‘A Walk Through Gaines County History’Pieces of history ranging from one of World War II’s most top-secret devices to a

collection of pre-Columbian artifacts are among the new items now on display at the

Seminole Museum in Seminole.

The museum, located at 700 Hobbs

Highway, seeks to reflect the peoples and

cultures who have inhabited the Gaines

County area, from the indigenous past to

the present, along with their institutions and

ways of life.

New at the museum is an exhibit of a

Norden Bombsight, which during World

War II was one of the United States’ most

highly guarded secrets. Used in high-alti-

tude bombers in both the European and Pa-

cific theaters, the Norden was also used to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima,

Japan in 1945, to help bring an end to the war.

The display includes information and photos on the bombsight, and a free handout

offers further details on the device, including the story of a Seminole man who, as a

serviceman in Big Spring during the war, worked on maintaining the top-secret weapon

for pilots in training.

Topping the Norden Bombsight exhibit

is a dramatic color painting of the Enola

Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the

bomb on Japan, by Seminole artist Kathy

Davis.

The Seminole Museum is also now host

to a wide-ranging exhibit of hundreds of

pre-Columbian, or Mesoamerican, arti-

facts.

The Mesoamerican civilization encom-

passed an area ranging from north of Mexico City south to the Honduras-Guatemala bor-

der. Among the cultures of that region, active from about 200 B.C. to 1300 A.D., were

the Aztec, Toltec, Maya, Olmec and

Teotihuacán.

Pieces in the exhibit include a wide range of pottery, figurines, jewelry, carvings,

The Seminole muSeum

700 Hobbs Highway — Seminole, Texas 79360 — (432) 758-4016

The Norden Bombsight display tells the story of

one of the most secret weapons of World War II.

Stone and ceramic figurines are among the hun-

dreds of artifacts of pre-Columbian cultures.

decorative and ceremonial items, tools, baskets and burial pieces.

Other museum highlights include:

n A collection of more than three dozen typewriters, tracing the instrument’s

evolution over the past 118 years;

n A century-old safe used in one of Seminole’s first banks;

n The Leon Foote Barbed Wire Collection, a sampling of more than 200 types of

barbed wire;

n An exhibit focusing on the sensational 1923 murders in Seminole of two cattle

inspectors by the notorious Tom Ross and his partner Milt Good, and the trials that

followed;

n A room dedicated to the men and women of Gaines County who have served their

country in the armed forces, along with a presentation of their uniforms and weapons of

past conflicts;

n A room representing an early 20th century Seminole home, complete with a wood-

burning stove and kerosene-powered irons;

n A section devoted to women’s fashions and quilts of the early 20th century.

n A unique collection of ranching and farming tools – many handmade – that range

from the late 19th century to the present, and a selection of vintage cattle brands used on

early ranches in the area;

n A display of a chuck wagon and utensils used on an area ranch before Gaines

County existed, and an array of horse tack and saddles;

n A collection of vintage photographic and movie cameras;

n A room reflecting an early 1900s Gaines County schoolroom, and a collection of

Seminole High School annuals.

All this and much more is available for viewing at the museum, and new items are

continually being added.

This past year also saw the organizing of the Friends of the Museum, which aims to

assist and support the goals of the Seminole Museum. The group’s purpose is to “promote

the collection, preservation, educational interpretation and displays of the artifacts,

documents and events most representative of Gaines County and Seminole, with

emphasis upon Seminole.”

The Seminole Museum is open from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday

through Friday. Admission is free. For more information on the museum or the Friends of

the Museum, call (432) 758-4016.

The Seminole muSeum

700 Hobbs Highway — Seminole, Texas 79360 — (432) 758-4016