Center for Appalachian Studies and Services

East Tennessee State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Services is a Tennessee Center of Excellence established in 1984 during the administration of Governor Lamar Alexander. The center supports research and artistic endeavors focusing on the Appalachian region, improves resources for research and education about the region, and provides programs of community service. Among the center’s outstanding components are the Carroll Reece Museum, which offers art and history exhibits representative of Appalachia, educational programs, and a permanent collection of over ten thousand artworks and artifacts, and the Archives of Appalachia, the nation’s premier Appalachian archive, with ten million manuscripts, 250,000 photographs, and over five thousand sound and moving image recordings from the region. In addition, the center administers the Appalachian-Scottish and Irish Studies Program, which includes international exchange with the University of Edinburgh and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, and publishes Now & Then, the Appalachian magazine. The center also offers the only program in the nation in bluegrass music at a four-year institution, a program that has produced a number of Grammy Award-winning alumni. The center is noted for its leadership in regional concerns and for its contribution to promoting understanding of the Appalachian region. Center staff have expertise in such diverse areas as dance heritage, regional health care, heritage tourism, sustainable economic development, Native American studies, and regional planning. The center’s Encyclopedia of Appalachia project, as well as work on regional bibliographies and atlases, make it a national and international resource on one of the nation’s most complex and interesting regions.