Museum Services

Texas is home to over 1,000 local history museums. Whether housed in a historic structure or a state-of-the-art new building, each one is dedicated to telling the story of a community’s unique history. Collectively, they preserve the real places and the real things that tell the whole story of Texas.

The Museum Services Program enables small history museums to better carry out their missions by helping them to increase their capacity for meeting professional standards. We do this by providing the following services at no cost:

• Training
• Resources
• Consultations
• Communications

To be included in the THC Atlas, a history museum must exhibit and interpret objects and stories in a structure designed for public visitation, on a regular schedule at least 120 days per year.
 

Training

Free Webinar—Countless Facets of Texas: The General Land Office Map Collection
Brandice Nelson, Texas General Land Office
Thursday, April 15, 2:00 p.m. CT
Learn more and register now!

Free Webinar—Putting it on Paper: Incorporating MOUs into Your Community Engagement Plan
Valerie Wade, Lynnfield Historical Consulting
Thursday, April 22, 2:00 p.m. CT
Learn more and register now!

Free Webinar—Inclusive Museum Leadership
Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, Illinois State Museum
Thursday, May 6, 10:00 a.m. CT
Learn more and register now!

Free Webinar—Exploring Social Justice on a Limited Budget
Elena Gonzales, independent scholar and author
Thursday, May 13, 10:00 a.m. CT
Learn more and register now!

Free Webinar—Moving from Theory to Practice: Doing the Work of DEAI
Dina Bailey, Mountain Top Vision
Thursday, May 20, 10:00 a.m. CT
Learn more and register now!

Recordings of 70+ past webinars are available free and on-demand on a wide variety of musuem-related topics.

Resources

The Helpful Resources page provides a number of downloadable resource lists, articles, and other useful information for museums. All previous Museum Services Webinars are archived and available to view at any time. The Connect and Learn page provides links to trainings hosted by other organizations and services, as well as listings of museum professional organizations. Grants and Fundraising offers resources for grant-writing, fundraising ideas, and an extensive list of grant opportunities relevant to museums in Texas.

Consultations

Program staff can provide free, individualized assistance and support to museums in any aspect of museum operations, including but not limited to:

• Starting, planning, or reorganizing a museum
• Writing mission statements
• Strategic planning
• Disaster preparedness and recovery
• Educational program development
• Exhibit planning and design
• Interpretation of collections
• Board development and relations
• Volunteer recruitment and training 
• Special events
• Marketing and social media
• Collections care
• Security
• Fundraising
• Professional ethics

Communications

Program staff sends email notices on timely information about current trends, available resources, upcoming grant deadlines, training opportunities, and other types of assistance.