"The advantages of relying on a museum to learn about history is that
you can see the real thing, and you can perhaps see the real thing in a context
you may not have thought about before. The disadvantages are that, just as one
book cannot tell the whole story of a time or place, one museum can't do that
either. "
Lynn Denton
Director of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Executive Summary:
Lynn Denton joined Cyberways and Waterways to answer questions about her work and upcoming events at the Bob Bullock State History Museum.
Here are some highlights:
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
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Our tour guides kind of go back to school in a way. We have two classes of docents each year.
They have four two-hour long sessions that introduce them to different aspects of the museum and
teaching techniques. They must study the exhibits for 15 hours, observe 6 tours, write evaluations
of those tours, write outlines about the exhibit floors,
and pick one exhibit or artifact to write an essay on. It's quite a rigorous program.
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Right now, during March, April, and May, we are busy with school groups. Fourth and seventh graders study Texas history,
and Austin is the state capital, so we have about 1,000 students a day coming through the museum.
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We have a theatre that is very unique to our museum, a special effects theater called Texas Spirit Theatre. "The Star of Destiny" is a show about Texas history that we show there. Also,
we now have a Davy Crockett show there that lasts about 15 minutes. The theater seats 200 persons.
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We have an actor who is performing a script about Davy Crockett's time in Texas.
That script was developed with the assistance of Crockett biographers and historians,
so we know it is accurate. We think it is important that people have different ways to
learn by history, and theatre is one thing in museums that
has a whole different way of conveying a time and place to people.
The Story of Texas
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Texas is such a big place. It's diverse, and the people...it's a huge story. There are so many levels to it. The most fascinating thing about it is that you can be completely lost in it. There are so many stories, but any time you talk to an individual
family's story, you realize how rich and complex (and sometimes horrible and wonderful) they are.
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In building our Lone Star Identity (second floor), we talk about Texas in the 1820s, and how people talked about it being a separate state in
Mexico and how that was a fundamental base for what later became the Texas revolution.
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Famous Texan Women: Jane McCallum was also one - she was the first woman to campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Adelina Cuney was an African-American woman who was the wife of a man active in politics in the 1890s, and she fought for the desegregation of railroad cars.
Laredo teacher Jovita Idar started a weekly newspaper trying to raise awareness against poverty, among other things. As you come into more recent times, those such as Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby.
Mrs. Hobby was put in charge of the American Red Cross during W.W.II.
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Sam Houston didn't shape the whole revolution, I think, but economic and political factors did that.
He was a forceful and effective leader, however, as was proven by his later election as President
of the Republic of Texas, and later Governor of the state.
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