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11/06/2024
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December 7, 2024 – January 23, 2025
 

Looking Up: Sky, Branch and Bough exhibits 44 tree paintings from artist Marla Luttrell’s neighborhood. The paintings, created outdoors to capture the essence of the trees in nature, are presented as small “tiles” mimicking the interface of a cell phone. The juxtaposition of natural beauty and the imitation of man-made technology encourages viewers to go outside and look up at natural beauty rather than look down at their phones. Luttrell observed the trees for over a year. Each painting evokes the senses awakened by sights, sounds, and climate.

Marla Luttrell is a contemporary impressionist landscape oil painter in Houston, Texas. For more information, please visit the artist’s Instagram page: @marlaluttrellartist.

11/01/2024
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Left image: Houston Ballet former Principal Melody Mennite as Clara in Stanton Welch's The Nutcracker. Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2018). Right image: Houston Ballet former dancers Paul LeGros and Katie King in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker. Photo by Connolly (c. 1976).  

 

November 9, 2024 - January 11, 2025

 

About this Exhibit 

A few years after the establishment of the Houston Ballet in 1969, the company began a cherished holiday tradition: performing The Nutcracker to audiences across Houston. This timeless ballet, composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1892, has become a beloved staple of the holiday season.

The Nutcracker tells the magical story of a young girl named Clara and her journey through a fantastical realm on Christmas Eve. The ballet has been reimagined through the creative vision of three distinguished choreographers for the Houston Ballet: Frederic Franklin (1972-1975), Ben Stevenson O.B.E. (1976-1986, 1987-2015), and Stanton Welch AM (2016-present). Each interpretation has infused new life into this classic tale, while honoring its enchanting story.

This exhibit showcases artifacts from each production, highlighting the creativity and dedication of the artists involved.

 


Join Us

Learn about the choreography, set designs, and costumes that have evolved over the years, enhancing the visual and emotional impact of the performance. As you experience Houston Ballet’s The Nutcracker Comes to Life, we invite you to embrace the magic of the holidays and reflect on the memories and traditions that make this season special.

 

Please join us for the following family-friendly programs with Houston Ballet:

 

OPENING RECEPTION | Saturday, November 9, 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

 

December 3, 202411:00 AM - 12:00 PMLooscan Neighborhood LibraryBallet TalkRegister Here
December 4, 202410:30 - 11:30 AMPark Place Regional LibraryBallet TalkRegister Here
December 17, 202411:00 AM - 12:00 PMStanaker Neighborhood LibraryBallet TalkRegister Here
December 19, 20244:00 - 5:00 PMOak Forest Neighborhood LibraryBallet TalkRegister Here
December 21, 202411:00 AM - 12:00 PMKendall Neighborhood LibraryBallet TalkRegister Here
December 21, 202411:30 AM - 12:15 PMCentral LibraryDance to LearnComing Soon
January 4, 202511:30 AM - 12:15 PMCentral LibraryDance to LearnComing Soon

 


EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS

MSS 0169 Lauren Anderson Papers

Finding aid coming soon!

 


SUGGESTED READING AND MEDIA

 

Kid/Juvenile

- Alexander, Heather, A Child's Introduction to The Nutcracker: The Story, Music, Costumes, and Choreography of the Fairy Tale Ballet

- Allman, John Robert, The Night Before the Nutcracker

- Brett, Jan, Jan Brett's The Nutcracker

- Celenza, Anna Harwell, Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite

- Coleman, Jennifer, The Texas Nutcracker

- Hoffman, E.T.A., Nutcracker

- Kladstrup, Kristin, The Nutcracker Mice

- Mayhew, James, Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker

- McMorrow, T.E., The Nutcracker in Harlem

- Nebres, Charlotte, Charlotte the Ballerina: The True Story of a Girl Who Made Nutcracker History

 

Adult

- Houston Ballet Guild, Shall We Dine: Houston Ballet Cookbook

- Fisher, Jennifer, Nutcracker Nation: How an Old World Ballet Became a Christmas Tradition in the New World

- Johansen, Erika, The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of The Nutcracker

- Maguire, Gregory, Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

- Whitehill, Angela, The Nutcracker Backstage: The Story and the Magic

- Wiley, Roland John, Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker

 

Don't forget our Library of Things!

