About The Exhibits
The exhibits at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum tell the "Story of Texas" using more than 700 artifacts, 17 media and interactive experiences and three floors of diverse exhibit space covering 34,000 square feet. The PRD Group, Ltd. designed the exhibits with media design assistance and production from Pyramid Studios. The exhibits were installed by Design Craftsmen, Inc. The Museum's dramatic, three-story central exhibit atrium features a circa 1940 AT-6 "Texan" airplane, a full-scale windmill, the Capitol's original Goddess of Liberty and a vintage "Texas" theater sign. Featuring the best objects from around the state, the Museum highlights enduring themes in Texas history on each floor.
The first floor explores "Encounters on the Land" -- stories about people interacting with the land and with each other. Large-scale, digitally produced photo murals depict the many different regions of Texas and set the scene for exhibits on Native Peoples, European explorers, Spanish colonization, immigration and westward expansion. An amazing 11x33-foot photo mural of the Gulf Coast provides a backdrop for artifacts recently recovered from La Salle's shipwreck. Other artifacts recreate a Karankawa family in a display that captures a moment from their daily lives as they fish in a dugout canoe at the edge of a coastal estuary.
"Building the Lone Star Identity" is the theme for the second floor. Starting in the 1820s, exhibits and interactives recount the people and events leading up to the Texas revolution through the Texas Centennial in 1936. Stephen F. Austin's diary, the Texas Capitol's original Goddess of Liberty statue and memorabilia from the Texas Centennial celebration are some examples of the artifacts that help tell this story. A section called "New Beginnings" draws attention to the period between 1876 and 1936, when many women led the way for social reforms that reshaped Texas. One highlight of the second floor is the "Revolution Theater." Built to resemble the Alamo the day after the battle, this theater features a video presentation on the fight for Texas Independence, told from the perspective of Juan Seguin, a Tejano political and military leader who assisted in the defeat of Santa Anna's troops at the Battle of San Jacinto.
The third floor of the Museum focuses on the theme "Creating Opportunity." Exhibits trace the history of ranching, opportunities on the land, how oil changed Texas, Texas in the Nation and new frontiers in space, medicine and technology. In a special theater called "Connecting Texas," Museum visitors enter a replica of the old Abilene rail station, where they can vote to "go" to one of nine different Texas destinations. Also located on the third floor, the "Cowboy Theater," featuring a circa 1940 "Texas" theater sign from Sherman, Texas, compares the mythical Hollywood image of cowboys to the gritty reality. Nearby, Walter Cronkite narrates a video presentation on how oil changed Texas, shown in a circular "Oil Tank Theater," complete with antique oil company memorabilia. A wooden oil rig, an AT-6 "Texan" airplane, and an Apollo-era spacesuit and lunar sample are all on display on the third floor, along with a special audiovisual exhibit on Texas music and sports.
