The Tusculum College Archives contain almost 7,000 books, more than 900 linear feet of documents, and over 200 artifacts that tell the story of Tennessee's oldest college.

A new exhibit at the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library on campus is sharing "Glimpses of Tusculum College," a peek into these extensive archives. The exhibit will be on display through the end of the year.

The "Glimpses of Tusculum College" exhibit features items spanning the college's 211-year history, including some of the oldest books in the school's original library, early scientific equipment, an 1855 map of the United States, and numerous photographs.

On display for the first time to the public are several items of scientific equipment used by Tusculum students in their classes, housed in a case that itself was in the science building for many years. Included are a steam sanitizer, an early amperage meter, and equipment used to train students following World War II to use radio equipment, including tubes.

Also on display for the first time is a telescope that is believed to have been owned by Dr. Landon "Daddy" Haynes, a beloved professor who taught at Tusculum 65 years following his graduation from the college in 1877. Haynes taught a number of different subjects during his tenure at Tusculum, including astronomy.

The exhibit also includes a melodeon used for chapel services in McCormick Hall, pennants of the debating societies on campus, and some of the earliest books from the college's library, including a volume of ecclesiastical history owned at one time by one of the great theologians of American Puritanism, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, and a copy of Pliny the Younger's "Natural History" printed in Venice, Italy, in 1487.

Some of the artifacts found in the archeological digs conducted on the Doak House Museum site on campus are on exhibit. Archeological field schools conducted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at the Doak House Museum for the past two years have unearthed a variety of items - from shards of imported dinnerware to slate pencils to foundations from what is believed to be the earliest student housing on the site.

Also included in the exhibit are a number of photos of the campus and student life, ranging from the 1870s through the 1960s.

In addition to the Tusculum archival exhibit, the museum is featuring a display of toys and games from the 19th Century, "Time for Play." This exhibit will be on display through July and has also been coordinated with the "Toys and Games of the 19th Century" educational program offered for school children at the Doak House Museum, also located on the Tusculum campus.

Please call (423) 636-7348 to check the hours of the museum on the Tusculum campus. The museum is generally open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, but observes college holidays and block breaks.

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