The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History strives to create a lifelong learning environment for the community of Fort Worth, Texas. The museum has a focus on science and history, particularly when either are associated with Texas. Information about Major General Worth can be found in the the museum's library and archive, which also contains the history of the museum itself.
In 1941, the charter for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History was established. At the time, it was called the Fort Worth Children's Museum. It was very small and was originally housed in two rooms of a local school. The collection moved to a number of locations until 1954, when the museum found a permanent home. In the late 1960s, the name of the museum was changed from the Fort Worth Children's Museum to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, to encourage all individuals to visit, not just children.
The mission of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is to encourage learning and continuing education about science as well as history, specifically that of the American Southwest. To accomplish this, the museum has created interactive exhibits on topics such as computers, the geology of the area, and the history of Texas. The museum is also home to a planetarium, that provides education about astronomy and space.
The museum's science collections cover numerous disciplines. The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History houses minerals, dinosaur fossils, birds, and mammals. The collection includes a herbarium that consists of a vast number of plants native to the United States, especially Texas. Along with these specimens, the museum also owns a teaching collection of replicas of certain objects that can be used for hands-on teaching purposes.
The library and archives of the museum are available to researchers as well. The institution's library consists largely of books that pertain to objects or exhibits on display in the museum, such as books about fossils or minerals or the history of Texas. The archives of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History contain information on a number of topics. There is a small collection related to the life and work of Major General William Jenkins Worth, for whom both the city and the museum are named. Other archival collections include information about birds, as well as the history of the museum itself.
