Interactive, Bilingual Exhibit Is Based on the Scholastic Dear America®/
My Name is America® Book, “The Journal of Joshua Loper: A Black Cowboy”

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center is excited to be hosting the Joshua’s Journey exhibit this summer.  The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and Scholastic Entertainment (SE), a leader in the children’s education and entertainment marketplace, have teamed up to bring a book from Scholastic’s award-winning Dear America brand to life as a new traveling museum exhibit. Joshua’s Journey: A Black Cowboy Rides the Chisholm Trail, based on the Scholastic Dear America®/My Name is America® book, The Journal of Joshua Loper: A Black Cowboy, will be at the Doss from May 31 through August 31.

Focusing on a small slice of American history known as the trail drive era, the Dear America/My Name is America exhibit introduces guests to life on the Chisholm Trail through the eyes of Joshua Loper, a 16-year-old black cowboy.

The 1,200-square-foot bilingual exhibit was developed by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in association with Scholastic, the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative (YMEC), the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and The Cattle Raisers Museum.

Ranch Life provides a taste of life on a ranch both past and present. Children can try on Western hats, boots, chaps, and bandanas; try their hand at roping a calf; explore the history and lore of cattle brands; and learn about the clothing and lingo used on the trail.

On the Trail offers a better understanding of the long, grueling days Joshua experienced as a trail hand as well as the social aspects of life on the trail. At the authentic chuck wagon children can role-play as they prepare dinner at the chuck box. A life-sized bucking bronco provides a unique photo opportunity and invites children to imagine what it would be like to ride for weeks in the saddle. Maps and additional diagrams show the route Joshua took and explain the jobs held by each trail hand on the drive.

Using interactive activities, artifacts, and historical photographs, several themed areas in the exhibit invite guests to step into the world of Dear America and learn about life on the trail. In the Introduction area, guests meet Joshua through words from his journal and via a life-sized mannequin dressed in period clothing. The exhibit features more than two dozen items from the period from the collection of the Museum of Science and History. The gear and clothing enabled the American cowboy to work, live and survive on the trail. Joshua’s Journey is the first children’s museum exhibit to include authentic Western artifacts.

“We are so delighted to host the Joshua’s Journey exhibit this summer,” says curator Leslee Madrid.  “Our young guests can hone their cowboy skills in this entertaining, hands-on environment.”

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center is located at 1400 Texas Drive in Weatherford.  Joshua’s Journey is included with regular admission: $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for seniors and students.  Exhibit hours are Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm.  For more information, call 817-599-6168.

Doss Center opens Ezekiel’s Horse: Keith Carter Photographs

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center opens the summer with Ezekiel’s Horse: Keith Carter Photographs on June 11, 2008.  The exhibit features a number of toned silver gelatin prints by internationally recognized photographer Keith Carter, known for the delicate beauty of his work.  The photographs are of horses and riders from all over the world.  With his photographs, Carter explores Da Vinci’s statement that “horses were God’s most perfect design.” 

“For me, horses are mythic, grand, elegant, companionable, intelligent, and dangerous,” Carter writes.  “I confess that it has never been the wildness of horses that has attracted me, but rather their patience in the face of an unnatural domestication.” 

The photographer’s work has appeared all over the United States, including the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts.  He holds the Walles Chair of Art at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.  Art critic John Wood writes that, “Subtlety is Carter’s hallmark, and you see it in every one of his photographs.”

The exhibit is part of the Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection at The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University-San Marcos, which holds Keith Carter’s major archives.  For more information or to purchase the book, Ezekiel’s Horse: Keith Carter Photographs, please visit their website at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu.

The exhibit will run through August 24, 2008.  The Doss Heritage and Culture Center is located at 1400 Texas Drive in Weatherford.  Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for students and seniors and free for children under 6 and museum members.  The Doss Center is open Wednesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm.  For more information, please call 817-599-6168.

Doss Heritage and Culture Center opens two new exhibits

The Doss Heritage and Culture Center continues to bring Parker County’s past to life in the first sections of its historical gallery.  Visitors will get a special look into the life led by early inhabitants of Parker County. 

The first exhibit shows the lifestyle of the Native Americans who lived across the central and west Texas area. Vignettes tell the history of Texas Native American tribes that populated the area before Spanish exploration five centuries ago.  A display of projectile points, including arrowheads and spear points, shows the diverse hunting tools used by the indigenous people of the area.  Around the corner, visitors get a view of how the Comanches lived before settlers moved west into Texas.  An eye-catching tepee shelters a Comanche man and woman, seen going about their daily tasks.  Inside the tepee hang a variety of cooking utensils, tools, and other items of use.  Plexiglas panels on the front of the exhibit house a variety of tools, including a buffalo horn ladle, weapons, tools, and clothing.  Visitors will be able to actually touch beaver and buffalo hides. Special drawers built into the exhibit cases allow docents to pull out artifacts for hands-on demonstrations.

Just around the corner, the exhibit moves into the beginning of the settlement in Parker County.  Text and graphics explain the conflicts between Native Americans and incoming settlers.  Guests can learn more about early Parker County residents through the stories of people like Cynthia Ann Parker and Elbert Doss.  On the wall, visitors can view Quanah Parker’s pistol, his feathered headdress and a pocket watch given to him by President Theodore Roosevelt.  On the wall is information about some Parker County families and the problems they faced on the frontier.  A special hands-on wheel allows visitors to see what types of perils the settlers would have come upon and how they might have responded.  Guests will also learn why the settlers moved to Parker County, how the land would have looked when they arrived, and the difficulties of wagon travel.

A few feet further is a glimpse into the life led by the pioneers who moved westward into Parker County.  Visitors will see a settler building a log cabin in front of a backdrop of trees.  Behind him is a covered wagon, filled with the tools, cooking implements, and household items that would be necessary to make a life in the country. 

In a continuation of the exhibit on early settlement, the remainder of the space focuses on the agricultural and domestic activities Parker County residents would have engaged in.  Examples of locally grown crops shows the variety of plants farmers could harvest from the soil, including cotton, potatoes, corn, and watermelon.  A spinning wheel will demonstrate how cotton was transformed into the clothing and blankets needed for warmth and protection on the frontier. Special boxes are set up to allow visitors to touch and feel the everyday items used during the time period.   Mounted on the wall is an authentic quilt made right here in Parker County over 100 years ago.  This very unique quilt is embroidered with the names of Parker County residents, each of whom paid to have his or her name on the quilt.