Welcome to the sixth episode of our special series Curating Tennessee: 1776-2076! We're speaking with Rachel Helvering, the Executive Director of the President James K. Polk Home and Museum in Columbia, Tennessee. You'll hear Rachel discuss a portrait that represents President Polk's ideas about creating a more perfect union, and we'll imagine what type of future artifact could show Polk's legacy in the future.

This episode is part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

In this bonus episode, Adam Velk speculates about artifacts that he thinks may have been inconceivable to some of America's Founding Fathers.

This episode is part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

For the fifth episode of our special series Curating Tennessee, 1776-2076, we're speaking with Adam Velk, the Museum Director of the Green-McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton, Tennessee. You'll hear Adam talk about two artifacts related to school desegregation in Anderson County, discuss plans for a new exhibit about the history of school integration around the county, and imagine what future statistics around teacher hiring could be.

This episode is part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.