Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium
Encyclopedia
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, serves as the Mid-South's major science and historical museum, and features exhibits ranging from archeology to chemistry. Over 240,000 visitors are counted in the museum each year.
The museum is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums
Pink Palace Family of Museums
The Pink Palace Family of Museums is a group of museums maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Pink Palace Family of Museums display collections of historic, educational and technological significance....
, a collection of historic, educational, and technological attractions maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Lichterman Nature Center
Lichterman Nature Center
Lichterman Nature Center, a certified arboretum, and a nature center, is located in East Memphis, Tennessee. It has many outdoor and indoor exhibits, activities, and events...
, the first accredited nature center in the United States, is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, as well as the Coon Creek Science Center, an education center which is open to organized groups and features a fossil site.
The Mallory-Neely House
Mallory-Neely House
The Mallory-Neely House is a historic residence on 652 Adams Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It is located in the Victorian Village district of Memphis.-History:...
and Magevney House
Magevney House
The Magevney House is a historic residence on 198 Adams Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It is located in the Victorian Village of Memphis. It is one of the oldest residences remaining in Memphis.-History:...
are also part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, but are currently closed due to city budget constraints. The Mallory-Neely House is a three-story Italianate Victorian mansion built in 1852, and features 25 rooms and most of its original furnishings. The Magevney House, an 1830s cottage furnished as it might have been in 1850, is one of the city's oldest remaining residences.
The Sharpe Planetarium features 165-seat theater-in-the-round auditorium and offers public shows that project star fields, visual images, and laser lights on a domed ceiling. The Crew Training International IMAX Theater opened on January 21, 1995 and features a four-story high movable screen. The Pink Palace Museum, the Sharpe Planetarium and the Crew Training International IMAX Theater are accredited members of the American Association of Museums
American Association of Museums
The American Association of Museums is a non-profit association that has brought museums together since its founding in 1906, helping develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and advocating on issues of concern to the museum community...
.
Pink Palace Mansion
The headquarters for the Pink Palace Family of Museums is covered in pink Georgian marble, and was given to the city of Memphis in the late 1920s because of financial troubles of its owner, Clarence Saunders, the founder of Piggly WigglyPiggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly is a supermarket chain operating in the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire....
. Saunders built the Pink Palace mansion as his own residence in 1923, but lost the home because of financial reversals on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. The Pink Palace Mansion opened as the Memphis Museum of Natural History and Industrial Arts in March 1930. The original exhibits featured stuffed animals and birds, dolls, anthropological items from local wealthy collectors and items related to Memphis' history, such as Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
military uniform
Military uniform
Military uniforms comprises standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and military styles have gone through great changes over the centuries from colourful and elaborate to extremely utilitarian...
s and memorabilia.
Exhibits
The Pink Palace contains a variety of exhibits relating to Memphis history. One exhibit features a replica of the original Piggly WigglyPiggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly is a supermarket chain operating in the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire....
store, the first self-service grocery store, commemorating the invention of the supermarket by Memphian Clarence Saunders in 1916. Other permanent exhibits include 15th century Native American pottery, pre-Columbian artifacts, Clyde Parke's Miniature Circus, fossils and dinosaurs, and mounted animals. History exhibits focus on the roles of music and cotton on Memphis, World War I and II, the changing roles of women, historic black Memphians, and a living room decorated from the 1920s. The museum features several special exhibits each year.
Murals
The original main entrance lobby of the Pink Palace features a three-panel mural by Memphis artist Burton Callicott. The murals commemorate the discovery of the Mississippi River near the site of Memphis by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de SotoHernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
and his men and their encounters with Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. The three murals were commissioned in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA). Callicott, who died in 2004, taught at the Memphis College of Art
Memphis College of Art
Memphis College of Art, known before 1985 as the Memphis Academy of Arts, is a small, private college of art and design located in Memphis, Tennessee's Overton Park adjacent to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Art Education...
.