UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures — Attraction in San Antonio

As a former docent and volunteer with connections and emotional baggage tied to this venerable institution it is difficult to evaluate and review this museum fairly and objectively. The very first time I ever walked through the heavy glass doors of this museum I was a child holding my grandmother's hand. The occasion was the 1968 HemisFair World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas. I did not get to see all of the museum in 1968 and I made up for it by visiting it many times as adult and volunteering to work there in 2005. I have always enjoyed visiting the museum and I enjoyed my volunteer work there. The staff was always friendly and seemed to appreciate my being there. However, as the museum aged and the management changed there are many reasons to be concerned about its future. The Institute of Texan Cultures was created to be the Texas Museum and the stronghold of Texas history. Frankly it has failed in that mission and has conceded that mission to a museum in Austin, Texas. With that failure the management and operation of the Institute was given away to the University of Texas San Antonio. You would think that a institution of higher learning would have the ability to operate a museum but obviously that is not the case. The Institute of Texan Cultures is operated now like an illegitimate child to UTSA's primary mission of running a junior college. As such, the Institute receives more bureaucracy now than support. It is a convenient and luxurious dumping ground for school bureaucrats who don't contribute much to the the college's primary mission but can't be fired and replaced. Probably one of the easiest jobs in the world is to be an Institute manager. Because you don't have to do much. And they don't. Consequently the exhibits at the Institute of Texan Cultures tend to remain rather static and known. They are very good. Don't get me wrong. But they are product of the hard work of managers and docents who have worked at and for the Institute of Texan Cultures for the last 50 years. Not the dullards...

Fun source of information about the history behind Texas and its development over time. Some sources, such as cultural group growth and decline, were only updated through 2010. It would be nice to see more current records.

We went with a large school group and had tour guides throughout the trip, plus we had the pleasure of visiting the outdoor buildings where employees/volunteers were on hand to make it more educational and fun for the class. I would like to see how interactive the location would be with a family-size group. On one hand, we would be able to take our time reading and reviewing the displays, which we couldn't do as a group. On the other, would we even be allowed to visit the outer buildings? Could we still obtain the same level of detail if those tour guides/employees/volunteers weren't present?

I would certainly recommend this location for planned visits with large groups (7 years and older) & anyone wanting to learn about Texas in a fun...

I was a docent there for five years and had not been back in over ten years. I would not bother to take visiting relatives there. We wondered through a dark cave, so dark we could not read some of the material. Don't know what it had to do with Texas and the settling of Texas. Large areas had been closed off and now were rooms with doors, I guess. The dome show was black and white and did not have any thing worth sitting through. It was not even a tenth as good as the old show. I know the old show was shown with cameras that were dated and really needed to be replaced. It seems like a quality is gone and something is missing. The gift shop had always been a place to find the something that was no were else in town. Now it is has a junk shop tourist quality about it. Time changes things but not always for the best. You...