the amateurs, professionals, contenders, and champions who played their way into history. This tour will meet at 10:30 am in front of the East Tennessee History Center and will last 75-90 minutes.

11:00 am Open House: Tennessee Theatre

11:15 am Mini Lecture: Women in UT Sports with Joan Cronan (30 min)

11:45 am Live Music: Wild Blue Yonder

12:00 pm Screening: TAMIS at Twenty (1 hour at Tennessee Theater)

12:15 pm Mini Lecture: Tennessee Women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Dean Novelli (30 min)

• For twelve seasons in the mid-20th century, eleven remarkable women from Tennessee were part of the first professional women’s baseball league in America. Hear the story of these pioneering women who broke social norms to play a game they loved and learn about the unusual circumstance that bought the league into existence creating this unique opportunity for women.

1:00 pm Open House: Tennessee Theatre

1:15 pm Mini Lecture: History of UT Baseball plus UT Athletic Sports with Bud Ford (30 min)

1:30 pm Story Time: Children’s story time

2:00 pm Screening: Home Runs and Home Teams (1 hour at Tennessee Theatre)

2:15 pm Mini Lecture: Society of Sidesaddle Storytellers with Anne Hatfield (30 min)

• Ride Like a Lady: Keeping the Sport of Sidesaddle Alive
  Sidesaddle riding has its origins as far back as medieval times and was primarily used as a way to help women maintain their purity and protect their ability to have children. But history is rarely simple. Some women perceived sidesaddle as a form of oppression as they were forced to conform to societal norms, while others saw it as a means to express themselves and found it empowering! This mini lecture will tell their stories and celebrate their courage, bravery, and skill!

3:00 pm Open House: Tennessee Theatre

3:00 pm Mini Lecture: The Trouble with Angels in the Outfield with Jack Neely (30 min)

• One of the strangest sports movies ever made–the original 1951 supernatural baseball fantasy film–had Knoxville fingerprints all over it, from the director to the reputed subject to one of the most memorable actors–and an unexpected epilogue.

4:00 pm Screening: Clarence Brown’s Angels in the Outfield (2 hours) with special introduction by House Organist Freddie Brabson on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ (at Tennessee Theatre)

Off-site Activities

Vintage Base Ball Double Header & Living History Day 

• Location: Historic Ramsey House
• Games times: 12:00 pm & 2:00 pm

Free Tours and Living History

• Location: Mabry Hazen House
• Living historians will be on-site to share the historic house and grounds. The museum will also exhibit objects, documents, and images connected to the site and Knoxville sports history.

Screening Descriptions

All shown at Tennessee Theatre

TAMIS at Twenty: The Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound celebrates twenty years of preserving East Tennessee’s rich audio-visual heritage. Join us for a special screening of a short documentary about TAMIS’s past, present and future, followed by a look at some highlights dug deep from the film and video vaults.

Home Runs and Home Teams: A collection of videos created in conjunction with the Museum of East Tennessee History’s current exhibit on the history of baseball in Tennessee, including a look at women’s baseball teams, Negro leagues and classic mid-century Knoxville Smokies footage from Bill Meyer stadium.

Clarence Brown’s Angels in the Outfield Knoxville native Clarence Brown directed this 1951 comedy starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, about a woman reporter who blames the Pittsburgh Pirates’ losing streak on their hotheaded manager, who begins hearing the voice of an angel promising to help the team if he changes his ways. The film features cameos by Bing Crosby and major league baseball greats Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio.