Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry - History & Exhibits

The Texas Military Forces Museum, located at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, honors and tells the story of the Texas military forces from 1823, when the first ranging companies of volunteers were mustered, to the present-day Texas National Guard and Texas State Guard. The museum originated from an idea by the Texas adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Willie L. Scott, in 1986 when he suggested that the historical artifacts owned by the Texas National Guard should have their own home and be viewable by the public. He tasked Brig. Gen. John C. L. Scribner, the command historian for the Texas National Guard, to establish a museum without any additional state funding. Scribner began soliciting monetary donations, archival materials, and historical artifacts for the future museum. In 1980 a museum Hall of Honor program was also initiated to recognize “outstanding military service and leadership of individuals” as members of the State Guard, Army National Guard, and Air National Guard.

In 1990 Maj. Gen. William C. Wilson designated Camp Mabry’s Building 6, built in 1918 as a mess hall for the World War I-era School of Automobile Mechanics stationed at Camp Mabry, as the home of the Texas Military Forces Museum. The original exhibits were modest in size and only occupied about 6,000 square feet of the 45,000 in Building 6. The first exhibits were funded entirely through donations and constructed using borrowed tools and volunteer labor. The museum officially opened to the public on November 14, 1992.

In 2006 the museum was renamed the Brigadier General John C. L. Scribner Texas Military Forces Museum in honor of the contributions and dedication that General Scribner provided the museum since 1986. For almost two decades the museum worked on a strictly volunteer basis, but in 2007 it was recognized that the museum needed professional staff to maintain and grow the collections. In response, during the next two years, three staff members were hired on a full-time basis to operate the museum.  Also in 2007 the museum underwent significant renovations in addition to major upgrades to its collection storage facilities. Between 2008 and 2025 the exhibits were thoroughly reorganized, expanded, and updated.

As of 2026 the museum exhibits encompass more than 26,000 square feet. Organized chronologically these exhibits cover the Texas Revolution, the Texas Navy, the Texas Republic, the battles along the Texas frontier, and the Civil War, along with the contributions of Texas volunteer units in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars. With the creation of the National Guard in 1903, the exhibits focus on the role of the Texas Army National Guard during the Mexican border troubles of 1915–17, in World War I, and World War II, with a special exhibit on the loss of the USS Houston during the battle of Sundra Strait in February 1942. Upon the creation of the Air National Guard in 1947, the museum’s coverage expands to include the Texas Air National Guard, including its deployment during the Korean War. Exhibits also detail the activities of the Texas Army and Air Guard during the Cold War; various peace keeping missions around the globe; the Global War on Terror, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; along with domestic operations undertaken by the Texas Army and Air National Guard and Texas State Guard such as disaster response, support for civil authorities, and border protection.

In late 2025 the museum was home to more than 30,000 three-dimensional artifacts, more than 35,000 images in various mediums, and 4,500 linear feet of archival material; a library and archives are available by appointment. The museum boasts a large collection of military vehicles and aircraft, some of which are maintained in running condition. The majority of these are housed outside the museum building and on Camp Mabry’s parade ground, though a significant number are inside the museum itself. Included among the museum’s macro artifact collection are jet aircraft (F-84, F-86, F-4, F-16), helicopters (AH-1 “Cobra,” UH1 Huey, Kiowa), and many towed artillery pieces (from the Texas Revolution, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam War, Cold War), support vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and tanks (M4 Sherman, M3 Stuart, M26 Pershing, M24 Chaffee, Hetzer tank destroyer, M48 Patton, M60, M60A1, M60A3, M1 Abrams), an Honest John Rocket (tactical nuclear weapon), self-propelled guns (WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Cold War), engineer vehicles, jeeps, staff cars, and halftracks (German and U.S. WWII). Among the most remarkable large artifacts at the museum are a VH-34 Choctaw transport helicopter that was Army One for presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy and the Merci-boxcar given to Texas by the French in 1949 as a thank you for American relief efforts following World War II.

The museum is home to a vibrant living history program, and each year its living history detachment of volunteer reenactors stages a variety of events that demonstrate period tactics and showcase operational weapons, tanks, artillery pieces, and vehicles, all of which are incorporated into blank firing demonstrations and battle reenactments. These events cover the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. Each July the museum hosts a Hands On History night where visitors can climb into cockpits, tanks, and other vehicles as well as pick up and hold weapons and other equipment.

As a collecting institution, the museum continues to accept artifacts and archival material related to the history of the Texas Military Forces.