Museum featured in Wichita Falls

Jack County Museum is one of the museums featured in a new network exhibition on film in Wichita Falls Sept. 1-Oct. 2.

The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture (The Alliance) will roll out the red carpet in September for its annual Regional Museum Network Exhibition. Real to Reel: North Texas in the Limelight will showcase curated collections from 12 area museums highlighting cinematic history in the region and its impact on area communities.

“This is an opportunity to explore our region’s many connections to Hollywood in one location,” Amber Day Scott, Alliance program manager, said. “From famous stuntmen and actors to filming locations, historic theaters, and more, Real to Reel separates fact from fiction and explores the impact of the film industry across North Texas.”

Participating museums are members of the Regional Museums Network designed to help increase the visibility of the museums in the region.

“Museums are anchors of our communities and tremendous resources,” said Ann Arnold-Ogden, Alliance executive director. “This exhibition will introduce new audiences to these important institutions of history, art, and science – provide visibility on their vital contribution to our area.”

The following museums will be showcasing collections at the exhibition: Archer County Museum & Art Center – The Royal Theater Burkburnett Historical Society – Boom Town, a 1940 Western, starring Clark Gable, inspired by a Cosmopolitan magazine entitled “A Lady Comes to Burkburnett.” Clay County 1890 Jail Museum & Heritage Center – Henrietta’s former opera house Jack County Museum – Local connections to the events that inspired the film The Bridge on the River Kwai Kell House Museum – Adapted screenplays from the book collection of Willie May Kell, the Kell’s second of six daughters Museum Of North Texas History – The Isis Theatre, a former an African American theater located on the East side of Wichita Falls Old Post Office Museum Of Art & Center – Dean Smith, an Olympic Gold Medalist turned Hollywood stuntman who appeared in various Western movies such as The Alamo, How The West Was Won, and El Dorado Red River Valley Museum – 3D movie magic Tales ‘n’ Trails Museum – Urban Cowboy: How Westerns Impacted Boot Sales Whiteside Museum Of Natural History – Dinosaurs and other creatures in film with a look at Journey to the Center of the Earth, a 1959 American science fiction adventure film Wichita Falls Museum Of Art at MSU Texas – TBD Young County Museum Of History & Culture – Britt Johnson, a Young County Black cowboy who is said to have inspired John Ford’s 1956 masterpiece starring John Wayne, The Searchers “The Museum of North Texas History has been a part of the Regional Museum Network from the beginning,” said Madeleine Calcote-Garcia, executive director of the Museum of North Texas History. “We know this group has provided camaraderie during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and it has helped our museum grow into a better institution.”

This is the fourth annual exhibition curated by The Alliance for the Regional Museum Network. Real to Reel will be on view at the Museum of North Texas History from Sept. 1 to Oct. 2. The museum is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.