The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Tennessee
“Looking into the faces of those
people in the portraits is a compelling link to the past,
especially to precious windows into Tennessee’s history.
Taken as a whole, however, the project is documenting a much
deeper facet of experience–the desire, and perhaps even the need,
always to stay connected. That is to say that what we are ultimately
doing is learning and preserving more about what it is to be human.”
– F. Lynne Bachleda,
Former Research Coordinator
Tennessee Portrait Project
The Project
The Tennessee Portrait Project is an outgrowth of an intensive effort by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Tennessee to catalogue as many portraits as possible, of Tennessean subjects or of those significant to Tennessee, from private collections or institutions. Please note that while the subject and/or artist must be significant to Tennessee, the portrait can be from any location including outside the state of Tennessee.
This is a living site, and we encourage comments, corrections, amplifications, and anything else that might assist in making the entries more accurate and more complete. Many corrections have already been made since the site’s inception in 2003, and we anticipate further modifications as we add to our collection.
Additionally, we welcome and appreciate any input and help in identifying the subjects or the artists for some of the unidentified portrait submissions. To submit your feedback, click here.
Portrait Submissions
We would like to encourage additional submissions and have provided a variety of forms to assist in getting information to the site. If you have questions regarding submissions, please contact us at info@tnportraits.org for assistance.