Museum staff have begun a project that involves the redevelopment of the permanent exhibit gallery and the creation of tools to make teaching this region’s history more interesting and fun.  This project is in direct response to the needs of teachers and students for museum experiences that relate to Texas’ recently revised education guidelines. 

A curriculum guide writer has been hired to work with museum staff to develop a reinstallation of the permanent exhibit gallery of the museum and to create materials to support the new exhibit for our guests.  An exhibition script is being developed that will use artifacts and documents from the museum collections to highlight key periods of our region’s history.  A new curriculum guide will provide educators with materials to supplement their classroom texts and give students the tools to better understand the rich and diverse history of the state.  Pre- and post-visit materials (as well as evaluation forms for teachers) are being developed along with worksheets to guide their on-site experience.  These materials will be made available free of charge on our redesigned website.

Didactic and object labels are being written for the exhibits with alternate items and thematic/seasonal rotations prepared so that different artifacts and different facets of the historic narrative can be covered while providing for the long term care of the objects (as long-term exposure can harm many items).  Increased artifact rotation will also result in unique experiences for our guests who visit more frequently.  Significant portions of the label text will be translated into Spanish.  This project is scheduled to be fully implemented by January 2013.

This project is made possible through funding from:

The Gordon A. Cain Foundation

The Margaret and James A. Elkins Jr. Foundation

The Fondren Foundation

Union Pacific Foundation