Texas Country Music Hall of Fame

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. 

The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is a temple of cultural history, celebrating the preeminence of Texan artists in a hugely popular musical genre. The TCMHOF is located in Carthage, the seat of Panola County, which is an especially fitting site. Both Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves are natives of Panola County, which is the only county in the United States to claim two members of Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame.



The Panola County Chamber of Commerce is housed in a
grand old home, and the Tex Ritter Museum was established
on the second floor

Tex Ritter was the fifth inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as the second president of the Country Music Association (the first CMA president was another Texan, Gene Autry). Although Tex was a teenager when his immediate family moved to the Beaumont area, he returned to Panola County to visit relatives until his death in 1974. As director of the Panola County Chamber of Commerce, Tommie Ritter Smith dreamed of establishing a Tex Ritter Museum. Tommie obtained a major donation of memorabilia from Dorothy Fay Ritter and her sons, Tom and John. Their only stipulation was that any student or student group should be granted free admission to the museum. The Tex Ritter Museum was opened on the second floor of the grand old house where the Chamber of Commerce is headquartered.


The new TCMHOF building opened in 2002.

With Tommie Ritter Smith outside the
Chamber of Commerce building.

Tommie Ritter Smith soon conceived of a significant expansion, from the Tex Ritter Museum to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. She obtained a charter from the state, while local support was lined up and a board was organized. Tommie asked me to write a biography of Tex Ritter, offering a wealth of archival materials, including hundreds of glossy photos covering his entire career. I was permitted to keep all of the materials in my home office for nearly a year. When published in 1998 the book featured 200 photos.

The book was completed in time for the 1998 opening of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. A large crowd from Nashville came to Carthage for the August ceremonies, and the annual induction of the TCMHOF continues to be an important event in the C&W industry. The charter inductees in 1998 included Tex Ritter, Jim Reeves, Gene Autry, and Willie Nelson, who arrived in his bus shortly before the performance following appearances in Colorado. Tom and John Ritter - by now a major TV star - were present to represent their father. A capacity crowd of 1,100 enjoyed spectacular performances, and many stayed late as Willie Nelson delivered an impromptu concert beside his bus until two in the morning. Willie has since returned, for his 70th birthday party and to perform at the inductions of his friends Kris Kristofferson and Ray Price.

In 2002 a permanent home for the TCMHOF was opened beside the Chamber of Commerce building. A larger-than-life statue of Tex Ritter and his beloved horse White Flash overlooks the approach of the TCMHOF. A few miles east of Carthage, an impressive statue of Jim Reeves dominates his two-acre gravesite park. Many fans visit the Jim Reeves Park, and many more - sometimes by the busload - tour the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame exhibits.

Of course, the annual TCMHOF induction weekend is a major tourist attraction for Carthage. In addition to inductee performances - and there are posthumous inductions of deceased performers such as Bob Wills and Gene Autry and Lefty Frizzell, as well as Ritter and Reeves - there are special appearances by guest stars. Such inductees as Hank Thompson and his Brazos Valley Boys, Tanya "The Texas Tornado" Tucker, Jimmy Dean, the Gatlin Brothers, Johnny Rodriguez, the Texas Playboys, and, of course, Willie Nelson, have electrified the crowds. Grammy-winner Linda Davis from Panola County is an inductee who has made several crowd-pleasing appearances. The star power that radiates from Carthage each August draws larger and larger crowds. This year was the 15th anniversary of the TCMHOF, and the annual event was moved to a new Civic Center with a larger seating capacity. Indeed, the museum needs more exhibit space - the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is a hit!

The logo of the TCMHOF is proudly displayed 
in the museum gift shop.

A display honoring Dale Evans and Red Steagall

                     

In 2006 the Gatlin brothers - Steve, Larry, and Rudy -

gave a memorable performance.

  
                        

Willie Nelson has electrified several crowds 
at the TCMHOF.

Jim Reeves began his entertainment career as a disk jockey. 

One of several display cases honoring Tex Ritter 

        

The Wall of Fame commemorates every 
member of the TCMHOF.

          

Statute of Jim Reeves at his gravesite

For more information:
http://www.carthagetexas.com/HallofFame/index.html

Long Before the Pilgrims

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.  

Long before the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621, a similar feast of thanks was conducted in a region now known as Texas. In 1598 Mexican conquistador Juan de Oñate led an expedition northward to establish the colony of Nuevo Mejico. After surviving life-threatening hardships in the deserts of northern Mexico, the expedition emerged to safety at El Paso del Norte. To celebrate their salvation, Oñate and his colonists joined Native Americans in a feast on April 30, 1598 - the First Thanksgiving.



