John Rice Irwin is an American cultural historian, and founder of the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee. Rice was born in Union County, Tennessee, but while still an infant his family moved twice, and would eventually permanently reside on a farm near Norris, Tennessee. He served in the US Army infantry in the early 1940s, and later would complete his bachelor's degree at Lincoln Memorial University. He also earned his master's degree at the University of Tennessee. He married Elizabeth McDaniel in 1954, and the couple subsequently had two children. His wife died in 2008. He currently lives at Meadowview Senior Living Center. He became the youngest superintendent of schools in Tennessee in the early 1960s. His interest in history began at an early age, and was inspired by his grandparents to start a museum. He founded the Museum of Appalachia in 1968, and has since grown significantly in both its size and number of visitors. He has been awarded several accolades and awards, and has eight different published books.
Biography
John Rice Irwin was born on December 11, 1930 in Union County, Tennessee. While he was an infant, Irwin and his family were forced to move because their land would be appropriated and flooded for the Norris Dam. After settling on another farm near Clinton, Tennessee, they were again forced to move for the development of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the early 1940s. They finally moved to a farm near Norris, Tennessee, where he would stay until he was 18. There, Irwin and his brother were taught how to farm, hunt, fish, and trap animals. In the late 1940s, Irwin served in the US Army infantry. He completed his bachelor's degree at Lincoln Memorial University with majors in history and economics. He earned his master's degree in international law at the University of Tennessee. At the age of 31, he was elected superintendent of schools in Anderson County, Tennessee, becoming the youngest superintendent in Tennessee. Irwin was also good friends with writer Alex Haley, and inspired one of Haley's writings with his museum. He and his deceased wife, Elizabeth McDaniel, have had two children: Elaine Meyer and Karen Erickson, and three grandchildren: Linsey Meyer, John Rice Irwin Meyer, and Will Meyer. In August 2009, he announced that he was leaving his position as owner of the museum. In an interview on August 28, 2009, Irwin stated: He currently lives at Norris Health and Rehab Center.
Museum of Appalachia
Irwin's interest in human history was provoked by his grandparents' stories. His grandfather once advised him, "You ought to keep these old-timey things that belonged to our people and start you a little museum sometime." Eventually in the 1960s he took that advice to heart. At a public auction in the early 1960s, he realized that the sales transactions were separating the artifacts of the past from the stories that his grandparents told. A person attending the sale told him that he was going to make a coffee table from the old spinning wheel he had just purchased. Irwin said of this conversation, "I just plain hated the idea of that object being hauled to Terre Haute or Dayton and made into a table completely removed from the context of the region, and from the people who made it and used it." Meanwhile, he spent $4 at the auction to buy an old horse shoeing box that had been found in the Clinch River in the aftermath of the deadly Big Barren CreekFlood of 1916. In later years, he said that he bought it not for its value as an antique, but for the history it embodied. His collection grew from that beginning, as he began to travel around the countryside to find and "save the past" in the form of artifacts. In 1968, Irwin founded the Museum of Appalachia to house and display his growing collection. By 1980, the museum had grown so large that Irwin left his position as director of the Tennessee Appalachia Education Cooperative to devote all of his time to the museum. Although the museum started as only a small log building, as of 2010, it has grown to a village-farm complex, comprehending more than 35 original mountain structures, two large display buildings containing thousands of Appalachian artifacts, farm animals, and several gardens. The museum was converted to a non-profit organization in 2003 and in May 2007, the museum announced its formal association with the Smithsonian Institution's Affiliations Program.
Legacy and accolades
John Rice Irwin is generally known as the founder of the Museum of Appalachia. He is also the author of seven nationally and internationally distributed books. He has lectured on the subject on Appalachian history throughout the eastern United States. In 1989, Irwin was one of 29 MacArthur Fellows Program, which provides "extraordinary talented individuals." He was honored by the East Tennessee Historical Society in 1992 as one of nine East Tennesseans "whose accomplishments have distinguished them far beyond East Tennessee," and in 1993, he was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Cumberland College. In 1994, he was inducted into the Junior Achievement of East Tennessee's Business Hall of Fame. Six years later in 2000, he was the recipient of the annual Outstanding Educational Service to Appalachia Award. He is the 2008 recipient of the Trailblazer Award, and in 2009 was named the Anderson Country Hall of Fame.
