Art, History & Science

The Briscoe Center has extensive collections that illuminate major topics in American history as well as the world’s largest archive documenting Texas history. 

Featured Exhibit
Struggle for Justice: Four Decades of Civil Rights Photography features images from the center’s vast photojournalism collections that provide compelling visual evidence of the struggles, flashpoints, and achievements of the civil rights movement—from Jim Crow to Black Power. Struggle for Justice includes images from the Spider Martin, Flip Schulke, and Charles Moore photographic archives, as well as many others.

This exhibit runs November 10, 2017 — July 21, 2018

Address
2300 Red River St.

Hours
Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 
Saturday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Holiday Hours
The Briscoe Center will be closed for winter break starting Saturday, December 22, 2018. The Center will reopen Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

Cost
Free Admission

Get lost in the tranquil halls and world-class collection of the Blanton Museum of Art with over 18,000 works from European paintings to contemporary Latin American art.

Featured Exhibit
Ellsworth Kelly's Austin

In January 2015, the renowned American artist Ellsworth Kelly gifted to the Blanton the design concept for his most monumental work, a 2,715-square-foot stone building with luminous colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and fourteen black and white marble panels. Titled Austin, honoring the artist’s tradition of naming particular works for the places for which they are destined, the structure is the only building the artist designed, and will be his most lasting legacy. Envisioned by Kelly as a site for joy and contemplation, Austin is a cornerstone of the Blanton’s permanent collection and will enrich the lives of visitors from around the world.

Address
200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Hours
Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday, 1 - 5 p.m.

Holiday Hours
We are closed for the holidays on Tuesday, December 25 and Tuesday, January 1. We’ll be open for our normal operating schedule otherwise, so open every day except Mondays.

Cost
UT faculty, students, staff: Free
Blanton Members: Free
Adults: $12 Seniors (65+): $10
College students with valid ID: $5
Youth (13-21): $5
Children 12 and under: Free
Teachers (with valid school ID): Free 
Active Military: Free

Explore the collections at the Harry Ransom Center. View award-winning photography and film collections next to the Gutenberg Bible and the first photograph.

Featured Exhibit: Ed Ruscha: Archeology and Romance

On View through January 6, 2018

Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance is the first major exhibition drawn from the Ransom Center's Edward Ruscha Papers and Art Collection. Featuring more than 150 objects, the exhibition presents Ruscha's celebrated books, photographs, drawings, and prints alongside unpublished archival production materials, layout sketches, and studio notebooks.

Organized by Dr. Jessica S. McDonald, the Nancy Inman and Marlene Nathan Meyerson Curator of Photography, Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance examines the stages of conception, design, and production leading to the publication of Ruscha's groundbreaking artist's books, and provides audiences with an unprecedented look into Ruscha's creative process.

At the same time, Ed Ruscha: Archaeology and Romance explores Ruscha's persistent engagement with the artifacts of American popular culture, including vernacular architecture, commercial signage, the iconography of the road, and the manufactured romance of Hollywood. The exhibition explores the ways in which the motifs introduced in those landmark books—motifs such as the gasoline station, the apartment building, the palm tree, and the swimming pool—have inspired later works in other media.

Address
300 West 21st Street

Hours
Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday evening hours to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Holiday Hours: 

The Ransom Center is closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but its galleries are otherwise open during the holidays. The Reading and Viewing Room and administrative office are closed beginning Saturday, December 22, and reopen on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

Cost
Free

Stroll around the Landmarks public art collection. UT's 350-acre campus becomes an open air museum with monumental, creative art accenting the architectural landscape.

Take a self-guided tour using a public art campus map or a mobile device. From the Landmarks mobile website, visitors can access an interactive map, listen to audio guides and read artist information from individual collection pages, all while viewing the collection.

Hours
Some of the Landmarks pieces are displayed inside campus buildings that may be viewed during each facility’s regular operating hours, but many of the best-known works are in open air for visitors to see any time.

Cost
Free

Note: Due to the federal government’s budgetary shutdown, the LBJ Presidentially Library will be closed to the public until further notice.

Step inside the politics and culture of the 1960s at the LBJ Presidential Library. Permanent exhibits discuss the civil rights movement, the assassination of President Kennedy and a replica of LBJ's Oval Office.

Featured Exhibit

The replica of the Oval Office on the 10th floor of the LBJ Library duplicates President Johnson's office in the White House at 7/8th scale. The office looks exactly as it did during Johnson's Presidency, including the desk he used beginning in his Senate days through the White House years, his books and the three televisions that kept him apprised of the news, and a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, Johnson said, gave him his great desire for public office.

Address 

2313 Red River St.

Hours
Every day 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Closed on Federal holidays

Admission Prices:
Adults: $10
Seniors (62 and over) with valid ID: $7
Former military with valid ID: $5
Youth 13-17: $3
College students with valid ID: $3

Free admission to:
Children 12 and under
Active duty military
Members of Friends of the LBJ Library and Future Forum membership groups
Members of other NARA Presidential Libraries
Student groups (including school staff) with reservations
The University of Texas at Austin students, faculty, and staff with valid ID

Discover fossils, meteorites, gems, minerals, and Texas wildlife at Texas Memorial Museum.

Permanent exhibits include spectacular specimens such as the 30 foot long Onion Creek Mosasaur, an extinct reptile that swam the shallow sea that once covered much of the state 80 million years ago. An audio tour is available via cell phone on site and podcasts available on the museum’s website.

Address
2400 Trinity St.

Hours
Tuesday - Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Holiday Hours
Texas Memorial Museum will be open regular hours through December 22, 2018. The museum will be closed December 23-January 1, but will reopen with regular hours on January 2, 2019. 

Cost
UT faculty, students, staff: Free
Adults: $7
College students with valid ID: $4
Children 2-12: $5
Children under 2: Free