Current exhibits
Etched Feathers: A History of the Printed Bird
MARCH 4, 2023 - OCTOBER 15, 2023
A History of the Printed Bird: Birds have mesmerized and inspired artists for centuries. Etched Feathers examines the works, and artistic processes, of John Costin and other bird artists and devotees, whose creations capture the essence of winged beauty.
Key West and the Florida Keys
APRIL 15 - OCTOBER 15, 2023
Mapping the History of the Conch Republic: Key West and the Florida Keys have played an outsized role in Florida’s history. First appearing on a Spanish map in 1511, the Keys had been home to the Tequesta and Calusa for thousands of years. In more modern times, Key West was at one point the largest city in Florida, home to wreckers, cigar makers, fisherfolk, and other colorful characters. Historical and modern maps and charts chronicle that past–see them at the Tampa Bay History Center’s latest exhibit, Key West and the Florida Keys, in the Saunders Foundation Gallery.
Upcoming exhibits
Florida in the 1920s
OCTOBER 15, 2023–OCTOBER 13, 2024
Bootleggers flooded Florida with illegal booze, flappers danced to jazz, and workers erected the first elaborate Art Deco buildings in Florida in the 1920s. At the same time, Mediterranean fruit flies attacked citrus groves and the state’s brutal convict-leasing program ensnared thousands. Visit the Tampa Bay History Center’s upcoming exhibition Florida in the 1920s to learn about these happenings and others that catapulted Florida into the modern era.
See how it all began during Florida in the 1920s, presented in the Wayne Thomas Gallery and the Touchton Map Library's Saunders Foundation Gallery.
Florida Front and Center
DIGITAL EXHIBITION
Photographic, audio, and video components invite online visitors from around the state, and country, to do a deep dive into Florida’s rich past. Florida Front and Center brings our history to the forefront and into the broader narrative of U.S. history. This exhibit highlights Florida's colonial...
Permanent exhibits
Touchton Map Library
The Touchton Map Library and Florida Center for Cartographic Education is home to thousands of maps, charts, and other documents dating back from the early European exploration of North America more than 500 years ago up through the early 21st century.
Treasure Seekers
Conquistadors, Pirates, and Shipwrecks: Featuring a 60-foot, 18th-century pirate ship as its centerpiece, this permanent gallery introduces you to the explorers who landed in “La Florida” more than 500 years ago as well as little-known pirates like “Calico” Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny, who prowled Florida’s coasts in the 1700s.
Past exhibits and virtual gallery tours
Founded in 1989 by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, the History Center opened its new 60,000-square-foot facility on Water Street in 2009. Since then, we've presented more than 50 exhibitions in the Wayne Thomas Gallery and Saunders Foundation Gallery. Explore the archive and discover past lectures, blog posts, and classroom resources.