- Tonie Box - Winter Holidays

- Snowflake Cakelet Pan

- Let It Snow Bundt Pan

 

Listen to over 100 music recordings of The Nutcracker!

 


This exhibition is in partnership with Houston Ballet and generously supported by City of Houston, Houston Public Library, and Houston Public Library Foundation.

 

10/25/2024
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Lester Roy, Blindside, Chamillionaire, Archie Lee, Paul Wall, Michael "5000" Watts, Lil Ron, and Le Marcus. Image courtesy of Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University. | Big Pokey, Paul Wall, and Big Hawk at the Sittin' Sideways video shoot. Image courtesy of Mike Frost.

 
June 1 - November 9, 2024
 

Once considered a fad by early detractors, hip hop honored its 50th anniversary on August 11, 2023. Promoters, historians, fans, libraries, and media outlets across the United States sponsored celebrations, events, and concerts to pay homage to the art form. However, the global impact of hip hop is undeniable and worthy of celebration beyond this milestone. 

Straight Flexin’, No Plexin’: A Hip Hop Exhibit, on view at Vinson Neighborhood Library, includes memorabilia, artwork, and photos of hip hop artists and creatives from Houston, Atlanta, New York, and California (Bay Area). The items on display are from the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) Hip Hop Archival Collection, housed at Rice University's Woodson Research Center at Fondren Library, and from private collectors. 

Although 2023 marked the 50th birthday of hip hop, the growing music genre is still young and has more milestones to reach. This exhibit serves as a reminder that as the culture continues to evolve and influence the world, it will be showcased and celebrated. Yes, yes y’all.

 


SUGGESTED READING AND MEDIA

Faniel, Maco L., Hip-Hop in Houston: The Origin and the Legacy

Serrano, Shea, The Rap Year Book

Walker, Lance Scott, DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution

Walker, Lance Scott, Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop

Westhoff, Ben, Dirty South: Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop

Wilkins, Langston Collin, Welcome 2 Houston: Hip Hop Heritage in Hustle Town

 

Don't forget that you can check out music!

 


Exhibit Director: Dr. Anthony Pinn 

Curators: Chinara Butler, Corey ‘Co’ Garrett, Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL), Woodson Research Center at Fondren Library 

Strategic Panel: Dr. Portia Hopkins, Maya Reine, Corey ‘Co’ Garrett 

Collaborating Organizations: CCM Foundation 

Special thanks to CERCL Hip Hop Archive members: HaviKoro Crew, Swishahouse, Pimp C, Mike Frost, K-Rino, Scotty ATL, Damon ‘Dame’ Dash, KRS-ONE

10/25/2024
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Gem Hale, The Protest Before the Protest, 2023, digital photograph. Gem Hale, Brick Maker, 2023, digital photograph artworks courtesy the artist. Photography by Sean Fleming, courtesy Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
 
June 8 - November 9, 2024
 

Located in Houston’s Fourth Ward, Freedmen’s Town is as deeply captivating as it is distinctly contested. The first settlement of freed Black people in the city, at one time the boundaries of Freedmen’s Town extended from the banks of Buffalo Bayou bordering downtown to present day Montrose.

This origin place once consisted of 500 historic structures within a vast swath of city streets. These structures were aggressively and systemically reduced, building by building, street by street, resulting in the much-diminished footprint of present-day Freedmen’s Town. When artists are concerned with place, reality finds poetic form, to uplift communities such as Freedmen’s Town/Fourth Ward.

