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.
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While participants in The Big Read engage themselves in
Willa Cather's novel My Antonia, the Doss Heritage and
Culture Center will display "Willa Cather & Material Culture,"
an exhibit which will run April 16 through May 14. This
collection of photographs focuses on artifacts from
the extraordinary collection of The Cather Foundation
and the Nebraska State Historical Society. "This photographic
exhibit is intended to highlight a select few of these objects
and denote their relevance to Willa Cather and her writing,"
explains exhibit photographer Betty Kort. "How amazing it
is that Cather was able in her descriptions to embody the
essence of light, form, and color through simple, carefully
chosen words that to this day astonish the world."
This special traveling exhibit will be on display through May 14.
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