CONNECTING CULTURES

A rich, cultural diversity spanning centuries await visitors to El Paso, once considered gateway from the Spanish Colonial New World to the North American frontier. At the El Paso Museum of History, visitors will gain an understanding of the vital link that the surrounding region played in the settlement of the southwestern United States, home and territory of Native American and Hispanic populations long before the establishment of America’s New England Colonies. The two-story, 44,000 square foot Museum, located in El Paso’s cultural district, provides a comprehensive overview of the region’s role in both state and national history. Visitors may explore exhibits and programs that reflect the robust multicultural and multinational character of the state’s far western border region.

One of the Museum’s more compelling exhibits, called Neighborhoods and Shared Memories, features photographs, mementos and keepsakes from past and present residents of El Paso neighborhoods, displayed to help preserve, interpret, and increase appreciation for the city’s neighborhood-based history. A remarkable 3-D Digital Wall, an interactive exhibit of technology and archived photographs, videos, and documentation, allows visitors to explore El Paso history through a giant touch screen. The wall employs a complex graphical interface that provides an experiential cityscape as touchstone to history, allowing visitors to access the stories of the past as well as to upload their own modern stories.