Nevada State Museum exhibit 'Old Spanish Trail' reported as a success; museum seeks to travel show

Representatives of the Nevada State Museum updated the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial on a recent bilingual exhibit, The Old Spanish Trail: Connecting a Network of Paths, funded in part by the Centennial Commission.

Hollis Gillespie, director of the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas, and Joseph Diaz, curator of history and material culture, said the exhibit ran Nov. 15, 2024, through July 7, 2025, and that the museum recorded roughly 115,000 visitors and extensive school group participation during the run. Gillespie said funding from the commission allowed the museum to build reusable exhibit platforms and to purchase education materials for future programming.

“We hit about 115,000 visitors and school groups. It was a real hit for us,” Gillespie said. The museum reported that exhibit elements are being repurposed for future shows and that the museum is in talks with potential hosts such as the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles and the New Mexico History Museum to take portions of the exhibit on the road.

The museum also said it will collaborate with the Old Spanish Trail Society to host the society’s annual conference at the museum next year. Museum staff noted some loaned artifacts will need to be returned to lending institutions as part of any traveling schedule and that substitutes may be required for touring versions of the exhibit.

Why it matters: The exhibit engaged substantial audiences in Las Vegas and produced durable assets (platforms and educational materials) that the museum plans to reuse; touring the exhibit could extend reach and preserve a wider swath of regional history.

What’s next: The museum is exploring traveling arrangements and will host the Old Spanish Trail Society conference in the coming year.