Our little book about the first Thanksgiving
was published in hardback in 2000, and
remains in print in softcover.



Several years ago I was urged by Ed Eakin, founder of Eakin Press, and by editor Melissa Locke Roberts to write this story for fourth-graders. Melissa skillfully guided me through the process of writing history for juveniles, and Eakin Press secured an experienced illustrator, Polsky Morgan. Since the story is an Hispanic adventure, I enlisted my oldest daughter, Lynn O'Neal Martinez. Lynn is the wife of Tejano Rudy Martinez, a banker from Corpus Christi, and they are the parents of two wonderful girls, my oldest grandchildren. As a college student Lynn studied Spanish, including a term in Mexico, and she became an elementary school teacher specializing in bilingual education.



Lynn O'Neal Martinez
translated our book with
the help of her students.
This photo credit should
go to her older daughter,
Chloe, while little sister
Jessie directed her mother
to raise her head and
smile more.



We decided that this book should be bilingual, with a page of English opposite a corresponding page of Spanish. After I completed this book in English, Lynn translated it into Spanish. At that time she was teaching fifth-graders at John H. Reagan Elementary in Dallas, where she was awarded Teacher of the Year honors. She read her translation to her students, who excitedly interrupted her from time to time. "Teacher! Teacher! Here's how we say that...."



Throughout the book a page of English faces a corresponding page of Spanish.
Illustrations were created by Polsky Morgan.



      Lynn's final translation combined formal Spanish with age-appropriate vernacular that was a major strength of the book. Of course, it was a delightful experience for me to collaborate with my daughter on a book. And Lynn's Tejano students, while working with their teacher on the translation, became familiar with a story of heroism and importance in Texas history.

Juan de Oñate was one of the wealthiest men in Mexico during the late 1500s. His wife was a granddaughter of conquistador Hernan Cortes and a great-granddaughter of the great Aztec chief, Montezuma. Oñate wanted to conquer a new frontier for Mexico, and he persuaded the Viceroy of Mexico, a personal friend, to appoint him as governor and captain-general of New Mexico to the north. Governor Oñate spent three years organizing a colonization expedition. He collected wagons and carts, supplies and livestock. Peasants were enlisted as colonists with the promise of the rank of hidalgo (from hijo de algo - "son of something"). Early in 1598 Governor Oñate assembled his colonists - more than 400 men, women, children, and soldiers. In addition there were 11 Franciscan priests. On the trail the expedition stretched for four miles.

Governor Oñate intended to blaze a new route northward. But on the deserts of northern Mexico the expedition ran low on food, water, and shoe leather. As the situation grew perilous, Governor Oñate sent eight men ahead to find water. At last they came upon the Rio Grande at a passage soon known as El Paso del Norte. They fished and hunted ducks and geese, and Native Americans from a nearby village brought a supply of fish.

By April 26, 1598, the entire expedition was encamped beneath cottonwood trees beside the river. Governor Oñate proclaimed that before the column crossed the river to march into New Mexico, there should be a celebration of gratitude to God for delivery. A feast was planned, which would include the friendly Native Americans. On March 30 everyone dressed in their best clothing: soldiers donned polished breastplates, priests wore vestments laced with gold, and Governor Oñate was resplendent in full armor. At a candlelit altar, the priests sang High Mass, and Father Alonso Martinez preached an appropriate sermon.

A captain from Spain put together a pageant about the expedition, with soldiers playing the various parts. At the end of the play the Indians knelt in the sand and were baptized. Trumpets then sounded as Governor Oñate steeped forward to claim New Mexico for Spain. Finally a bonfire was started, and fish and venison and duck were roasted. A feast ended the first Thanksgiving - 23 years before the Pilgrims feasted and prayed at Plymouth.



Statue of Juan de Oñate at the El Paso Airport.

 Governor Oñate led his colonists north and founded the province of New Mexico. With the passage of years the river channel changed at El Paso, and eventually the former south bank site of the 1598 event became part of Texas. In the 1980s, North America's first Thanksgiving began to be celebrated each April in El Paso. Men, women, and children dress in Spanish and Native American costumes, and near the Rio Grande the Thanksgiving celebration of 1598 is re-enacted. In 1998 a crowd - including a descendant of Juan de Oñate - gathered from as far away as Spain to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving.

Corsicana

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.  

