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Current Exhibits
Changing Pass: People, Land & Memory
Permanent Signature Exhibit
Changing Pass, the permanent installation at EPMH, marks a new chapter for the institution. While Changing Pass is not technically a new exhibit for the museum, the approach to its curation and narrative are reflective of EPMH’s new direction and leadership.
For many, Changing Pass is their first introduction to El Paso history. The exhibit serves as a learning tool for classrooms and organizations throughout the area as well as an attraction for those visiting from out of town. In its new location on the first floor gallery, Changing Pass immediately greets visitors who walk through the door, inviting them to explore and reconsider what the borderlands are all about.
Covering more than 400 years of El Paso del Norte region history, Changing Pass begins with early Indigenous settlers and concludes with ASARCO in the 20th century. As visitors move through different exhibits, they are invited to explore how the El Paso del Norte area, along both sides of the Mexico-United States border, has been defined not only by the unique Chihuahuan desert but by the different groups, countries, and empires who sought to control it. New artifacts, interactive displays, and text panels encourage guests to examine how El Paso’s political, economic, social, environmental, cultural, and religious past has evolved across centuries.
Powerhouse of the Southwest: 120 years of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce
October 11, 2019 - March 15, 2020
Powerhouse of the Southwest: 120 Years of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce is part of EPMH’s exhibition series Wall of Giants, a multi-year project that has highlighted influential organizations within the El Paso region.
The latest EPMH exhibit will focus on major milestones in the El Paso Chamber of Commerce’s history like its founding in 1900 and the Chamber’s role in establishing the star on the mountain. The exhibit will also draw attention to the Chamber’s role in local and national history, like the meeting between American President William Howard Taft and Mexican President Porfirio Diaz in 1909 that took place inside the Chamber.
Faces and Places of the Chihuahuan Desert (Travelling Exhibit)
October 3, 2019 - November 30, 2019
Faces and Places of the Chihuahuan Desert is composed of thirty-one photographs from the work of University of Texas at El Paso professor emeritus Dr. Robert H. Schmidt. Dr. Schmidt’s background is in natural resources and physical geography. For the last three decades he has tracked changes in the Chihuahuan Desert. This exhibition presents, in visual form, an interpretation of scientific information about the region of the Chihuahuan Desert.
The exhibition will be available to the public from October 3, 2019 to November 30, 2019.
In addition to the exhibit, the El Paso Museum of History will be hosting "Faces & Places of the Chihuahuan Desert: A Humanities Texas Lecture Series." Designed as a complement to the photography installation, the lectures will occur once a month at 6 PM between October 2019 and June 2020. Topics for the lectures range in scope from environmental history to personal documentaries, from El Paso's food culture to the city's Korean community. The first lecture will occur on October 10, 2019.
Pasos Urbanos: A Photographic Narrative of Borderlands Downtown Culture
November 15, 2019 - April 12, 2019
Pasos Urbanos is composed of selected images from local photographers over the age of 18 currently residing within 150 miles of Downtown El Paso, including Ciudad Juarez. Earlier in August, EPMH put out a call for photography asking applicants to capture the vibrant culture and new developments that make Downtown an exciting, dynamic space. The binational component is meant to strengthen the relationship between the two sister cities, celebrating a shared past, present, and future.
Close to 500 images were submitted epitomizing downtown culture. Of the 98 photographers who submitted their work, 38 will have their images featured in Pasos Urbanos with 53 photographs chosen. The photographs were selected by a panel of community art administrators and two notable photographers from El Paso and Juarez.
Bases Loaded: El Paso and Beyond
July 11, 2019 - January 5, 2020
The exhibit celebrates the local and national history of baseball starting with its pre-Civil War origins to the El Paso Chihuahuas arriving in El Paso. In addition to tracing the evolution of baseball’s legacy as a national pastime, the exhibit also highlights baseball’s intersections with race, like the sport’s role in Mexico and key events in breaking the color barrier. As visitors move through the gallery, they are invited to explore how different groups across the United States have shaped baseball’s beginnings, rise, and continued popularity. Interactive displays, like a walkable baseball diamond and Chihuahuas fan photo booth, transform the space into an immersive historical experience.
Materials for the exhibit have been sourced from across El Paso’s enthusiastic baseball community. Many of the artifacts for Bases Loaded have been provided by Fernando Grado, an El Paso native and baseball enthusiast. His personal collection, which he began in his youth, includes local memorabilia from the Browns and Diablos as well as collectibles from eminent players like Jackie Robinson and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. Also on display are items borrowed from the El Paso Chihuahuas’ own archive.
Materials for the exhibit have been sourced from across El Paso’s enthusiastic baseball community. Many of the artifacts for Bases Loaded have been provided by Fernando Grado, an El Paso native and baseball enthusiast. His personal collection, which he began in his youth, includes local memorabilia from the Browns and Diablos as well as collectibles from eminent players like Jackie Robinson and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. Also on display are items borrowed from the El Paso Chihuahuas’ own archive.
Gifts and Prayers: The Romanovs and Their Subjects
September 28, 2019 - March 8, 2020
Appearing for the first time in the American Southwest, Gifts and Prayers displays a collection of objects from the Georgia Museum of Art (Athens, Georgia) including rare historical artifacts and sacred art from across centuries of the imperial family's rule (CE 1613-1917).
Diamond-encrusted swords, intricate military medals, gilded statuettes, ornate icons, and Fabergé-produced objects will adorn the museum, engaging the public in the lavish splendor of the Romanov era. Assembled by a single private collector, the collection has been virtually unknown for decades and has rarely been seen.
Looking for America: El Paso (Travelling Exhibit)
October 8, 2019 - November 23, 2019
The Looking for America tour is an effort to hear different perspectives on immigration in America through the lens of very different communities. At a time when Americans are more divided than ever, especially on the issue of immigration, Looking for America seeks to bring people together across political divides and answer the question, “What does it mean to be American?” This series serves to reveal what different Americans and communities think about immigration, how local culture and circumstance is shaping political perspectives across the United States, and how we can build more constructive dialogue and understanding at a time of increasing division and polarization across America.
The remaining host cities and regions include Anchorage, Alaska; Detroit, Michigan; Siouxland, Iowa; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Northwest Arkansas. In addition to local partners, the national organizers of Looking for America are New American Economy, the American University School of Public Affairs, and CuriosityConnects.us. These groups have come together to build a model for hosting constructive dialogue and civil discourse around pressing topics like immigration, which can eventually be shared and hosted in cities across each of the 50 states.
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