Event: The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin presents “25 Years/25 Treasures” at the LBJ Presidential Library. The exhibit showcases many of UT Austin’s most valuable objects of historical significance.
What: Documents on display include letters written by Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, the oldest datable photograph of Texas (1849) and the oldest published description of Texas (1555). Other artifacts include maps, photographs and flags, as well as historical furniture, quilts and clothing. Of special mention is the marble rostrum used by every speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives between 1857 and 1950, and an 1881 legal opinion that has been called the “founding document of American corporate capitalism.”
Each treasure is supplemented by additional artifacts that help explain both the treasure and its time. In short, the exhibit showcases many of UT Austin’s most valuable objects of historical significance.
EPK: http://bit.ly/2bZf4hl Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskCE6kry
Who May Attend: The exhibit will open to the public on Saturday, Sept. 17. Media will be able to visit the exhibit starting Friday, Sept. 16, 2-5 p.m. and during a private reception 6-8 p.m. that evening.
The Briscoe Center, in collaboration with the LBJ Presidential Library, will also participate in Austin Museum Day on Sunday, Sept. 18, hosting a special “treasure hunt” at the exhibit between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. with prizes and refreshments.
Where: The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, 2313 Red River St. Austin, Texas. Free parking is available in the LBJ Library Visitors’ lot (#38).
Background: In 1991, The University of Texas at Austin created the Center for American History. Since then, the center has grown into an internationally known history research center that fosters exploration of the American past through scholarship, preservation and public programing. In addition to celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Briscoe Center is celebrating the renovation of its public service and exhibit spaces in Sid Richardson Hall Unit 2, which are set to reopen in early 2017.
“ ‘25 Years/25 Treasures’ celebrates the Briscoe Center’s quarter centennial, as well as more than a century of collection and curation at the university since its founding in 1883,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “Items on display vary greatly from one another but have at least one thing in common—they each make unique and important contributions to our understanding of the past.”