Working against the ongoing erasure of Freedmen’s Town, the artists within this exhibition lend their vision to frame the memory of what was and stretch the boundary of what lies ahead. THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show articulates themes of time and memory that offer their own evocation as collaboration to stir thought, dialogue, and perception, initiating an environment for rebirth and restoration. The exhibition offers not only a connection to a place but also to the legacy of others connected to its origin: historically and at present, Freedmen’s Town.

In this moment in Houston’s history, 12 Black artists were invited to shape the unseen at a critical time in which Freedmen’s Town’s sacred archives and assets must be protected. These artists were invited to examine innovative ways to participate in the storytelling of Black legacy and heritage in Houston Freedmen’s Town. Navigating what Freedmen's Town might have become had systemic forces not smothered the community's abundance means that the artwork in this exhibition is part archival and part first responder. These artists resuscitate the pulse of memory to fortify the archives while decelerating the momentum of erasure in this place of Freedom.

THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show was developed throughout the planning and engagement process of Rebirth in Action and organized through a grant partnership with the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, curated by Mich Stevenson, CAMHxHouston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy Project Manager with support from fifth-generation Freedmen’s Town resident Charonda Johnson, CAMHxHouston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy Engagement Manager.

THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show showcases new work from Berlin, Imhotep Blot by way of Amaechina Blot; Colby Deal, Nahtan (Nate Edwards), Dom Elam, Priscilla T. Graham, Gem Hale, Ann Johnson, Charonda Johnson, Jaylen Pigford, and Jason Woods (Flash Gordon Parks). They were invited to examine innovative ways to participate in the storytelling of Black legacy and heritage in Houston Freedmen’s Town.

 


EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS

Elbert Howze Collection (MSS 0171)

The Elbert Howze Collection contains newspaper articles, photographs, drawings, and his “Fourth Ward” photography book. The contents of the collection primarily focuses on structures, people, and life in Fourth Ward, Houston during the 1980s.

Freedmen's Town Association Collection (RG 0052)

The Freedmen's Town Association Collection contains documents and published materials pertaining to the efforts of the Freedmen's Town Association in preserving the Fourth Ward from 1983 to 1986.

General S. and Mary L. Johnson Collection (MSS 0129)

The General S. and Mary L. Johnson Collection is reflective of Mrs. Johnson's life and career, spanning mostly through the 1920s to the 1970s. The papers include original writings, correspondence, biographical material, and newspaper clippings. Significant portions of the collection represent her time as a teacher and educator, showcase her editorial writings, and signify the Johnson's involvement with the Antioch Baptist Church in Houston. Other items in the collection include photographs and objects, such as a paddle board from Phillis Wheatley High School, a swagger stick, and school ribbons from Mrs. Johnson's time as a student at the Houston Colored High School in 1917.

Ken Breisch Photographs (MSS 0187)

The Ken Breisch Collection consists of 60 35mm slides showing buildings and streets in Fourth Ward Houston, Texas between 1983 and 1999. The collection includes images of Ruthven, Mathews, Andrews, and Robin Streets.

Records of the Gregory School Project (RG 0008)

The Records of the Gregory School Project contains records, plans, meetings, reports, and correspondence that document the collaborative process of the City of Houston, the Mayor's Office, the Houston Public Library, architects, contractors, and the surrounding community in their efforts to completely restore the building into the African American Library at the Gregory School.

Reverend Jack Yates and Antioch Baptist Church Collection (MSS 0281)

This collection is an assortment of church and school ephemera such as programs, memorials, yearbooks, and directories; correspondence and documents; along with historically important photographs of Reverend Jack Yates and Fourth Ward scenes and people.

