Texas Heritage Museum launches interactive Tiki-Toki timelines to bring history to life

  Ashlee Ferguson
  Tuesday, August 18, 2026 8:29 AM
  Texas Heritage Museum

Hillsboro, TX

The Texas Heritage Museum at Hill College has expanded its visitor experience with the addition of interactive Tiki-Toki timelines, offering guests a new way to explore the stories behind artifacts and the people who shaped military history.

Made possible through a grant from the Make All the Difference Foundation (MAD Foundation), the project enhances the museum experience by providing visitors with additional audio and visual content, historical photographs, videos, and in-depth information about select artifacts. The grant also funded the purchase of a high-quality scanner that allows the museum to digitize historical photographs and documents, helping preserve and share the museum's collections for generations to come.

Installed throughout the museum, the digital timelines provide visitors with multimedia content—including historical photographs, videos, audio recordings, and personal accounts—that complements the museum's exhibits and encourages deeper exploration. Using QR codes placed throughout the galleries, visitors can access additional historical context on their own devices while touring the museum.

Tiki-Toki is an interactive timeline platform that allows museums, educators, and researchers to present historical events in a chronological, multimedia format. Rather than simply viewing an artifact, visitors can explore the broader story surrounding it through documents, photographs, videos, and first-hand accounts, creating a richer and more engaging learning experience.

"We would like to thank the Make All the Difference Foundation for awarding us this wonderful grant that has allowed us to enhance every visitor's experience through this new platform," said John Versluis, executive director and chief curator of the Texas Heritage Museum. "Not only does it give our guests access to richer stories through audio and visual elements, but it also provides us with the tools to preserve our historical collections by digitizing photographs and documents for future generations."

The project was researched and developed by Texas Heritage Museum interns Audrey Turner and Robin Veninga, who spent weeks researching artifacts, locating historical resources, and building digital content that connects museum objects with the people and events behind them. While the initial timelines have been completed, the project will continue to grow as additional research and content are added.

"One of my favorite parts of this project was discovering personal letters written by Civil War soldiers," Turner said. "Hearing those words brought history to life in a way that artifacts alone sometimes can't. Tiki-Toki allows us to connect visitors with those very human stories through audio, video, and other digital media, making history more meaningful for people with different learning styles."

Veninga said the project also provided an opportunity to highlight stories that are often overlooked.

"I especially enjoyed researching the role of women during the Civil War," Veninga said. "Many served as spies, nurses, fundraisers, and organizers, yet those stories aren't always represented in traditional exhibits. Tiki-Toki gives us the opportunity to expand on the objects in the museum and provide visitors with the broader historical context that helps bring those artifacts to life."

The interns worked alongside museum staff to research each topic, verify historical information, locate multimedia resources, and organize content into an accessible, user-friendly timeline format. They also faced the challenge of placing artifacts into their historical context, particularly when exact dates or origins were difficult to determine.

Beyond enhancing the visitor experience, the project also provided valuable professional experience for the student interns.

"This project challenged us to think about how people connect with history in today's digital world," Turner said. "Technology can't replace seeing an artifact in person, but it can deepen that experience by helping visitors understand the people, emotions, and stories connected to each object."

Veninga added that the experience has strengthened her interest in museum research and public history.

"I hope to work in museums in the future, and this project gave me the opportunity to develop research skills while thinking about what visitors genuinely want to learn," she said. "It's rewarding to know the work we've done will continue to educate and engage people long after our internship."

The interactive timelines are now available throughout the Texas Heritage Museum and will continue to expand as additional topics and historical research are added.

 

About the Texas Heritage Museum

The Texas Heritage Museum at Hill College serves an active role in the educational and service missions of the college. Home to the Official Texas State Medal of Honor Memorial to Native-Born Texans, the museum preserves and shares the stories of Texans during wartime through exhibits, research, educational programming, and community engagement.