Yesterday, I had a big adventure exploring four museums and one zoo in Diboll and Lufkin, Texas. Today, I took a "field trip" with other staff members at the Big Thicket. The next few posts will be about those experiences.
My first stop was The History Center in Diboll. Located just off Highway 59, this free small museum is easy to reach. The museum has a main hall, a library, an exhibition room, and an office open to the public. Additionally, a yard behind the museum contains a few statues and an antique train.
The main hall has a few cases with objects from the archives. A small cabinet holds gift shop items such as postcards, pencil sharpeners in the shape of trains and lanterns, child-sized engineer hats, and books.
The exhibition room contains two separate exhibits. Around the edge was the permanent exhibit. Attached to the wall is a series of well-designed panels highlighting multiple points in Diboll's history, from its founding by the Southern Pine Lumber Company to the current day. Above the panels are tools used in the lumber industry, the reason that the town of Diboll was originally formed. I appreciated the many archival photographs displayed on the panels.
In the center of the room is the rotating exhibit. The theme of the current exhibit was maps of Texas. I was amazed by the ingenuity involved in the creation of this exhibit.
Museum Geek Tangent!
The maps are close-to-scale reproductions of maps from around the world, color printed on heavy paper and encased in laminate. This method of presentation allows visitors to closely inspect or even touch the maps without worrying about damage. Additionally, using online archives to retrieve images for reproduction would significantly reduce the exhibit costs associated with shipping, insuring, and properly displaying original maps. This is a great example of using current technology to create a traditional museum exhibit.
With that tangent complete, let's go outside. The History Center has a decommissioned train once used on the Texas South-Eastern Railroad Company by the Southern Pine Logging Company for hauling logs. (Both of these businesses were owned and operated by the Temple family, which has a foundation to help rural communities in East Texas.) Visitors are permitted to climb into the engine and ring the bell, explore the passenger car, and pose on a tiny one-seater. This area also contains statues of Arthur Temple, Jr., "longtime head" of the Texas Southeastern Railroad Buildings and Bridges Department Dred D. Devereaux, and a "sleeping" statue of a worker.
This small museum takes about an hour to get through but is well-worth the stop. The interior is well-lit and easy to navigate, although the train in the back is not wheelchair accessible. The staff members are friendly and knowledgeable. Overall, the museum is a great introduction for visitors who want to understand modern history in southeast Texas, along with a good stop for families.