 


SUGGESTED READING

Graham, Priscilla T., 150 Years, Standing Strong

National Register of Historic Places, Freedmen's Town Historic District, Houston, Texas

The Red Book of Houston: A Compendium of Social, Professional, Religious, Educational and Industrial Interest of Houston's Colored Population

Williams, David A. (Editor), Bricks Without Straw: A Comprehensive History of African Americans in Texas

 


Major support for THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Rebirth in Action is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

10/25/2024
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Left image: “Globe Theater,” Londinium florentissima Brittaniae urbs, Claes Jansz Visscher, 1626. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library. | Middle image: William Shakespeare, 1633. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library. | Right image: Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton, 1628. Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

October 14 - November 23, 2024 
Central Library | 1st Floor
 
English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created characters that are among the richest and most humanly recognizable in all of literature. Yet Shakespeare understood human personality and health in the terms available to his age—that of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. These four humors were understood to define peoples' physical and mental health, and determined their personality, as well. "And there's the humor of it!": Shakespeare and the four humors explores the language of the four humors and their influence in Shakespeare’s plays. 
 
The National Library of Medicine produced this traveling banner exhibit, guest curated by scholar Gail Kern Paster, PhD (director emerita, Folger Shakespeare Library), and historian and educator Theodore M. Brown, PhD (University of Rochester).
 
  

The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website.
 
10/25/2024
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Sendero de maravillas. A trail of marigold petals has been laid out for el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), leading to the door of a home in Zinacapan, Puebla. Photo by Geoff Winningham.

September 14 - December 5, 2024 
Central Library | 1st Floor Gallery
 
Featuring striking images by Houston photographer Geoff Winningham, Mexican Fiestas presents a vivid chronicle of the historic and diverse traditions of Mexican festivals-deeply rooted expressions of the country's religious and cultural heritage. Beginning with his first trip to the state of Michoacán for Día de los Muertos, Winningham's work spans decades, documenting a wide array of festive traditions in villages throughout Mexico, highlighting how these celebrations unite communities through centuries-old traditions of art, music, dance and worship.
 

Please join us for the following events:
 
Meet and Greet the Artist | Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 3:00 - 4:30 PM
 

ARTIST STATEMENT
 
In order to appreciate the cultural importance of the popular fiestas of Mexico, one must go back to the 16th century, to the years immediately following the Spanish conquest, when the indigenous religious celebrations of the Amerindian civilizations of Mesoamerica began to fuse with the Catholic rites of the Spanish conquerors. Beginning at that time, over five centuries ago–and continuing to the present day–Mexican fiestas have served as living reminders of the country’s turbulent history, as well as celebrations of its religious and spiritual foundations. 
 
Through music, dance, art, and storytelling, Mexican fiestas have passed ancient knowledge and customs from one generation to the next, while providing platforms for artisans, musicians, and performers to showcase their talents, thus ensuring that cultural legacies continue to flourish and evolve in the modern world. 
 
The elaborate costumes, masks, and rhythmic dances of the Nahual people of Zinacapan, Puebla, the vibrant music and intricate artistry of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Oaxaca and Michoacán, the solemn processions and ceremonial rituals of the penitents at Atotonilco, Guanajuato, each offers a window into the soul of Mexico. 
 
In 1983, I drove across the border from Texas into Mexico for the first time, where I discovered a New World at my doorstep. Fascinated by the culture, amazed by the diverse beauty of the landscape, and enthralled by the fiestas I witnessed, I traveled for almost a year, exploring and photographing virtually every region of Mexico. A year later, I returned on another driving trip, specifically to see and to photograph the famous celebration of el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) in the region around Lake Pátzcuaro. 
 
Shortly after that trip, a Mexican photographer friend gave me a copy the Calendario de Fiestas Populares. Published by the Mexican Office of Popular Culture, roughly the size of a large Bible, the Calendario is a unique volume, listing over 7,000 traditional fiestas with historic roots, located in every region of Mexico. Each of these fiestas is celebrated annually, some in cities, but most in villages so far off the beaten track that the Calendario includes maps, guides for those who wish to find and observe these remote celebrations. Since discovering the Calendario, I have traveled to photograph several hundred fiestas in 22 Mexican states. 
 