The Navarro County Historical Society holds a banquet in Corsicana each year. I am a native of Corsicana and a longtime member of the Society, so I was enormously proud when asked to deliver the banquet address. The invitation was delivered by Bobbie Young, director of the Society and of Pioneer Village Museum in Corsicana. The event was held on Friday evening, November 9. The meal was excellent and the attendees were kindred spirits whose number included Sheriff Les Cotten, an avid local historian. An annual award, Navarro County Historian of the Year, was presented to Bruce McManus, who energetically tackles one historical project after another across the county.



My love for history was born and nurtured in Corsicana and Navarro County. George Owen, my great-grandfather and a Confederate veteran from Mississippi, brought his family to Navarro County in a wagon train in 1881. One of his children, seven-year-old Nannie, became my grandmother. The wagon train adventure was the most vivid experience of her life. She told me the story many times, and gave me a written account from an older cousin.  I identified personally every time I saw a Western movie with covered wagons at Corsicana's Ideal Theater, or at the Palace, the Rio, or the Grand. Nannie married Tom O'Neal, who came to Navarro County in the 1880s, a teenager from Georgia. The Owen and O'Neal families became landowners and cotton farmers, and Tom was an accomplished ginwright who built and managed cotton gins.



Navarro County was organized in 1846 and named after Texas Revolutionary patriot Jose Antonio Navarro. When given the honor of naming the county seat, Navarro chose "Corsicana," after his father's birthplace, the island of Corsica. The new town grew rapidly, and the first railroad reached Corsicana in 1871. After another line arrived in 1880, the population soon reached 5,000. The State Orphans Home was located in Corsicana, and so was the Odd Fellows Home for Orphans and Widows. There were handsome Victorian homes and churches and commercial buildings. 

Pioneer Village began in 1958 when this dogtrot plantation cabin was

moved from Chatfield to Corsicana's city park.

This antebellum plantation home was built on the western outskirts

of Corsicana by Roger Q. Mills, an attorney and prominent public

servant. Before the Civil War Mills was a member of the Texas

Legislature; he saw heavy combat as a Confederate cavalry

colonel; and after the war he served in both houses of Congress.





The magnificent First Methodist Church was erected in 1896.



 The bustling town outgrew its water supply. In 1894 drilling efforts produced oil instead of water. Soon there were derricks throughout the town, and Corsicana developed the first oil field and oil refinery west of the Mississippi River. In the early decades of the 20th century other oil fields were developed near Corsicana. The Corsicana Oilers fielded a superb baseball team in 1902, running away with the Texas League pennant and setting professional records which still stand (for example, there was a 51-3 rout of Texarkana which established all-time marks for runs and hits in a game, as well as future big league catcher J.J. Clarke's 8 home runs and 16 RBIs). 



One of my daughters, Dr. Shellie O'Neal, is the head of the drama department at Navarro College and has made her home in Corsicana for more than a decade. I asked Shellie to come to the banquet with me, and she also agreed to accompany me around town during the afternoon as I took photos for this blog. We started at Pioneer Village, an excellent collection of log buildings, as well as a Peace Officers Museum and a monument to Lefty Frizzell, Corsicana's famed Country singer.

We visited the site of Corsicana's discovery well and the original refinery. We photographed a variety of Victorian buildings, as well as the oldest structure at the Odd Fellows Home. We went to the home of Gov. Beauford  Jester and his grave. In 1949, during his second term, Jester became the first- and only - Texas governor to die in office. Temple Beth-El, built in 1898 with architecturally unique twin onion domes, was one of two Jewish synagogues on "Church Street." Today it is used as a community building.  



The Beth-El Temple, featuring twin onion domes, was built in 1898.



 

Following a few more stops, Shellie and I changed clothes and went to the banquet. It was a pleasure to address and socialize with fellow historians - a delightful evening in my home town. 



A park has been built at the site of

Corsicana's first oil well.

The oldest building at the Odd Fellows campus is the gymnasium/

auditorium, which had a swimming pool in the basement.

 





Gov. Beauford Jester died of a heart attack at
the age of 56.  Buried in his home town,
he is the only governor to die in office

during 166 years of Texas statehood.

 





A number of impressive old homes still stand in Corsicana.

Note the widow's walk atop the roof.

 






Statue of Country singer Lefty Frizzell











Veteran's Day

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.  



Hank Solis







Addressing the Veteran's Day gathering at Memorial Park in Carthage



  

                                                                                                                      
On Saturday morning, November 10, it was my privilege to address a Veteran's Day celebration in Carthage. Hank Solis, Commander of American Legion Post 353, presided over the program, which featured the local Knights of Columbus Honor Guard and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by young Country and Western singer, Jordyn Morgan.



