Seeing Texas History

Book excerpt: Exhibitions featuring more than five hundred original artifacts spanning thirteen thousand years and a robust calendar of special exhibitions, films, and programs are the hallmark of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Texas’s official history museum. The Bullock collaborates with more than seven hundred museums, libraries, archives, and individuals to display original historical artifacts and produce exhibitions that illuminate and celebrate Texas history and culture. Seeing Texas History: The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum features seventy artifacts that have been on view at the Bullock Museum. Reflecting history, both individually and collectively, the artifacts represent all eras, regions of the state, and genres. The artifacts in the collection range from Texas’s quintessential founding documents to items from everyday life, works of art, and objects that show the state as a leader in science and technology. This book does what museums do best, presenting history as artifact, inviting readers to closely examine historical objects and consider how the past shapes the future.