Collection
The collection of Dallas Heritage Village contains 24,000 objects and archival
materials. All are related to life in Dallas and North Central Texas from Dallas’
frontier days in the 1840s through the end of its early period as a commercial
center in the early 1900s. The collection is used to furnish the museum’s historic
buildings, and it is protected and preserved for the purpose of scholarly study.
Much of the object collection is connected to daily domestic life, craft production,
and commerce. The archival collection documents these and other aspects of
local history. Some key areas of the collection:
Tools and Implements
Tools for all kinds of craftwork were part of daily life in early Dallas.
We collect and display tools for medical and dental practice, domestic food and
textile production, craftwork such as woodworking, and office equipment and
tools of commerce.
Furnishings and Domestic Accessories
Includes a variety of furniture representing evolving Victorian styles and pieces
used by all income levels. We have a parlor set by the Meeks brothers, a desk
sold through the Sears catalog, and homemade frontier chairs. Exhibits are made
complete with our extensive collection of decorative ceramics, textiles, metals
and other accessories, both hand-made and commercially produced.
Photograph Collection
Photographs include scenes from Dallas history, images of locally important
people and photographs useful for the study of fashions and furnishings during
our collecting period.
Postcard Collections
Our postcard collect contains almost 2,000 postcards from the collection of Irene Carnes, all
of which depict buildings, businesses and other locations in Dallas from about 1900 through the
1960s. The postcard collection also includes hundreds of Victorian holiday cards for all
occasions.
To see a portion of our collection online, please visit The Portal to Texas History
(http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/advanced_search/) and select Dallas Heritage
Village from the pull-down list of partners.
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