Tall Tales and True Tellings: Firearms Research from the Collections of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

During the summer of 2018, I embarked on a three-month project with the collections staff of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum to examine a selection of firearms in their collection and assess their provenance, condition, and projected insurance value. I completed this project using research skills from my undergraduate studies in History as well as those I learned in collections management as a graduate student and as a graduate assistant working at the Mayborn Museum Complex. The culmination of this project was a report summarizing my findings as well as suggesting updated insurance values for each of the objects which I examined. In addition, I included an appendix with suggested updates to signage in light of new information discovered during my research.