Metal Museum

Entrance to the museum
Location	Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Coordinates	35°07′24″N 90°04′30″W / 35.12328°N 90.07495°W / 35.12328; -90.07495
Founder	National Ornamental Metal Museum 060523.jpg
Website	www.metalmuseum.org

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

The Metal Museum was originally a hospital.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[1]

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.^[2] Since 1979, much work and money has gone into renovation to make the Metal Museum an interactive place for learning.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1] He retired in 2007, after completing the renovations, to pursue his own work.^[1]

New home

In May 2022, the museum signed a lease on the site of the former Memphis College of Art.^[3]

Exhibits

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.