The Grace Museum is collaborating with Abilene Christian University’s Introduction to Public History: Interpreting American Pasts course to create monthly exhibitions that coincide with different cultural heritage months throughout the year. These exhibitions highlight the narratives of various cultural groups that are integral to Abilene’s history while weaving these stores into the broader historical fabric of the United States. November … Cultural Heritage Exhibition – Native American Heritage Month 2023

June Van Cleef is a photographer from a large ranch in West Texas, about 100 miles from the United States and Mexican Border. She founded the photography department at Collin County Community College in Plano, where she taught for many years. In the 1990s, she received a sabbatical to photograph the people and landscapes of Presidio, Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Culbertson … June Van Cleef: Texas Outback

Independence Day in the United States is celebrated every July 4th to commemorate the Declaration of Independence in 1776 with fireworks, parades, and parties. Throughout Abilene’s history, Independence Day has meant a day off work and celebrating the holiday with friends, family, and the entire city. Families gathered to watch parades, and sometimes even participate, with young boys following the … Cultural Heritage Exhibition – Independence Day 2023

Paul Manes is a painter’s painter. The artwork selected for this solo exhibition is the ultimate statement of that fact. Surfaces and subjects morph into singular stunning testaments to Manes’ mastery of oil painting on canvases larger than life. Complex and solitary imagery up close and at a distance shares a haunting immediacy driven by the artist as philosopher paradigm. … Paul Manes: Odyssey

Just over thirty miles northeast of Abilene sits the Chimney Creek Ranch, established in 1876, the ranch is home to cattle and native species along with conserved grasslands and water sources. However, before the ranch was formed, the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, which ran from 1858-1861, made its way through the area. On the ranch stands the remnants of the … Smith’s Station on the Butterfield

Large panoramic photographs of landscapes or groups have been around since the invention of photography. Unlike today and the ease of taking a “pano” on a cell phone, panoramic photographs were taken on special cameras beginning in the 1840s. Capturing these large-scale photographs was a very involved and complex process. By the late 1890s and early 1900s, mass-produced panoramic cameras … A Larger View: Historic Panoramic Photographs

In 1904, the State Epileptic Colony in Abilene was founded to help individuals with epilepsy through research, care, and isolation. More importantly, it offered a place for these individuals to work, live, and thrive. The institution, hospital, and complex was a state-of-the-art facility and consisted of an administration building, a power plant, a women’s and men’s hospital, four cottages, and … Creating a Community: The State Epileptic Colony in Abilene

This exhibition will feature several hand fans from The Grace Museum’s permanent collection. Fans were not only a functional accessory to keep the wearer cool on the hottest of days, they were also an important style piece in a woman’s wardrobe. Hand fans have a long-storied history going back thousands of years into biblical and ancient Chinese and Japanese times. … Cooling Off with Style: Hand Fans From the Collection