June 5 Family Friday

Lonesome Dove

Cowboy up and join the Museum of the Southwest and Midland County Public Libraries as we explore the West and the artwork of Lonesome Dove. You are welcome to participate in the activities below at your own pace and in any order. Click through all of the slides for each activity to take you through your adventures as a cowboy or cowgirl in West Texas.

Activity One:

Living Room Tents and Campfire Stories

Long-distance cattle and horse drives were common in Texas as early as 1836. Do you have the True Grit it takes to join our cowboys on the long trail ride, sleeping under the stars at stops along the way?

Click on the next slides to build your camping tent or fort and then sit around the "campfire" and enjoy stories from the trail!

Step One:

Create a tent or fort in your living room. Use pillows, blankets, and chairs to make the perfect camping tent or fort in your living room.

Need ideas? Click on the image above to check out IKEA's digrams to help you build the perfect fort for your West Texas cattle drive.

When you have built your fort and are ready to cozy in for some campfire stories, please move on to the next slides for stories for everyone in your family. If you have a story to share, please keep clicking until the very end!

For our littlest cowfolk:

Campfire Story #1

Click here to join!

For our early elementary cowfolk:

Campfire Story #2

Click here to join!

For our upper elementary and beyond cowfolk:

Campfire Story #3

Click here to join!

Show and Tell with Cowgirl Kate

Do you have a campfire story to share?

Click here to send us your story.

Activity Two:

Design a Brand

Learn about the history of cattle brands and the ranches they represent. Then create one of your own.

To get started, please click on the next slide for Step One.

Step One:

Learn about what cattle brands are and how to read the brands before you design your own.

Click Play to get started.

Step Three

Decide on a name for your brand. Will you use your family name or will you create a unique name for your ranch?

Use paper or your sketchbook and pencil to draw out a simple design for your brand that represents your name. Remember that the letters, numbers, and shapes should connect so that they could be made out of one long line.

Step Four

Use pipe cleaners to create the shape of the brand that you drew. Can you make your brand using just one pipe cleaner or do you need more than one?

Lead a Cattle Drive:

Do you have what it takes to get your cattle to market? Play this online game to test your skills!

Activity Three:

Paper Cowboys and Cowgirls

Design your own cowboy hat out of paper plates and create an outfit for your paper cowboy or cowgirl to keep them protected from the sun and dust on the cattle trail.

Gather your supplies and click on the next slide to get started.

Paper Doll Cowfolk

Click here to create a paper doll online or print the slides to create one at home.

Activity Four:

Capture Your Image

Dress in your best Western gear, whether you have the clothes in your closet or you make them with supplies you find around your home. Then get inspired by the images from the Museum of the Southwest's Lonesome Dove exhibition to capture your best cowboy poses and share them with us on social media.

Ready to get started? Click on the next slide to view some of our favorite cowboy images from Lonesome Dove.

Gus and Call on the Mesa

Bill Wittliff
1988

Gus and Call

Bill Wittliff
1988

Stolen Horses

Bill Wittliff
1988

Gus on the Front Porch

Bill Wittliff
1988

Take your photos

Get styled and have fun taking Western-style photos of you and your family.

If you don't have the real gear, what can you use to make what you need?

How can you edit the photos to make them look vintage?

Ready to Share?

Share your western photos with us! Tag the Museum of the Southwest (@MuseumSW on facebook or @MuseumoftheSouthwest on Instagram) and Midland County Public Libraries (@tallcitylibraries) for points to count toward the Summer Reading Program. If you haven’t registered for the Summer Reading Program.
To register for summer reading, please visit: http://midland.readsquared.com/

Activity Five:

Explore Your Public Library

Learn more about the West, catch up on historic tall tails, and discover what life was like as a cowboy on the trails. Check out these curated ebook reading lists from Midland County Public Libraries and sign up for a library card to check out books in person.

Visit Your Public Library:

Click to download a list of Western-themed books to check out from your branch of the Midland County Public Libraries.

Explore Books Online:

Click to access books online and learn more about the West.

Need a library card?

Click to get a card online.

Parents' section

Have you enjoyed exploring the West with your kids? Join the Museum of the Southwest and Midland County Public Libraries for more fun just for the grownups or for the whole family.

Visit the Exhibition: Lonesome Dove is on view at the Museum of the Southwest from June through September 2020. Enjoy free admission to the exhibition with your library card. Please visit museumsw.org for opening information and Museum hours.

Read or watch Lonesome Dove: Check out the book or the mini series from the library, purchase them online, download to your tablet, or stream through your favorite provider.

The Lonesome Dove exhibition is generously supported by our Platinum Sponsor Rosalind Redfern Grover; Gold Sponsors Kay B. Bird, Nancy Gibson and The Piedra Companies; and Silver Sponsor EOG Resources, Inc. We are also grateful to the Rea Charitable Trust, which provides annual exhibition funding to the Museum of the Southwest. This program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.