About our Online Exhibits...
The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past (ITP) at the University of Texas at Austin was created by Dr. Martha Norkunas to shed new light on the Texas and American past by researching, interpreting and presenting the histories of women and minority communities. Working closely with museums, historic sites, and small nonprofits, Dr. Norkunas teaches interdisciplinary teams of graduate students to think critically about memory, history, and culture and to apply their knowledge to social and cultural issues.

ITP has produced award winning films, web sites, exhibits, educational material, posters, brochures, oral history booklets, an in-depth oral history project with African Americans in Texas, and an oral history project exploring mixed race identity among college students.

For several years The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past worked with the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center as the featured museum. Each semester graduate students from the University of Texas visited the museum, talked with site staff, and created focused interpretive projects. Ms. Bernadette Phifer, Curator of the Carver Museum, along with Dr. Norkunas, guided the development of the projects. Faith Weaver, Culture and Arts Education Specialist (Archives), facilitated the web transfer of the exhibits.

ITP is an initiative of the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium, created by Dr. Richard Cherwitz (spaj737@uts.cc.utexas.edu) Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The IE Consortium is committed to building interdisciplinary, collaborative, and sustainable ways for universities to work with their communities to solve complex problems. For more information, please see: https://webspace.utexas.edu/cherwitz/www/ie/

For more information about the Project in Interpretive the Texas Past, please contact Dr. Martha Norkunas, Director of the Project in Interpreting the Texas Past and the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Oral History & Diversity Project, Department of Anthropology, C3200, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78727, m.norkunas@mail.utexas.edu

ITP is funded by the University of Texas College of Liberal Arts, College of Communication, College of Fine Arts, the School of Information, the Department of History, the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium, and the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. Major funding for historic site projects was awarded by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Summerlee Foundation, and the Houston Endowment.