Pearce Museum at Navarro College

Step back in time, and experience two epic events of the 1800s - events which forged this country's national identity - the American Civil War and the westward expansion that followed. From the war-weary letter Colonel Joshua Chamberlain wrote to his wife from the Antietam battlefield to Howard Terpning's artistic interpretation of a Native American grandfather sharing wisdom with his grandchildren, these collections will give you the chance to appreciate the unthinkable sacrifices of the American soul, and the transformation of the American conscience during the last half of the 19th century.

Our mission is to preserve, collect, and interpret the history of the American Civil War and the art of the American West.

The Pearce Museum at Navarro College is divided into two distinct exhibit areas. The Civil War Gallery is an interactive experience designed to give the visitor a humanistic overview of the Civil War, including issues, causes, battles, leaders, plight of the common soldier, the home front, and the aftermath. There are currently more than 15,000 items in the Civil War collection, while less than five percent are on display at any one time.

The Western Art Gallery features two- and three-dimensional works of art depicting many aspects of the historical and contemporary Western experience including cowboys, Indians, settlers, and pioneers. There are 228 works in the Western Art collection; with not quite fifty percent of those pieces on exhibit at any one time.