The most famous of these festivities, the Day of the Dead, is now widely promoted by the Mexican government, bringing more tourists to those celebrations each year. Still, most Mexican fiestas are barely known beyond the tiny villages in which they are celebrated, and many are struggling to survive, as their rural communities face the eroding effects of television, internet, and the migration of their inhabitants from their homes, often across the US border, in search of work. 
 
In addition to the historic and cultural importance of the popular fiestas of Mexico, there is another, more profound reason that fiestas have continued to exist and seem certain to survive as an essential part of Mexican culture. 
 
Writing in In the Eye of the Sun: Mexican Fiestas, the eminent Chicano writer Richard Rodriguez observed: 
 
On the day of the fiesta, everything is different. . . On any other day of the year the will of God may be hard to decipher, harder to bear. Why has God allowed a drought to wither the fields? Why did He allow our mother to suffer with cancer . . . there are no answers. 
 
The fiesta impersonates a divine motive. If not an answer, the fiesta supplies a droll rhyme—tears become sequins. The pleasure of the fiesta is that for one day the link between heaven and earth is certain. The air in the early morning seems different, sweeter. The sky hangs at a slant unlike any other day of the year. 
 
I offer the photographs in this exhibition as a visual record of the Mexican fiestas I have witnessed, as personal memoir of the trail of marvels that I have followed across Mexico over the past forty years, and as a love poem to this beautiful country and to its people, who have welcomed me so generously.  
  

SUGGESTED READING
 
 
Kid/Juvenile
- Silva, Sadie, Day of the Dead
 
Adult
- Beezley, William H., Mexico in World History
- Meyer, Michael C., The Oxford History of Mexico
 
Check out our Library of Things!
 

Mexican Fiestas is a traveling exhibition by Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, created in collaboration with Houston photographer Geoff Winningham.
 
10/25/2024
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Image courtesy Mauricio Rodriguez Anza

October 25 - December 31, 2024
Jungman Neighborhood Library
 

The Nomad Chair is a rotating exhibition featuring the designs of Mauricio Rodriguez Anza. Each location showcases a unique chair selected from a body of work spanning over 40 years. 

 

There have been noteworthy examples of architects who have delved into other artistic disciplines, particularly during the first half of the 20th century. In the manner of Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Mauricio Rodriguez Anza has simultaneously practiced architecture, design, and art. During the last few years, he has created a version of what he considers a symbiosis between the three disciplines, which has resulted in a unique and innovative catalog of public art.

 

Each chair corresponds to a different formal discourse; in some, the structural proposal is evident, while in others, it is suggestive or graphically manipulated. There are references to specific historical moments like Dada and Futurism. There is a reinterpretation of Mesoamerican styles that makes us think and speculate about their possible evolution had they not been interrupted by history.

 

The Nomad Chair is a profound testament to the enduring spirit of artistic exploration and rediscovery. The architect-designer-artist reminds us that creativity is not a linear path but a continuous cycle of experimentation, where the emotional is mixed with thought and social discourse can be incorporated into a design object.

 
  

This exhibition was created by Vivianne Falcó.

 
10/25/2024
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Image courtesy of Priscilla T Graham

 
October 19, 2024 - January 14, 2025
 

For Whence We Stand is a documentary exhibit designed to create awareness, inform, educate, and stimulate learning through positive imaging and storytelling using mixed media, photography, and cinematography. The exhibit tells the story of the people fighting to preserve the cultural heritage of their community and the African American experience in Houston. Freedmen's Town, a living laboratory of African American history and life, was founded after the Civil War in 1865. The Freedmen, originally from small farms and plantations south and southwest of Houston along the Brazos River, migrated to Houston via the San Felipe Road, a significant migration route that symbolized their journey to freedom and opportunity. Many settled on the Buffalo Bayou's swampy banks, where they established their community.

