Come to our November Monthly Meeting and hear Tiffany Wright, our Archives Manager, speak about the Society’s William Knox Tate Collection. You may have seen some information in the newsletter and on our Facebook page about the 1890’s Wedding Dress that is part of this collection. Tiffany has had the honor of speaking with the family that donated the collection, and she will provide us with more information about this interesting couple, their ties to Tyler Texas, how they met, and where life took them. The William Knox Tate Collection will continue to be on display through this Saturday, October 20th, so you still have a few days to visit our Museum and see this fabulous wedding dress. The General Meeting of the Smith County Historical Society will meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Payne Auditorium. From 6:30 to 7 pm is a social time to visit with other members and guests with light refreshments. The Meeting starts at 7 pm with a short business meeting and announcements followed by a program that will usually cover Smith County Historical topics on events, families or locations that should be of great interest to our members. If you have questions, comments, concerns, or even something you would like presented to the board, please contact our Office Manager at (903) 592-5993!

Come to our WWI Armistice Centennial Celebration and enjoy our interactive Mystery hunt at the museum! Utilize QR codes, examine archived documents, search old maps, and transcribe handwritten letters to solve your clues. You will also enjoy finger foods and drinks, socializing with our WWI “live” characters, and a theatrical trumpet celebration on the stage of our historic Payne auditorium. There will be plenty of photo ops available in the museum, so bring your friends and enjoy an evening full of fun and entertainment. Valet service will be available. Purchase your tickets now!

As a museum and archives,  the Smith County Historical Society actively accepts donations of objects and documents! In preparation of this meeting, our Archives Manager and Office Manager inventory and prepare all available information on possible donations and then present them to the committee. We may not accept any item into any of our collections until it has been voted on and approved by this committee. Since the Society is the SMITH COUNTY Historical Society, we do ask that all donations have a relationship to our County and its rich history! If you have items that aren’t Smith County related, but would still like to see them donated to an appropriate institution, we would be happy to direct  you to the best of our abilities! Please do note: all items discussed at the meetings must be received PRIOR to the meeting! With a limited amount of time for our members to discuss each object, document, or photo(s) we try and prep as much as possible before hand!   If you have items you would like to donate, please feel free to call or stop by our offices!

Who’s It? What’s It? Where’s It? Tiffany Wright and Scott Fitzgerald will be our speakers at the December Monthly Meeting. They will have photos and items from our Archives that they may need your help to identify, or they may have an interesting story behind the item. If you have interesting items or photos from your own Smith County Texas collection that needs further identification, feel free to bring them to the meeting. Social is from 6:30-7:00 PM Program is from 7:00-8:00 PM Upstairs in the Payne Auditorium in the historic Carnegie Library building 125 South College Avenue, Tyler, TX 75702

This whimsical Blown Egg Art Collection of Dr. Kerfoot Walker and Family is an amazing story of a family’s collection of eggs throughout their childhood. Tyler’s “Easter Egg Lady” Nell Burnett made these blown eggs into characters that you and your children will recognize and adore! Come see this large collection & share in the family’s childhood memories. Visit us at the museum and create some family memories of your own, December 8, 2018 through April 27, 2019! Opening day for this exhibit will be celebrated Saturday, December 8, 2018 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM as a part of Tyler’s Holiday Museums Open House event. During this Open House event, you can also enjoy  face painting, crafts and a family friendly scavenger hunt.  

As a museum and archives,  the Smith County Historical Society actively accepts donations of objects and documents! In preparation of this meeting, our Archives Manager and Office Manager inventory and prepare all available information on possible donations and then present them to the committee. We may not accept any item into any of our collections until it has been voted on and approved by this committee. Since the Society is the SMITH COUNTY Historical Society, we do ask that all donations have a relationship to our County and its rich history! If you have items that aren’t Smith County related, but would still like to see them donated to an appropriate institution, we would be happy to direct  you to the best of our abilities! Please do note: all items discussed at the meetings must be received PRIOR to the meeting! With a limited amount of time for our members to discuss each object, document, or photo(s) we try and prep as much as possible before hand!   If you have items you would like to donate, please feel free to call or stop by our offices!