Ava Gardner Museum

The Ava Gardner Museum is a museum dedicated to American actress Ava Gardner. Located in downtown Smithfield, North Carolina, the museum holds an extensive collection of artifacts from Gardner's career and private life.^[1] The museum usually attracts 7,000 visitors a year.^[2]

Ava Gardner Museum

Location within North Carolina
Established	1941
Location	Smithfield, North Carolina, U.S.
Type	Biographical museum
Website	www.johnstoncountync.org/ava-gardner

History

The original collection was started in 1941 by a fan, Thomas "Tom" Banks, who at age 12 met Ava on the campus of Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), where she was studying to become a secretary. When she did not return to school the next year, he saw a photograph of Gardner in a newspaper and learned that she had been signed to a movie contract with MGM.^[1]

Banks and his wife, Lorraine, collected memorabilia and artifacts related to Gardner. In the early 1980s, Dr. Banks purchased the Brogden Teacherage building, the house where Ava lived from ages 2 to 13.^[1]

Following Thomas Banks' death in 1989, Lorraine Banks donated the museum's collection to the town of Smithfield. In 1999, the museum purchased its current home, a renovated 6,400 square foot building in downtown Smithfield.^[1]

In 2020, the building experienced a flood due to a broken toilet. None of the collections were damaged, but repairs required the museum to close for a few weeks.^[2]