The Freedmen, a community of skilled stonemasons and carpenters, built their homes, businesses, churches, and even paved their streets with bricks they paid for themselves. This original settlement evolved into the economic, spiritual, and cultural heart of Houston's African American community. The self-sufficient Freedmen's Town boasted its businesses, hospital, and unique and intriguing architecture that continues to fascinate visitors today. Schools, a library, YMCA, YWCA, and various denominational churches were also part of this vibrant community. More than 95% of Houston's first African American businesses were located in Freedmen's Town, a testament to the community's entrepreneurial spirit and resilience.

 

About Priscilla T Graham, The Visual Historical Lyricist

Priscilla T Graham is an American documentary photographer, author, and filmmaker who specializes in storytelling through the lens of the camera, capturing timeless moments of life. Her work is not just about capturing images, but about preserving the rich history and culture of the African American experience in Houston. It is a testament to her love for the community and her commitment to its history.

 


EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS

Elbert Howze Collection (MSS 0171)

The Elbert Howze Collection contains newspaper articles, photographs, drawings, and his “Fourth Ward” photography book. The contents of the collection primarily focuses on structures, people, and life in Fourth Ward, Houston during the 1980s.

Freedmen's Town Association Collection (RG 0052)

The Freedmen's Town Association Collection contains documents and published materials pertaining to the efforts of the Freedmen's Town Association in preserving the Fourth Ward from 1983 to 1986.

General S. and Mary L. Johnson Collection (MSS 0129)

The General S. and Mary L. Johnson Collection is reflective of Mrs. Johnson's life and career, spanning mostly through the 1920s to the 1970s. The papers include original writings, correspondence, biographical material, and newspaper clippings. Significant portions of the collection represent her time as a teacher and educator, showcase her editorial writings, and signify the Johnson's involvement with the Antioch Baptist Church in Houston. Other items in the collection include photographs and objects, such as a paddle board from Phillis Wheatley High School, a swagger stick, and school ribbons from Mrs. Johnson's time as a student at the Houston Colored High School in 1917.

Ken Breisch Photographs (MSS 0187)

The Ken Breisch Collection consists of 60 35mm slides showing buildings and streets in Fourth Ward Houston, Texas between 1983 and 1999. The collection includes images of Ruthven, Mathews, Andrews, and Robin Streets.

Records of the Gregory School Project (RG 0008)

The Records of the Gregory School Project contains records, plans, meetings, reports, and correspondence that document the collaborative process of the City of Houston, the Mayor's Office, the Houston Public Library, architects, contractors, and the surrounding community in their efforts to completely restore the building into the African American Library at the Gregory School.

Reverend Jack Yates and Antioch Baptist Church Collection (MSS 0281)

This collection is an assortment of church and school ephemera such as programs, memorials, yearbooks, and directories; correspondence and documents; along with historically important photographs of Reverend Jack Yates and Fourth Ward scenes and people.

 


SUGGESTED READING

Graham, Priscilla T., 150 Years, Standing Strong

National Register of Historic Places, Freedmen's Town Historic District, Houston, Texas

The Red Book of Houston: A Compendium of Social, Professional, Religious, Educational and Industrial Interest of Houston's Colored Population

Williams, David A. (Editor), Bricks Without Straw: A Comprehensive History of African Americans in Texas

 


This exhibition is partnership with Priscilla T Graham and generously supported by City of Houston, Houston Public Library, and Houston Public Library Foundation.

 

10/25/2024
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Detail of Girolamo Ruscelli, Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova, 1574. Courtesy of the Houston History Research Center, Houston Public Library.

 
June 12, 2024 - March 15, 2025

 

Celebrating the opening of the Dr. James and Betty Key Map Room, Mapping Texas and Houston: Selections from the Houston History Research Center highlights some of the over 2000 maps at the Houston History Research Center. The maps have found their way into the collection via individual donations, as part of archival collections, and through the state document depository program. The new Key Map Room is a dedicated gallery space for displaying maps of Houston, Texas, and beyond, offering a unique opportunity for the public viewing of these beautiful and educational pieces of history.

