Tour of Museum of South Texas History

After breakfast at Rex Cafe, Texas Mexico chapter members drove to Edinburg to visit the Museum of South Texas History. Barbara Stokes, archivist at the museum, served as our tour guide. Ms. Stokes started the tour with a history of the building and explanation of the Spanish-Colonial architectural style of the building. She also gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the collections area, allowing chapter members to peruse the aisles of items not currently on exhibit. Ms. Stokes also showed us the Margaret H. McAllen Memorial Archive reading room/library and the archives spaces and cold storage and newspaper storage area.

The Hidalgo County Historical Museum was formerly a jail built in 1910 and the original building was remodeled and opened as the Hidalgo County Museum in 1970. The museum changed their name to Museum of South Texas History, to appropriately reflect their holdings of materials of frontier history from northern Mexico and South Texas.

Texas-Mexico chapter members had an opportunity to view all of the exhibitions on display. There was one hanging at the jail in 1919 and the noose and hanging area is part of the museum’s permanent exhibit. Nearby, were the Day of the Dead altars honoring celebrities and family members that had been made by local citizens. On permanent display in the main museum gallery is Rio Grande Legacy, a bilingual exhibit that explores the history of the region.

Chapter members all headed for the gift shop at the end of the tour. We then drove back to McAllen for our next tour at Quinta Mazatlan.

Submitted by Carla Ellard