Texas Border Business
WHAT: Smithsonian Exhibition “Hometown Teams”
WHEN: July 23 – Aug. 25; Opening Reception, June 26, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE: Room 2.114, UTRGV Library, Edinburg Campus, 1201 W. University Drive
Rio Grande Valley, Texas – Baseball. Soccer. Hockey. Bowling. Kickball. Surfing.
People around the country are drawn to compete in these sports and many others. Still more gather on the sidelines to cheer for their favorite athletes and teams. But nowhere do Americans more intimately connect to sports than in their hometowns.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Library, in cooperation with the Texas State Historical Association, will celebrate this connection as it hosts “Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America,” a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program.
“Hometown Teams” will be on view at the UTRGV Library on the Edinburg Campus from July 23 through Aug. 25.
The UTRGV Library and the surrounding community was chosen by the Texas State Historical Association to host “Hometown Teams” as part of the Museum on Main Street program — a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations.
The exhibition will tour seven communities in Texas from March 23 through Dec. 21.
View a short video about the exhibition at https://s.si.edu/1bSRDZd.
“Hometown Teams” captures the stories that unfold on a neighborhood’s fields and courts, and the underdog heroics, larger-than-life legends, fierce rivalries and gut-wrenching defeats.
“We are very pleased to be able to bring ‘Hometown Teams’ to the Valley,” said Sean Visintainer, head of Special Collections and University Archives at the UTRGV Library. “It allows us the opportunity to explore this fascinating aspect of our own region’s sports history, and we hope that it will inspire many to become even more involved in the cultural life of our community.”
“Allowing all of our state’s residents to have access to the cultural resources of our nation’s premiere museum is a priority of the Texas State Historical Association,” said Mary Katherine Marshall, director of Education Services. “With this special tour, we are pleased to be working with the UTRGV Library and Edinburg to help develop local exhibitions and public programs to compliment the Smithsonian exhibition.”
Free events include a local companion exhibition: “Hometown Teams: Football in the Upper Valley;” a digital exhibition, “Rio Grande Valley Hometown Teams,” which can be viewed at https://hometownteamsrgv.omeka.net/; and an opening reception from 6 – 8 p.m. Thursday, July 26. The opening reception will feature talks by local baseball historian Rene Torres and sports journalist Gregory Selber.
Museum on Main Street invites the public to share their local sports stories through the “Stories from Main Street” website at www.storiesfrommainstreet.org, or through the free mobile app available from the Mac App Store or the Google Play Store. Both platforms record and map the location reflected in the submission and will accept written and audio stories, as well as videos and photos. Selected submitted stories to “Stories from Main Street” will be featured on the website and app. The archived stories will serve as a searchable record of the unique experiences of life in American small towns. Each story can be searched via location or by topic.
The UTRGV Library also is accepting submissions from the public of their stories, images and memories regarding sporting in the Valley. Submissions will be stored in the University Library’s digital archives, and with permission from the submitter, can be published in the Library’s digital exhibition and digital collections.
Members of the community can share their stories with the Library at https://www.utrgv.edu/library/collections/archives/share-your-story/index.htm.
Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the U.S. Congress, as well as the Edcouch-Elsa ISD, Edinburg CISD, Harlingen Public Library, Hidalgo County Historical Commission, McAllen ISD, Mercedes ISD, Mission CISD, Pharr Memorial Library, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, and the Speer Memorial Library.
