National Back to School Month celebrates education, students, teachers, and families as they get ready for a new school year. This exhibition also honors the struggles and triumphs our community members have endured throughout history. The month of August has been celebrated as National Back to School Month in the United States since the 1960s, and exists to recognize educators … National Back to School Month 2024

Exhibition Reception | Thursday, September 5, 2024 | 6-8 pmGuest Speaker: Tony Privett, Slaton Harvey House The Texas & Pacific Railway Company (T&P Railway) began plans to build a railroad line from Shreveport, Louisiana all the way to San Diego, California, creating a southern route that would help with winter climate complications. The T&P Railway began construction in 1872 and the … Full Steam Ahead: The Texas & Pacific Railway

International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place each year on January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. This exhibition highlights the history of the Holocaust, displacement and mass murder of Jewish people, the role Texans played as liberators, and the history of Abilene’s Jewish community.

December is Universal Human Rights Month Universal Human Rights Month celebrates the landmark document that “enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” This month strives to promote this declaration and the continuing struggles … Universal Human Rights Month – Cultural Heritage Exhibition 2023

The Grace Museum (originally The Abilene Fine Arts Museum) has a history of collecting important prints, paintings, and drawings focusing on the Texas landscape. This companion exhibition features works of art collected during the last 76 years. Paintings by Edward Eisenlohr, Loren Mozley, Bob Stuth-Wade, and many others will be presented in this group exhibition exploring Texas landscape painting treasures … Texas Landscapes from The Grace Museum Permanent Collection

When one thinks of the 1920s, images of flappers, jazz, and speakeasies immediately come to mind. While that is relatively true, for Abilene, the 1920s was an era of major change and growth, just like it was throughout the United States. The population of Abilene nearly doubled throughout the decade with the increase in businesses, buildings, railway usage, and updated … Abilene in the 1920s

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 … Independence Day – Cultural Heritage Exhibition 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