The Metal Museum, formerly called the National Ornamental Metal Museum, is a museum in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

. Founded by artist-blacksmith James Wallace, the museum is devoted to exhibitions of

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

and public programs featuring

metalsmiths A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a ...

History

The Metal Museum was originally a hospital. The historic hospital first opened in 1884. This hospital's main use was treating civil war patients; however, it was also used as a scientific research center to explore cures for yellow fever. The hospial's grounds originally comprised six buildings: a stable, a surgeon's house, two wards, a nurse's building, and an executive building. Only the nurse's building and executive building remain in their most original forms. The rest were demolished by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program, in the 1930s. The two surviving buildings were moved with wagons and mules, while other buildings were added to the estate. In the 1960s the hospital closed. According to the museum's website the ownership was transferred to the City of Memphis by the Heritage and Conservation Act, which eventually led to the Metal Museum gaining the lease. Jim Wallace was hired to oversee the metals museum in about 1977. Since 1979, much work and money has gone into renovation to make the Metal Museum an interactive place for learning. About $2.5 million went into creating the blacksmith's shop, the Lawler Foundry; and the repair and restoration lab; constructing a gazebo; and restoring the library. Wallace led the museum for almost thirty years, and under his guidance the museum became a place for artist residencies, an official museum, and a library. He retired in 2007, after completing the renovations, to pursue his own work.

New home

In May 2022, the museum signed a lease on the site of the former

Memphis College of Art Memphis College of Art (MCA) was a private art college in Memphis, Tennessee. It was in Overton Park, adjacent to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It offered Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Art Education and Ma ...

.Ellis, Susan
''Metal Museum signs lease for Rust Hall on the site of the former Memphis College of Art's Rust Hall in Overton Park''
Memphis Business Journal, May 31, 2022.

Exhibits

National Ornamental Metal Museum Memphis TN

The museum has over 3,000 items in its permanent collection, and it hosts traveling exhibitions. There is also a working smithy and foundry on site. In addition to the displays of metalwork inside the museum, hands-on classes are available in the museum's workshops.

Repair Days

Every fall, the Metal Museum holds a Repair Days Weekend. During this event, volunteer

metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a ...

s from across the country repair virtually any sort of metal object while the public watches.

References

* "History , Metal Museum , Memphis, TN". ''metalmuseum''. Retrieved 2021-03-08. *Dellinger, M.
Forging its Own Future.
'

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' mag ...

, May 2006 (URL accessed 11 June 2006).

External links