The Museum's historical collection serves to preserve the story of the settlement of Johnson City, Washington County, and the surrounding region. Objects from everyday life illuminate for us the lifestyles of our forebears.

Since its inception as a classroom history project, the collection has been developed primarily through donation. Significant East Tennessee pieces include an anvil used by early settler William Bean, a log cabin from the Jonesborough area, a buggy from the Bob and Alf Taylor family, and a Washington Hand Press from the Pressman's Home in Rogersville.

To see portraits from our collections, visit the Tennessee Portrait Project web site sponsored by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee (NSCDA-TN). This project documents portraits in the state of Tennessee of residents and non-Tennesseans.