Things You Never Thought You Would Do As A Museum Professional

Ever since I started working at the Museum three years ago, I have had duties I never imagined I would have when choosing this field as a career. This was especially obvious this month as there have been several events we were involved with that don't fall under your regular Museum work, which I love!!

To start with, let me mention that three years ago, I had to dress up in a witch's hat for the launch of the last Harry Potter book. Downtown Georgetown turned into J.K. Rowling's world and there were witches and warlocks walking around the square waiting for Hill Country Bookstore to release the book. The Museum, I mean Gringotts (the Wizarding Bank), had flashlight tours that night. It was so much fun!

Coming back to October, here is a brief list of the events we were a part of this month. Notice they do not include our regular monthly events (First Friday, The Salon at Wildfire, Hands-On History or Books for Texans) or our educational programs (Field trips and trunk shows).

• First of all, earlier in the month, I created big pink bows and pink ribbons for the Museum's facade in honor of the 2010 Pink Heals Tour. Our Visitor Services Coordinator was up on a ladder attaching the bows to our columns. We were pinked out!
• That same week, I decorated a table (place settings, centerpiece and all) for the Georgetown Garden Club's Tea Party to celebrate their 70th anniversary. It was a delightful event.
• The day after the tea party, a volunteer and I maned a booth at the first Jonah Harvest Fest, while the rest of the staff worked a craft booth for Art in the Square in Georgetown while keeping the Museum open. We can do it all!
• Last weekend we hosted the registration tables for the Taste of Georgetown for the second year in a row and our Educator got a taste of how our courthouse rentals work. (We rent the 1911 Williamson County Courthouse)
• Finally, the Brown Santa program asked us to decorate a jail cell for their Nightmare on Jail Hill Haunted House this year. This involved shopping for headstones, creating dead bodies, and a trip to a pecan orchard on HI29 to get branches for our fake cemetery inside the cell. Let me tell you that jail doesn't need much decorating to be scary.

Usually, when you think of a Museum you might think of exhibits, artifacts, and educational programs. Right? Well, The Williamson Museum is definitely no exception, but make no mistake, we do more than that.

Celina Aguirre

Volunteer and Membership Coordinator

New Exhibit Coming Soon

Jno. Trlica, a first generation Czech-Texan, spent decades documenting the town of Granger and its inhabitants.  His commercial studio made the dream of owning a photographic memory a reality for all.  In the sometimes racially charged atmosphere of early 20th century Texas, Trlica never discriminated against any person who wished to have their picture taken. 

His advertising slogan:

Where there is beauty,

We take it.

Where there is none,

We make it.

We take anything.

Where There Is Beauty opens during First Friday, November 5, 2010.

New Life For An Old Exhibit

...well, not that old.  Our most recent photography exhibit, Recuerdos, has been given a new lease on life at Texas State University's Round Rock Higher Education Center.  You may recall that the original Recuerdos resulted from a collaboration in which The Williamson Museum asked members of the Hispanic-American community to share their memories (recuerdos) of life in our county.  The photographs graced our walls from May 2010 until just a few days ago, when they were removed to make room for our next photography exhibit.  

But that's not the end for Recuerdos.  The original photographs, along with many additional historical images, can now be seen in the 1st floor hallway of the Round Rock Higher Education Center.  If you missed Recuerdos the first time around, don't miss this new opportunity to view memories of Hispanic-American life in Williamson County.

The Round Rock Higher Education Center is located at 1555 University Boulevard in Round Rock.  Recuerdos is on display in the 1st floor across from the library.  We hope you enjoy the "new" Recuerdos.

Changes, Changes, Changes...

It has been a long time since we have updated the blog, and I apologize for that! It is a sad fact that when changes come about in an organization, something falls through the cracks and this was one of those things. I will remedy that today and we will make it a priority from now on!

Lots of things going on this week, but the most immediate is the scheduled stop of the Pink Heals tour on the historic downtown square this afternoon at 5:30. Please wear your pink and join us for the parade of pink firetrucks and all of the festivities at the Fire Station on Main Street until 7:00 pm this afternoon.

If that is not to your liking, you can join us at The Salon at Wildfire at 6:30 for a presentation on Community Gardens by Natalie Vreeland.

And don't forget that tomorrow is our fundraiser at Casa Ole here in Georgetown. Let us know if you need a flyer!

Two more wagons!

We received two more wagon entries for next month's Up the Chisholm Trail event on September 17 & 18 at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown.

Rocking T
R - D Chuckwagon

That means we'll have a total of 7 wagons competing in this year's event. For more information about Up the Chisholm Trail and to see a schedule of events, please visit the event website at www.upthechisholmtrail.org.

We'll see you there!

Historic photographs: online and searchable

Check out our new searchable format for looking at photographs from the Museum's collection. Included in the database are images from the Sesquicentennial Collection, Images from the Williamson County Courthouse, and photographs of Pioneers of Williamson County.

Check them out here!

Wagons, wagons, wagons!

We've got 5 wagons signed up for next month's Up the Chisholm Trail Chuckwagon Cook-off:

Bertie Bell from San Angelo
Break Away Wagon from Stamford
Ellis Cattle Co. from Sinton
Wish Bone from Axtell
Bear Creek Ranch from Kerrville

Our favorite musicians/chuckwagon team from Houston, The Buckaroo Band, will be at the event on Friday and Saturday night providing us with hours of music entertainment.

We'll see you there: Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, in San Gabriel Park in Georgetown!