The Texas Historical Commission’s 10th Annual Real Places Conference will take place April 8–10 in Austin.
Presented by the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission in partnership with Phoenix I Restoration and Construction, LLC, the Real Places conference is the premier historic preservation and heritage tourism event in the Lone Star State, where anyone interested in protecting our past can work directly with industry-leading experts to learn practical, actionable solutions to apply in their community. Attendees can participate either in person or virtually.
The conference brings together professionals and volunteers from diverse disciplines and organizations that make historic preservation happen in Texas. The conference provides an opportunity for preservationists and officials to network and learn with County Historical Commissions, Main Street managers, board members and participants, historic preservation officers and design review boards, architects and engineers, historians, archeologists, curators, interpreters, educators, nonprofit staff and volunteers, managers of museums and historic sites, as well as THC staff, Texas Heritage Trail Regions, and many partner organizations.
The packed schedule features more than 50 workshops, tours, and sessions; over 100 expert speakers from across Texas and the U.S.; several keynote presentations; and a number of fun networking events. If you join the conference online, you will be able to stream all conference sessions, and the recordings will be archived for viewing up to 60 days after the conference. In fact, the recordings will be available to all attendees—both in person and virtual—so you’ll be able to watch those great presentations you had to miss because you had to choose between concurrent sessions. In addition to the regular programming, Real Places 2026 will feature in-person pre-conference workshops for various audiences on Wednesday, April 7th. Learn more and sign up at realplaces.us
Kay Timme, Tyler County Historical Commission Chair and TCHC members John Hadnot and Lala Elrod (who also serves as Museum Manager of the Allan Shivers Museum) will represent your local Historical Commission and Tyler County at this conference. They are excited to attend a variety of sessions to learn more about historic preservation and museum best practices that can be applied to County endeavors. In addition, the Allan Shivers Museum will be represented at the Conference as a Partner in Preservation along with over 30 other organizations from across the state. This networking opportunity will bring awareness of the Shivers Museum and Tyler County to conference attendees from around the state and beyond.
