Texas Museum Database
Compiled by Kit Neumann of the Texas Historical Commission's Local History Programs Division and updated biannually, this useful database contains addresses, hours of operation, admission fees, and other pertinent information for more than 500 museums throughout the state. Included are general, art, historic, and children's museums as well as special interest museums catering to interests as diverse as agriculture and firefighting, or chronicling personalities like musician Bob Wills, writer O. Henry, or female athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
The Texas Museum Database can be accessed easily by using a county search for "museum" listings.
What will I find?
Information for each museum includes form number, date of update and date of last survey; museum name, address, and phone number; admission charges (if any); Senate District, House of Representatives District, and governing authority; days/hours of operation; annual attendance; number of volunteers and of volunteer hours per year, number of full-time paid staff, number of trustees, director's name, and names of other key staff; and museum classification.
Also listed are museum building type (non-historic or historic); historic designations; original purpose of building; types of exhibits; funding sources; information on frequency of exhibit changes and on educational programs; accessibility of facility and programs; development of master plan, collections policy, management forms, and disaster plan; fax number, e-mail and website URL addresses, phone extension; existence of photos; and number of paid part-time staff.
- Museum classification may be general, history, art, science, historic site, historic house, children's museum, aviation, natural science, nature center, military, planning stage, and/or other.
- Historic designations include recorded Texas Historic Landmark, subject marker, National Register of Historic Places, and local designations.
- Original purpose of building, if not for museum purposes, is designated as jail, depot, hotel, house, courthouse, library, mission, school, theater, post office, military fort, bank, fire station, multiple buildings, or other.
- Types of exhibits are indicated as science, art, military, aviation, natural history, archeology, interactive, photos, historical, local/pioneer history, archives, and other.
- Funding sources include federal, state, county, city, grants, memberships, special events, donations, admission fees, hotel/motel tax, and other.
- Educational programs may include guided tours, self-guided tours, traveling trunks, films, museum classes, school tours, hands-on activities for children, lectures, demonstrations, living history programs, interpretive drama, school/museum cooperative curriculum, special programs/accommodations for disabled visitors, and other.
How can I use it?
Information from this database is especially useful for teachers, families, or individuals in planning local trips for educational/entertainment purposes. This is also a valuable resource for researchers with more specialized interests.
What else should I know?
Originally kept as an informal list by THC staff, this valuable listing is now updated biannually through mail-in surveys. More detailed information about specific museums, including the name and telephone number of the museum's contact person or information about educational programs, can be obtained from Kit Neumann of THC's History Programs Division at (512) 463-5756.