Witte Museum

Curating Moments of Discovery at the Witte Museum

By Elizabeth Bobbitt | Photography by Lynn Yao

 

For many in 78209 and beyond, the Witte Museum is a beloved fixture of San Antonio’s museum circuit. From the Naylor Family Dinosaur Gallery, where visitors can marvel at the footprints of an Acrocanthosaurus recovered from Government Canyon Natural State Area, to the nationally-celebrated “Black Cowboys: An American Story” exhibit, the Witte works to bring Texas’ diverse stories to life.

 

As the museum prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026, CEO and President Michelle Cuellar Everidge, PhD, is at the helm of a blockbuster program of exhibitions and interactive events that aim to preserve the museum’s original mission, while providing access to cutting-edge scholarship in paleontology, archeology, and history. 

 

“The museum was founded in 1926 by Ellen Schulz Quillin, a schoolteacher and botanist, who brought the idea of ‘learning by doing’ to the museum. We want the Witte to be a place where visitors feel transformed by their visit, whether that’s through an immersive experience or by hearing a story they’ve never heard before,” Everidge says. 

 

Everidge and her team are poised to deepen the role that the museum plays as a nexus of scientific and historical discovery.

 

“We want to be able to share these discoveries more widely. While much of this research is conducted at universities, we have families who are here all the time, and we are really excited to be able to provide access to these new findings,” Everidge says.

 

 

Celebrating the Witte’s 100th Birthday

 

Next year’s centennial celebrations will include a year-long schedule of exhibitions and related events specifically curated to honor the Witte’s first one hundred years and to set the stage for its future growth. These events will provide a rare glimpse into the museum’s vast collection.

 

“The museum houses close to 400,000 artifacts, but we only show 1% of what our collection holds. These exhibits will allow us to tell new stories with artifacts that we have not been able to display until now,” Everidge says.

 

The Witte’s centennial celebrations will kick off next October with a birthday bash marking the anniversary of the museum’s opening.

 

“We will invite the community to celebrate our history with music, dancing, food, and activities. It’s going to be a big party,” Everidge says.

 

Next spring, the museum will mount its “Witte Museum: 100 Years” exhibit, based on Marise McDermott’s upcoming book, The Witte Museum: 100 Years of Inspiration, Innovation, and Resilience.

 

“We are telling the story of the Witte through the people who made the museum what it is today. This exhibit will display treasures from the collection tracing the history of the museum’s development over time,” Everidge says. “Adventures in Texas Deep Time” will spotlight the scientific research currently being conducted at the museum.

 

“It’s going to be about the latest paleontological and archeological findings that are happening here at the Witte. It tackles how our scholars are using the latest technology in these fields to make groundbreaking finds right here in San Antonio. For example, we have a mosasaur – an aquatic reptile from the late Cretaceous period – found in a creek bed in the city,” Everidge says.

 

The Witte’s centennial year will also see the museum host two traveling exhibits from the American Museum of Natural History, entitled “Unseen Oceans: An Exploration of the Deep” and “Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs.”

 

“We will have fifteen pterosaurs hanging from the ceiling in the Mays Family Center, where we will be able to introduce San Antonians to flight in the age of the dinosaurs,” Everidge says.

 

 

A Museum with a Mission

 

When asked to define the Witte’s wider role within the community, Everidge’s message is clear: the museum aims to inspire visitors to shape the future of Texas through transformative and relevant experiences of nature, science, and culture.

 

“Looking to our next one hundred years, it’s important to think about all of the people who came to the Witte as kids but maybe haven’t visited again since then,” Everidge says.

 

As the Witte’s centennial year approaches, Everidge is extending an invitation of welcome to those who once pulled up to the front of the museum on a school bus.

 

“The Witte is your museum, and you are part of its story,” Everidge says.