Atlanta History Center

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The Atlanta History Center is located in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of America's premier history museums.

The Atlanta History Museum was founded in 1926, and currently consists of 12 exhibits. There are also historic houses and gardens located on the grounds. The Kenan Research Center includes 3.5 million resources and a reproduction of historian Franklin Garrett's (1906-2000) office.

The Museum has one of the largest collections of civil war artifacts in the world, and the Swan House and Tullie Smith Farm are located there.

1 Exhibits
2 Historic House Museums
3 History
4 Criticisms
5 Visiting Information
6 Accesibility
7 External links

The Atlanta History Center operates are three types of exhibits - permanent, temporary, and traveling. There are six permanent exhibits,

The Centennial Olympic Museum is made up of 2 sections- the upper Sports Lab, accessible by elevator, in which you are able to test yourself against the Olympic records. There is also the main area, in which there are "artifacts" from the Olympics, and facts. One of the main attractions is the 12-part test, which allows you to test yourself on your Olympic knowledge, and then posts your score.

The Turning Point: The American Civil War exhibition contains 1,400 of the Atlanta History Center's enormous collection of Civil War artifacts.

The Metropolitan Frontiers exhibit chronicles Atlanta's expansion from farm to city in 4 stages- Rural Region, Transportation Center, Commercial City, and Suburban Metropolis.

The Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in a Changing South exhibit shows the development and attributes of Southern folk art, physical, oral, and musical.

The Down the Fairway with Bobby Jones exhibit is based on the life of Georgia's most famous golfer, Bobby Jones, and the Early development of golf in the United States.

The Phillip Trammell Shutze: Atlanta Classicist, Connoisseur, and Collector exhibit tells the story of Phillip Trammell Shutze, one Atlanta's foremost architechs, who was also known for his collections. A Phillip Trammell Shutze designed house, the Swan House, is also owned by the Atlanta History Center.

The current temporary exhibits are:

The Benjamin Franklin: In Search of A Better World exhibit tells the story of Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest scientists, inventors, and philanthropists in the United States.

The Ink to Paper exhibit shows the printing methods used to create pictures.

The Courage: The Vision to End Segregation, the Guts to Fight for It will open January 19th, 2008, and tells the story of the Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated schools.

The traveling exhibits include:

The Native Lands: Indians and Georgia is a traveling exhibition about Native Americans, from pre-European times to the present day.

The Power of the Press: the History of the Atlanta Daily World exhibit explains how many African-American Newspapers were founded, and how they helped fight segregation through the example of the Atlanta Daily World, a successful Atlanta newspaper that later spawned a chain of African-American Newspapers throughout the South-East..

The Success & Segregation: Black Leadership under Jim Crow is an exhibition about how blacks rose above the opression of the Jim Crow Laws.

The Kenan Research Center includes 3.5 million resources and a reproduction of historian Franklin Garrett's office.

The Tullie Smith Farm is an antebellum farm built by the Robert Smith family and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was origanaly a small farm with 11 slaves, comprising 200 acres. The farm was moved to the Atlanta History Center grounds in 1969, and it currently comprises the farm house, kitchen, blacksmith shop, smokehouse, double corncrib, log cabin, and barn, and several gardens. The barn contains several animals. The Tullie Smith Farm page on the Atlanta History Center website is located here.

The Victorian and Lee playhouses are miniature houses. The Lee playhouse is located between the McElreath Hall and the Tullie Smith Farm. It was donated to the Atlanta History Center in 1998. The Victorian playhouse is located beside the Boxwood Garden. It was donated to the Atlanta History Center in 1980, and has gone through 6 owners. The Playhouse page on the Atlanta History Center website is located here.

The Swan House, designed by Philip Trammell Shutze in the 1920s, is named for its many swan designs. It is surrounded by the Boxwood Garden, based upon Italian gardens as created in 18th century England by Lord Burlington and William Kent. The front lanscape, two cloverleaf fountains and a terraced lawn, is one of the most photographed places in America. The Swan House page on the Atlanta History Center website is located here

The historic gardens are located next to the historic houses. The Cherry Sims garden contains Asian and native south-eastern plants. The Frank A. Smith Rhododendron Garden and the Swan House Boxwood Garden feature native plants. The Quarry Garden features pre-settlement plants only. The Tullie Smith Farm Garden features plants used in 1860s gardening, and includes two parts: a field, filled with profitable vegetables, and a smaller slave's garden. The garden page on the Atlanta History Center website is located here.

The Atlanta History was founded in 1926 by 14 men, when it was known as the Atlanta Historical Society. It was lead by Walter McElreath (1867-1951) , who has McElreath Hall named after him. They collected arifacts and published bulletins, until 1986, when it received the DuBose Collection of Civil War artifacts, donated by Mrs. Beverly M. DuBose Jr. In 1989, the Society built the current museum to house the DuBose collection. In 1990, the Atlanta Historical Society was renamed the Atlanta History Museum. The 15 million dollar museum opened in 1993 with 5 exhibitions, including Metropolitan Frontiers. At the same time, a second, 11 million dollar expansion, finished in 1996, added two new permanent exhibits, Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in a Changing South and Turning Point: The American Civil War and a 220 car parking deck. Later, the library was expanded, the gardens were reorganized, and a fourth permanent exhibit was added- Down the Fairway with Bobby Jones. In 2006, the Centennial Olympic Museum was finished. The history page on the Atlanta History Center website is located here.

The Atlanta History Center is unable to display all of its arifacts in the current museum. The Chick-Fil-A Cafe is closed on Sundays, although the main museum is open. The Cafe also only serves Chick-Fil-A food brought from a nearby location, which limits the amount of menu options. The admission price is more expensive than several other Atlanta landmarks, such as the World of Coca-Cola and the Atlanta Cyclorama.[1]

Hours: Monday - Saturday: 10 AM - 5:30 PM Sunday: Noon - 5:30PM

The Chick-Fil-A Cafe is closed Sunday (every Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sunday, du to the religious beliefs of S. Truett Cathy, the Chick-Fil-A founder), and the Gardens close daily at 5:15PM. The Atlanta History Center is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day, and is open from NOON - 5:30PM on Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans' Day.

Kenan Research Center: Tuesday - Saturday: 10 AM - 5 PM Sunday - Monday: Closed McElreath Hall (Archives Gallery): Tuesday - Saturday: 10 AM - 5 PM Sunday - Monday: Closed

General admission includes the Atlanta History Museum, historic gardens and tours of the Swan House and Tullie Smith Farm.

Tickets are:

$15 for adults
$12 for seniors 65+ and students 13 and up
$10 for youths 4 to 12
Free for members and children under 3

Paved pathways through the historic gardens connect to the Swan House and the Tullie Smith Farm, but most paths are unpaved. Large-print books are available for a few exhibitions in the Atlanta History Museum and videos have subtitles. Maps are available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.