This exhibition explores the changing shapes of Texas and Houston, starting with 16th century world maps from the European Age of Discovery. As explorers traversed the region, our understanding of the shape of the Texas coastline and the geography of its landforms and waterways grew more accurate. The maps record the dramatic evolution of the state’s boundaries through colonization, revolutions, and US statehood.

 


EXPLORE THE COLLECTIONS

Maps

Historical maps of Houston and surrounding areas, digitized items include the earliest map of Houston, Gail and Thomas H. Borden's “Plan of the City of Houston,” and the 1869 map by W. E. Wood.

Dr. Claude Elliott Texana Collection (MSS 0048)

Dr. Elliott was formerly a professor of history of San Marcos Teacher's College, San Marcos, Texas, and was a collector of Texana for many years. The Elliott collection consists of 23 early Texas documents which Dr. Elliott considered to be the finest in his collection. These documents will be of value to researchers on the land policies of Mexico and the Republic of Texas.

Robert P. Boyce Papers (MSS 0038)

Robert P. Boyce (1816-1889) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and claimed his memoirs to “come of a hard headed race.” He was a veteran of both the Texas Revolution and the U.S. Civil War. An important milestone during his military career transpired when he was assigned to guard Santa Anna following the Texas victory at the Battle of San Jacinto. This collection is comprised of a scrapbook, which contains newspaper clippings and mementos, a handwritten memoir and corresponding typescripts, maps, and photographs from the life of Robert P. Boyce.

 


SUGGESTED READING

Bryan, James P., Texas in Maps, 1961

 

Fehrenbach, T. R., Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, 2000

 

Francaviglia, Richard V., The Shape of Texas: Maps as Metaphors, 1995

 

Harrigan, Stephen, Big Wonderful Thing, 2019

 

Jackson, Jack, Mapping Texas and the Gulf Coast: The Contributions of Saint-Denis, Oliván, and Le Maire, 1990

 

Martin, James C. and Martin, Robert Sidney, Maps of Texas and the Southwest, 1513 – 1900, 1984, 1999

 

Martin, Robert Sidney and Martin, James C., Contours of Discovery: Printed Maps Delineating the Texas and Southwestern Chapters of Cartographic History of North America, 1513-1900, 1982

 

Reinhartz, Dennis, The Mapping of the Entradas into the Greater Southwest, 1998

 

Texas Christian University, Center for Texas Studies, Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps, 2007

 

The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, The Shifting Shapes of Early Texas: Some Highlights from UTA Libraries Special Collections, 2022

 

Virga, Vincent, Texas: Mapping the Lone Star State through History, 2010

 


This exhibition is generously supported by Houston Public Library, Houston Public Library Foundation, and City of Houston.

10/25/2024
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Martellus Bennett, Creative Director of TOMONOSHi! i+d LaB | Uke Stool by Mr. TOMONOSHi! | The Gumbo Chair by Studio Kër | Michael Bennett, Creative Director of Studio Kër
 
November 22, 2024 - February 28, 2025
 

The Freedmen’s Town Conservancy Visitor Center is proud to present Bennett Road, an exhibition that powerfully engages with the 2025 Black History Month’s theme of Black Labor through the lens of two innovative designers, Michael Bennett, Creative Director of Studio Kër, and Martellus Bennett, Creative Director of TOMONOSHi! i+d LaB. This exhibition is a significant exploration of identity, community, and the intersections of culture, drawing from both artists’ rich backgrounds and their deep connection to the African diaspora.

Bennett Road serves as a platform for community engagement, particularly for the youth of Houston Freedmen’s Town. By prioritizing play and exploration, the exhibition encourages the next generation to embrace their heritage and the legacy of Black labor, inspiring them to become active participants in their communities. Through the lens of design and creativity, the exhibition empowers youth to envision a future that honors their roots while cultivating agency and innovation.

Bennett Road is co-organized by Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy (HFTC) and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) as part of the Rebirth in Action project. The exhibition is curated by Mich Stevenson, Project Manager – Partnerships.

 


Major support for THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Rebirth in Action is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Field is required.
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