Overview
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Repository |
Office of the City Secretary
Dallas Municipal Archives
1500 Marilla Street, 5D South
Dallas, Texas 75201 |
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Creator | Dallas Health and Science Museum
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Title |
Dallas Health and Science Museum |
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Dates | 1947-1985
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Quantity | 5 linear inches (1 box)
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Abstract | Printed documents, pamphlets, and reports.
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Identification |
1996-023 |
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Language |
Records are in English |
Scope and Content
Collection contains reports, correspondence, and pamphlets related to the Dallas Health and Science Museum, the second oldest health-oriented museum in the country.
The Dallas Health Museum was formally organized on September 17, 1946, and it opened to visitors in the former Museum of Household Arts building in Fair Park in time for the 1946 State Fair of Texas. The original exhibits were loaned to the museum by scientific groups and health organizations including the Cleveland Health Museum and the American Medical Association. The museum's name changed to include "Science" in 1958. The building originally had 11,500 square feet, and expansions occurred several times and ultimately reached 30,000 square feet.
The following table shows a timeline of other activities for the Dallas Health and Science Museum:
| 1958 | 60-seat, 24-foot domed planetarium built. Education programs held in cooperation with local schools and universities. |
1961
| During the 1961 renovation, the museum, in cooperation with the Dallas County Civil Defense, planned and supervised the construction of a 2400 square-foot underground fall-out shelter. This fall-out shelter was built in line with the global politics of the day involving fears of the Cold War and of nuclear war. If used, the bunker would serve as a government operating and communications center for Dallas County in the event of a nuclear attack or natural disaster. Able to house approximately thirty key people, including the mayor and other city and county officials, the shelter had its own water supply, electric generators, radios, and telephones and could fully support housing the inhabitants for fourteen days. Never needed, the bunker still exists but is unused.
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| 1981 | Museum renamed The Science Place. |
1971
| Air conditioning added to the museum.
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| 1986 | The Science Place expanded into a second building, which became known as the main building for The Science Place. |
| 1995 | Dallas Children's Museum founded to provide hands-on early childhood learning.
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| 2006 | The Dallas Museum of Natural History, The Science Place, and the Dallas Children's Museum merge and become a new institution—the Museum of Nature & Science at Fair Park.
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| 2008 | Katherine Perot Reeves, Carolyn Rathjen, Suzanne McGee, Nancy Perot Mulford, and Ross Perot, Jr., the children of Ross and Margot Perot, announced a $50 million gift to the museum made in honor of their parents. The museum would subsequently be renamed the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in their parents' honor. Along with the new name, the donation came with plans to move to a new building outside of Fair Park.
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| 2012 | The Perot Museum opened on December 1 in its new location on Field Street, and the original building was closed to the public. The Fair Park building remains unused but maintained.
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Organization
The material is organized alphabetically by subject.
Access
Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.
Citation
Dallas Health and Science Museum, 1947-1985 (Box <x>, Folder <y>), Dallas Municipal Archives
Related Materials
Collection 1991-079—Fair Park, 1888-1930, 1972-1992
Collection 1996-032—Dallas Museum of Natural History, 1967-1981, undated
Index Terms
Buildings -- Texas -- Dallas
Dallas -- Texas -- History
Dallas (Tex.). Health and Science Museum
Fair Park (Dallas, Tex.)
Container List
1
| 1
| Air conditioning, 1967-1968
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| 2
| Brochures and pamphlets, 1975
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| 3
| Contract between the museum and the city, 1947-1973
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| 4
| Master question and answer list for teachers, undated
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| 5
| Monthly operating reports, 1970-1974
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| 6
| Museum financial statements, 1970-1973
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| 7
| Museum financial statements, 1974, 1977
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| 8
| Pompeii exhibit correspondence and educator information, 1978
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| 9
| Programs, 1961-1966
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| 10
| Proposed building alterations, 1963-1972
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| 11
| Proposed expansion program, 1979-1985
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| 12
| Underground shelter, 1957-1962
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