It’s #WayBackWednesday and we are sharing this history of the American Flag! The flag has a really interesting history and The Grace Museum has an example of a handheld 48 stars flag from 1958. Check out this history of the flag via PBS as well as this short video visual evolution of the flag!

Getting started on your Genealogy research can feel intimidating and overwhelming. Thankfully there are many helpful people and resources available to assist you at the Abilene Public Library and via online and digital sources. Watch this brief overlook at getting started and working with Ancestry.com’s system specifically.

It’s #WayBackWednesday and this week we are talking about Summer Heat and here in Texas we are feeling that heat this week! Our Summer heat is not a new thing for us and we found these “cool” photos of people cooling off in our neighbor town, Buffalo Gap, around the turn of the century. Buffalo Gap is still a respite for many locals and travelers, alike – with many offerings for recreation, dining, history, and beautiful scenery.

Here’s your special Saturday edition of Illustrated Happy Hour and we are bringing the FASHION to your weekend. Browse The Grace Museum’s rarely-seen but beautiful Folding Fan collection and learn the history of hand fans while enjoying the very fashionable Cosmopolitan cocktail as demonstrated by @Cypress Street Station. Then grab your watercolors and paint along at the end.

The Victorian Era fashion (1837-1901) was a time marked by immense changes in technology and distribution as well as elaborate and creative trends. The mass production of sewing machines in the 1850s and introduction of synthetic dyes in clothing led to more affordable fashions for the middle class. Fashion magazines and distribution also led to the broader distribution of fashionable trends. For women – the Victorian era placed them mostly in domestic roles and their fashion was a representation of their station in society. For men, it seems, facial hair fashions erupted in the late Victorian era as depicted in many of the images on-view at The Grace Museum in the exhibition, Early Photographic Portraits from the Permanent Collection.

It’s #WayBackWednesday during #FashionWeek so we are exploring the current exhibition on-view in the History Gallery on the 3rd floor of The Grace Museum titled WOMEN’S FASHION EVOLUTION: 1900S – 1920S, FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION!

It’s Tuesday Tea Time and Judy and Sheila are sharing their treasured dinnerware and drinkware collections.

It’s Way Back Wednesday so Kathryn shares her historic GE Home of the Future designed by renowned architect, David S. Castle and Laura shares her vast globe collection.

It’s #WayBackWednesday and we are diving deep into OCEANS this week in celebration of #WorldOceanDay2020. Today we actually have a little bit of a collection history mystery! Can you help us solve it?

Artists have played key roles in times of war. From documenting maneuvers and battles – to illustrating equipment and use manuals – their skills have served in ways that may sometimes be overlooked.

E.O. (Eugene Omar) Goldbeck was a commercial photographer active in Texas in the early 1900s until his death in the mid-1980s. He was a second generation German-American and grew up and lived in San Antonio. The 36th Infantry Division formed during World War I and fought in France throughout the duration of the war. They were comprised of soldiers from both Texas and Oklahoma until after the First World War. The patch for the division, which you see in this photograph, is a symbol for both states – the arrowhead for Oklahoma and the “T” for Texas.

Located in the Grace Museum’s 1948 historic period room living room is a small white flag with a red border and gold fringe. At the center of the flag are two blue stars. This small flag, known as the Service Flag, carries with it great significance to those who know its meaning.

It’s #FilmFriday and we are traveling from New Orleans to El Paso via Texas & Pacific Railway Depot photographs from the T&P Collection of The Grace Museum!

Today we are featuring PLANES that from the Grace Museum History collection via a lesser-known newspaper titled “The Fighter”!

It’s #WayBackWednesday and Collections Manager, Erika Parker is sharing about the Grace Museum’s Texas & Pacific Railway Collection!

We are inspired by passenger trains for today’s special HISTORY focused Illustrated Happy Hour. Make yourself one of these Midnight Train cocktails and settle in for a discussion about the Sunshine Special passenger train from the T&P fleet – and then paint along with us at the end