{{Short description|Metalwork museum in Memphis, Tennessee}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{one source|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox museum | name = Metal Museum | native_name = | native_name_lang = | logo = File:Metal Museum (Nashville) logo.png | logo_upright = | logo_alt = Black rectangle with white text | logo_caption = Slogan: Be the Spark | image = Staff Quarters E Memphis Marine Hospital 2022a.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Entrance to the museum | map_type = | map_relief = | map_size = | map_caption = | map_dot_label = | coordinates = {{coord|35.12328|-90.07495|format=dms|region:US-TN_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | former_name = <!-- or |former_names= --> | established = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | dissolved = <!-- {{end date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | location = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | type = | accreditation = | key_holdings = | collections = | collection_size = | visitors = | founder = National Ornamental Metal Museum 060523.jpg | executive_director = | leader_type = | leader = | director = | president = | ceo = | chairperson = | curator = | architect = | historian = | owner = | employees = | public_transit = | parking = <!-- or |car_park= --> | website = {{URL|www.metalmuseum.org}} | network = | embedded = <!-- or |nrhp= --> }} The '''Metal Museum''', formerly called the '''National Ornamental Metal Museum''', is a museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded by artist-blacksmith James Wallace, the museum is devoted to exhibitions of metalwork and public programs featuring metalsmiths.
==History==
=== Original location ===
==== Marine Hospital ==== left|thumb|The Metal Museum's exhibit space is housed in buildings that were formerly part of the Memphis U.S. Marine Hospital The Metal Museum was originally a hospital.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=History {{!}} Metal Museum {{!}} Memphis, TN|url=https://www.metalmuseum.org/history|access-date=2021-03-13|website=metalmuseum|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />
The hospital'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.<ref name=":0" />
==== Metal Museum ==== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Forging its Own Future|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/forging-its-own-future-116125315/|access-date=2021-04-18|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref> Since 1979, much work and money has gone into renovation to make the Metal Museum an interactive place for learning.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> He retired in 2007, after completing the renovations, to pursue his own work.<ref name=":0" />
===New home=== In May 2022, the museum signed a lease on the site of the former Memphis College of Art.<ref>Ellis, Susan. [https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2022/05/31/metal-museum-signs-lease-for-rust-hall.html ''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.</ref>
==Exhibits== thumb|Exhibit space in the museum in 2022 thumb|The museum's foundry and smithy in 2022 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 metalsmiths from across the country repair virtually any sort of metal object while the public watches.
==See also== * List of museums in Tennessee
==References== {{Reflist}} * "History | Metal Museum | Memphis, TN". ''metalmuseum''. Retrieved 2021-03-08. *Dellinger, M. ''[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/forging-its-own-future-116125315/ Forging its Own Future.]'' Smithsonian Magazine, May 2006 (URL accessed 11 June 2006).
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{Official website|www.metalmuseum.org}} *[http://www.metalmuseum.org/repair-days Repair Days Weekend]
{{U.S. Marine Hospitals}} {{Memphis, Tennessee}}
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Category:Museums in Memphis, Tennessee Category:Decorative arts museums in the United States Category:Art museums and galleries in Tennessee Category:United States Marine Hospitals Category:Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Category:Relocated buildings and structures in Tennessee Category:Hospitals established in 1884 Category:1884 establishments in Tennessee Category:Metalworking