Central Texas Museums

1. The Witte Museum, San Antonio - Hands-on and offers field trip options available by grade that are TEKS-aligned. Tours are available Monday-Friday for $3-5/student and chaperones. Scholarships and funding are available for Title 1 schools. All fourth graders can visit the Witte for free! 

For more information, please visit https://witteconnections.org/. Tour options related to archaeology include The Texas History Experience, Living off the Land, Painting the Pecos, Hands-on Archaeology with Dr. Dirt, Gathering at the Waters, and People of the Pecos Experience.

Address: 3801 Broadway St., San Antonio, TX

Website: https://www.wittemuseum.org/ 

2. The Bob Bullock Texas History Museum - Display on the Ransom Williams site, another reconstruction-era former slave site that produced pottery in the Austin area.

Wilson Pottery  
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/wilson-pottery-spotlight-022715

Ransom Williams   
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/ransom-williams-family-recovered-artifacts

“The African American Story” online resource   
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/african-americans

“Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” exhibit is open until 11/28/21  
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/visit/exhibits/black-citizenship-in-age-of-jim-crow

Freedman Colony   
https://www.thetexasfreedomcoloniesproject.com/

Texas Freedom Colonies Storyteller Project works with Bob Bullock Museum to raise awareness of freedom colonies and preserves, connects, educates, and honors the legacies of the colonies as a part of the History of Texas - https://www.thetexasfreedomcoloniesproject.com/storyteller-project

Address: 1800 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78071 

Website: https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/

Field Trips: https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/education/field-trips

3. Mayborn Museum Baylor - The Museum has lesson plan activities for school children including “Cultural Crossroads of Central Texas” on historic house types in Central Texas and “A Day in the Village” of a historic 1890s student Central Texas village.

Lessons are TEKS-aligned, and there is a virtual option called Mayborn Connect where students can access artifact images and educational lessons. Visit the site for more details and options. Student admission is $6 and there is no charge for teachers. 

Address: 1300 S University Parks Dr. Waco, TX 76706 

Website: https://mayborn.web.baylor.edu/

County Historical Museums in Texas

Calaboose African American History Museum   
Is a Historic African American site located in San Marcos Texas. Open on Saturdays from 10 AM -3 PM and by appointment only, with free admission. 

Address: 200 W Martin Luther King Dr. San Marcos TX 78666

Website: https://www.calaboosemuseum.org/ 

Oakwood Cemetery Chapel is a Gothic revival building site that gives historical tours and exhibits.

Website:  http://www.austintexas.gov/department/oakwood-cemetery-chapel

Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg  
Offers group tours for $3/student, free for Gillespie County students. To schedule a tour, call Evelyn Weinheimer at 830-997-2835.

Website:  http://www.pioneermuseum.org

Museums in the Greater Texas area with Archaeological Exhibits

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston  
The Museum of Archaeology, El Paso  
National Museum of the Pacific War

Field Trips are free and include access to multiple exhibits scheduled for Monday-Tuesday with flexible scheduling options throughout the week. Must be booked within a 2 weeks notice with a minimum of 12 students. 

Virtual options

Pacific War Museum
https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/education/educators  

Virtual learning is free for Texas schools, and satisfies all sorts of TEKS requirements including the Bob Bullock Museum, Don Harrington Discovery Center, and Amon Carter Museum of American Art. https://www.connect2texas.net/pages/home/programs/  

Panhandle Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) largest history museum in TX located in Canyon, TX. Located in the Panhandle, this resource could be useful for online options. Virtual exhibit: https://www.virtually-anywhere.net/tours/wtamu/pphm/vtour/index.html  

Archaeology Programs

Prehistory: Plains Village sites like Chimney Rock, Alibates Flint Quarry, Antelope Creek, and local dry rock shelters.  

Texas Panhandle History including the Second Battle of Adobe Walls and battles of the Red River War and Historic sites Adobe Walls 1874 battlefield and Buffalo Wallow permanent exhibits for field trips all meet TEKS requirements. https://www.panhandleplains.org/p/education/field-trips/permanent-exhibits1

Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site  

Address: US-90, Comstock, TX 78837  
Admission: Open Daily  

Website: https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/seminole-canyon/park_history

Annual Events In the Central Texas Area

Spring Lake Annual Pow-wow Annual event in October. https://www.sspowwow.com/  

TARL is Austin October Archaeology Month Fair is held annually and hosts a conference on the fields outside their Lab facilities at JJ Pickle Research Campus. https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/tarl/

American Indian Heritage event held by the Bob Bullock Museum annually in September and has an option for “celebrating in the classroom” or planning a field trip and “Hands-on Art Making”, “On Demand Videos” (10 videos from movies to short 1-5min videos), and “Learning Resources." The Austin Powwow occurs annually in November. https://austinpowwow.net/   

United San Antonio holds a PowWow each year in February http://www.unitedsanantoniopowwow.org/  
San Antonio Fiesta Pow-wow annually in June

List of resources available for Spring Lake

For information about visiting Spring Lake, located in San Marcos Texas, please visit the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment https://www.meadowscenter.txstate.edu/

The City Of San Marcos also has information on the site facilities https://www.sanmarcostx.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Spring-Lake-Natural-Area-55  

National Geographic has developed a short 5-minute educational video on Spring Lake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQIvdlzdqeE 

Texas State Historic Association has information on the history of Spring Lake and Aquarena Springs https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/spring-lake-site  

Texas State University has resources available to learn about Spring Lake https://www.springlakearchaeology.txstate.edu/Archaeology-of-Spring-Lake.html  

You can learn more about the Edwards Aquifer water system at https://www.edwardsaquifer.net/sanmarcos.html

Resources available for the Williams Pottery site

The Bob Bullock Museum has artifacts on display. https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/ransom-williams-family-recovered-artifacts.

TARL has collections virtually https://sites.utexas.edu/tarl/

Texas Beyond History has information on the Ransom Williams Pottery tradition http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ransom/ and Caddo Pottery Tradition. https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/clay/galleries/index.html 

Additional resources for African American Heritage in Texas include the East Texas African American History Museum https://easttexashistory.org/items/show/344

Texas State Center for Archaeological Studies information about the Wilson Pottery Site  
https://cas.anthropology.txstate.edu/research/projects/otherprojects/wilson.html