New board members praise 'rock star' Andrew Jackson

• The museum is gearing up for the Jan. 8 opening of a new exhibit called "Andrew Jackson%3A Born for a Storm."

Andrew and Michael Jackson don't have much in common besides a last name, but in his own day and time, the former president was what we would now call an A-list celebrity.

"He was a rock star in the 1800s, a dashing military commander," said Charles Overby, one of four new board members of the Andrew Jackson Foundation, caretaker of the former president's legacy. "He's really moved off the radar screen for most people. We have the ability to put him front and center."

Overby and other board members are focused on an important goal: explaining Jackson's relevance to modern-day life.

For Overby that means expanding use of multimedia tools at The Hermitage, the 1,120-acre Nashville estate where Jackson lived, to give visitors more ways to connect with the past.

Overby, the former CEO of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., is among four new members of the board of the the Andrew Jackson Foundation, the nonprofit entity that owns The Hermitage. The others are Mara Liasson, NPR national political correspondent; Jon Meacham a Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and Robert McDonald, president and CEO of CedarStone Bank in Lebanon.

The new members had their first board meeting Friday. During the meeting, descendants of John Donelson, the brother of Jackson's wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson, donated a rare collection of family letters and a wine glass dating back to 1825 in the Jackson family to the museum.

The museum is gearing up for the Jan. 8 opening of a new exhibit called "Andrew Jackson: Born for a Storm." The exhibit will coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, which ended military action in the War of 1812. The battle helped catapult Jackson to national prominence; he became president in 1829.

Visitors will be able to watch a digital re-creation of the battle.

"We're really focused on engaging people of all ages, making this a tactile and three-dimensional experience," said Howard J. Kittell, president and CEO of The Hermitage.

Overby said he would love to see the museum expand its use of technology, such as touch screens, to bring Jackson's story to life.

"I hope to work with the very talented staff here to make Andrew Jackson a relevant figure to people in the 21st century," Overby said.

Reach Ann Zaniewski at azaniewski@gannett.com.