Eight Days in Dayton: 100 Years of the Scopes Trial

Eight Days in Dayton: 100 Years of the Scopes Trial is a temporary display in the Museum's Corridor Gallery on the second floor featuring significant artifacts from the Tennessee State Museum's collection related to the trial. The Scopes Evolution Trial, formally "The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes," took place in Dayton, Tennessee as a challenge to the Butler Act, a law that made the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee schools illegal. Artifacts include the table where town leaders sat in Robinson’s Drug Store when planning the trial, textbooks related to the case, and a significant collection of original press photographs the Museum acquired in 2022.

Eight Days in Dayton is open through October 12, 2025. Be sure to also check out the online portion of the exhibition, which features the majority of our Scopes Collection artifacts. Learn more on the Museum's website.