Today we visited the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, which is located in Canyon, TX, on the campus of West Texas A & M University. It's a bit of a hodge podge, with a large section devoted to the petroleum industry. A huge old oil rig was transported and set up in a large window in front, and most of the second floor has exhibits about various aspects of petroleum drilling, refining, use, and culture. That floor also has a couple of art galleries and a large gallery of weaponry, mainly guns.
The part we most enjoyed was the group of exhibits on Life on the Plains. It examined the survival challenges various cultures had faced--water, food, shelter, clothing, transportation--and how they had met these challenges. The discussion revolved around technology, sociology, and ideology. A video highlighted these themes. The idea that conflict is part of human interaction is interwoven with stories of the Comanches driving out the Apaches and themselves being conquered by the Euro-Americans.
A rather vivid video showed the butchering of a bison and the uses to which various parts were put.
We missed a fair amount of the exhibits. They don't seem laid out in any logical manner. Our time was limited, and it was very cold in the building. When it was nearing 5 p.m., we left and went to the Imperial Taproom, a new restaurant on the town square, for dinner.
0 comments:
Post a Comment