Grammy-winning artist Marty Stuart has donated his personal collection of more than 22,000 items to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Stuart owned the largest private collection of country music artifacts in the world, including items from Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
"When I look at this, I see old friends, first of all, and I see an incredibly important piece of American culture," Stuart told the TODAY Show. "But behind everything I see here, is a story."
Stuart, 65, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2020.
Included in the 22,000 items new to the museum is an essay an 11-year-old Stuart wrote as a school assignment. It read, "A musician is what I have been wanting to be. That is my true goal for life, and I hope to accomplish this goal and do it well because music will be my love forever."
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct.