Texas History Galleries Now Bilingual - The Museum now has three floors of fully bilingual exhibits presented in both English and Spanish.
After several years of meticulous planning and dedicated effort, the Bullock Museum is thrilled to announce that its three floors of Texas History Galleries are now fully bilingual in English and Spanish. This significant update to the galleries underscores the Museum's continued mission to create experiences that educate, engage, and encourage a deeper understanding of Texas for the community.
'Since our founding by the Texas Legislature, the Museum's mandate has been focused on the educational benefits of making the story of Texas as accessible as possible,' said Margaret Koch, Director of the Bullock Museum. 'Creating bilingual experiences has been a key element in strengthening and respecting the positive and thoughtful interactions our Spanish-speaking visitors are able to have with their families during their visits.'
In keeping with the Museum's mission and mandate, the Bullock Museum began its journey to fully bilingual galleries with the opening of the renovated first floor gallery, Becoming Texas, in late 2018. Subsequently, each individual gallery underwent a refresh. This thorough approach allowed the Museum to give each gallery to attention it deserves and refine the translation process. The Bullock Museum committed to partnering with professional translators to ensure that each exhibit label fully portrayed the story of Texas that the Museum aims to tell. This yearslong endeavor was completed in December 2023 with the finalization of exhibit labels for the Reconstruction gallery on the Museum's second floor.
Going beyond translation of exhibit labels, the Museum took this opportunity to create new standards that ensure consistency throughout the interactives, videos, and other media in the galleries and make content more accessible to all visitors. The Museum has also made concerted efforts to reevaluate and enrich the historical narratives on display, incorporating diverse perspectives to make Texas history more relatable to a broader audience. These updates give the Bullock Museum community more equitable access to the more than 16,000 years of Texas history presented within the Museum galleries.
The Bullock Museum will continue its commitment to bilingual interpretation. The Bullock Museum Guide has been translated into Spanish with both a paper and digital copy available for all visitors. Additionally, all special exhibitions developed by the Bullock Museum are presented in English and Spanish. Whenever possible, the Bullock team is committed to working with lenders to translate special exhibitions on loan from other institutions. The current special exhibition, Sharks, was originally presented in English only, but was adapted into a bilingual English and Spanish exhibition by the American Museum of Natural History in New York at the request of the Bullock. Now the Sharks exhibition will continue to travel as a bilingual exhibition after leaving the Bullock Museum.
'With every new artifact put on display, new text will need to be translated, allowing us to refine and adapt the translation process and our standards. The words we use, the language they are written in, and the way we present them matters,' said Angie Glasker, curator at the Bullock Museum. 'Every step we take towards more accessible interpretation provides a welcoming and meaningful experience for each and every visitor.'
The Bullock Museum is open Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and to plan your visit to the newly bilingual Texas History Galleries, visit TheStoryofTexas.com.
About the Bullock Museum The Bullock Texas State History Museum, a division of the State Preservation Board and an accredited institution of the American Alliance of Museums, illuminates and celebrates Texas history, people, and culture. With dynamic, award- winning exhibitions, educational programming for all ages, and an IMAX theater with one of the largest screen in Texas, the Museum collaborates with more than 700 museums, libraries, archives and individuals across the world to bring the Story of Texas to life.