Red River Valley Museum in Vernon, 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 Red River Valley Museum has had three distinct lives. The first life began in 1963 when the museum housed one collection of Indian artifacts in an unused cloakroom of the County auditorium. There were no docents, no Director, and few on-call volunteers. This continued until 1976, when an old hospital was donated; a Director was hired; and the collections expanded. In late 1985, a new building was finished and occupied. By late 1987, the Board of Directors resolved to move the museum into a more professional stance. At this time, there was no registration of objects, no Educational Outreach Program, and no Endowment Fund. From 1988 until the present, the museum has redesigned all exhibition halls, refined all exhibits, and instituted an outreach educational program and an Endowment Fund. The museum may still have a lukewarm water pocketbook, but it definitely has Dom Perignon tastes and aspirations.

The J. Henry Ray Indian Artifacts collection which founded the museum consists of some 5,000 pieces, mostly projectile points, celts, and pottery shards. Also the Ray Collection has fossils, tusks, and bones of Triassic and Paleolithic periods.

Dabney Gems, Rocks, and Minerals Collection contains 92 separate types from throughout the world.

Collection of pre-Columbian art.

The William A. Bond wild game trophies, 135+ mounts, are the results of a major hunt somewhere in the world every year from 1946 through 1991 by a Vernon farmer/rancher. About 95% of them are World Record kills. There are no duplicates.

Fine arts are incorporated into the Waggoner Room, A History of Ranching in North Texas. Electra Waggoner Biggs is a world-renowned sculptor, and = the museum houses one of the largest collections of her work . Also in this room are a 10' x 20' mural by Adrian = Martines, a reproduction of an 1898 watercolor by C. M. Russel.. , a small firearms collection, parade and work saddles, the mounted heads of a Longhorn and a Hereford steer as well as other ranching artifacts pertaining to the WT Waggoner Estate, a 530,000-acre ranch with headquarters in Vernon. The museum also has Frederick Remington's bronze, Bronco Buster.

Early Vernon memorabilia.

Not complete, available upon request.

The museum has had teacher's workshops regarding specific exhibits, but not on a regular basis. The museum has teacher's guides to help them prepare the children for their tours. The docent program consists of an in-depth guide to each room and one training session per year. The new docents also accompany experienced ones during tours until they are ready to go by themselves. Tours are as in-depth or as general as the groups require. The museum has had several sets of lectures, all accompanying exhibits.

The Outreach program is available free of charge within a 60-mile radius of Vernon. Museum representatives go to schools, nursing homes, civic and service clubs, even Old Settler Days! The museum has seven trunk shows, four with presenters and three that go into a classroom for a period of time with guides, videos, etc.

Possibly available, especially during the summer when they are not in demand. There may be a small fee.During the fall & spring, educational classes are offered for children in an "Afterschool Adventures" program.

Quarterly newsletter, The Review; Thistle Hill by Roze Porter (History of Waggoner Family). Electra II (Electra Waggoner Biggs' story)