1165 AngelinaAustin, TX 78702
phone: 512-472-4809
fax: 512-708-1639
George Washington Carver Museum, The in Austin, TX is one of more than 15,400 museums in the MuseumsUSA directory. Find an exciting museum to visit where you live or vacation today.
The George Washington Carver Museum has the distinction of being the first African-American neighborhood museum in Texas. The museum is housed in a building that was originally Austin's first main public library. In 1933, the building was moved to east Austin, on the grounds of Kealing park, and reopened as the first branch of the Austin Public Library. By the 1970s, the library had outgrown the building, and a larger facility was completed in 1980. The historic library was converted into the George Washington Carver Museum and has continued to serve the Austin community.
The museum documents the contributions of African-Americans at city, county, state, and national levels. The museum focuses on African-American history and culture through exhibitions that rotate quarterly and a variety of educational programming. Despite the small size of its facility and staff, the Carver presents outreach programs to area schools, senior citizen centers, and children at risk. The Carver seeks to present positive African-American role models for children in the community by bringing nationally known artists, storytellers, authors, and speakers. The museum holds a number of innovative photography workshops for children of different age levels and senior citizens. These courses teach the participants the fundamentals of photography and design, while building self-esteem. The photographs are juried and displayed in the museum as an annual photography exhibition.
African Collection: ethnographic materials such as masks, shawls, baskets, pottery from 1500s to modern times.
African-American Artifact Collection: items that relate to different parts of African-American culture, such as cooking/kitchen utensils, furniture, quilts, and everyday objects from the early 1900s to 1950.
Photography Collection: various types of cameras and photographic equipment.
Photography Archives: photographs, tin types through modern, that relate to the African-American history of Austin, early 1920s to the present.
Music Collection: albums that represent African-American influences and musical styles; focus on jazz.
Educational programs/workshops,Outreach programs,Docent programs
Artist-in-residency,Outdoor festivals The Carver presents a variety of educational programs: African-American Folktale
program, which sends storytellers to area schools; traveling trunk (basket) with historical artifacts relating to African-American culture and history; music festivals spotlighting African-American influence in music; historical recreations and demonstrations; artist-in-residency; seminars; workshops/symposia led by national/internationally known African-American artists; radio programs; and photography/videography classes for children of various age groups and senior citizens. Most of the Carver programs are free and open to the public.
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