Photos courtesy of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum

What happens when a museum opens its collections to the world? With support from a Texas Historical Foundation quarterly grant, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and Republic of Texas Presidential Library has digitized approximately 99% of its collection, including 19th-century furnishings, textiles, artifacts, and documents. The project preserves high-resolution digital files for research while making images and object records freely accessible online.

The results are already reaching beyond the museum walls, with an average of 834 unique visitors accessing the digital collections each month during the grant period. Building on this work, the museum is partnering with other institutions holding Sam Houston-related materials to bring additional collections together in one searchable online resource.

THF’s grant to the Shumla School in Comstock will help fund equipment upgrades to capture high-resolution data on rock art found throughout Val Verde County, protecting these irreplaceable cultural resources while making them more accessible to researchers, students, and the public.

Vernon's Red River Valley Museum's grant supported its Summer 2026 Collections Care Update, organizing its storage areas to meet professional archival standards and lay the groundwork for long-term care, public research access, and future digitization. More photos...

LMLC in Archer City is working to acquire additional rare books from acclaimed Texas author Larry McMurtry’s personal collection (see photos). They received two grants to support the first phase of acquisitions, helping establish the Center as a valuable public resource. Read more...

During THF’s recent board meeting visit to Grapevine, we celebrated the dedication of the Sharron Studebaker Rogers Heritage Equipment Museum, named in honor of THF Board President Sharron Rogers. The museum showcases vehicles and equipment that tell the story of Grapevine’s agricultural and community heritage, including an 1870 Studebaker wagon generously donated by Sharron.

We also enjoyed exploring Grapevine’s historic district and seeing the community’s preservation efforts firsthand. View more photos from our visit to Grapevine.