Knights of Columbus Honor Guard







                       The theme of my remarks was "Military Traditions of Texas." The previous weekend, while I was in Austin for a history conference at the Bob Bullock Museum, I took the best part of an hour to inspect and photograph the military monuments on the grounds surrounding the State Capitol. There are 22 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds around the Capitol, and on that 22 acres are 17 monuments. The most recent monument is a Hispanic grouping on the front lawn. There is a fine statue of a Texas cowboy and of a pioneer woman, along with a monument to fallen peace officers. But most of the monuments celebrate the rich military traditions of Texas.

Our magnificent State Capitol building opened in 1888. Just three years later the first monument was placed in front of the Capitol - an impressive piece honoring the men of the Alamo, who established an unforgettable Texan military memory. The commemoration of Texas heroism and sacrifice in others wars is expressed in ten more monuments around the Capitol grounds.

There are three monuments honoring Texas in the Civil War. The Census of 1860 listed over 92,000 Texans between the ages of 17 and 45 - ages of likely soldiers. Indeed, as many as 70,000 men served the Confederacy, along with a few thousand others who joined Union forces. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was killed at Shiloh, and Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood suffered terrible combat wounds. In addition to these soldiers of high rank, three Texans served as major generals and 32 as brigadier generals. And I can never talk about the Civil War without mentioning the Battle of Sabine Pass, in which 42 Texans manning an artillery battery turned back a Union invasion force of 17 ships and 5,000 soldiers.

The World War I monument commemorates nearly 200,000 Texas men - and 449 nurses - who served, and who represented Texas superbly in heavy combat. There are three monuments honoring the extraordinary Texan role in World War II. The Pearl Harbor monument recalls Doris Miller of Waco, whose heroism aboard the sinking U.S.S. West Virginia earned him the Navy Cross, the Navy's highest award for valor (the Medal of Honor, of course, is awarded by Congress). The first Navy Cross ever awarded to an African-American was presented to Miller (who was killed aboard an escort carrier in 1943) by Adm. Chester Nimitz of Fredericksburg, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet.



 WW II monument on Capitol grounds



Another WW II monument honors the 830,000 Texans, including 12,000 women, who served in uniform. Texan Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of the war, was awarded 33 medals for valor.  Submarine commander Sam Dealey from Dallas was the most decorated sailor of the war, receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously. More than 22,000 Texans lost their lives. Texas A&M, an all-male military college, sent 22,229 Aggies to war, including 14,123 officers - more than any other American college or university, including West Point. Seven Aggies won the Medal of Honor. 



T-Patchers were known as the Texas Army.



Another monument honors the 36th Division, a Texas National Guard unit that was federalized in both world wars. Known as the "T-Patch Division," the "Texas Division," and the "Texas Army," the 36th engaged in 19 months of combat. T-Patchers earned 15 Medals of Honor and captured 175,806 enemy soldiers. The 36th Division suffered 27,343 casualties: 3,974 killed, 19,052 wounded, and 4,317 missing in action.

There are other monuments to other wars around the grounds, as well as one honoring disabled veterans. Statuary is a major element of the public reservoir of memory about Texans at war. Such statuary abounds at the Capitol grounds as well as at courthouses and other locations around the state. This statuary and the Veteran's Day ceremonies held across Texas provide strong expressions of public pride in the heroic service exhibited by generations of Texans.





Meetings

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.



Group photo at the THC retreat



During a period of less than two weeks, October 24 through November 5, I participated in six meetings in various cities. This series of gatherings began in Austin with a highly instructive retreat for the Texas Historical Commission. The THC and the strongly supportive Friends of the THC Board meet quarterly, along with THC Executive Director Mark Wolfe and members of his staff. The retreat preceded a quarterly meeting scheduled for the last weekend in October. Matt Kreisle, newly-appointed Chairman of the Texas Historical Commission, organized and led the retreat. 



Mark Kreisle presenting his vision at the THC retreat

A fifth generation Austinite and a graduate of the University of Texas architectural school, Matt Kreisle is a two-term president of the Austin Heritage Society. A principal in the prestigious PageSoutherlandPage architectural and engineering firm, Kreisle has led several large-scale construction projects. Although the THC has suffered the loss of 50 percent of state funding and 25 percent of staff, Kreisle is determined that the THC will do as much with less, thus encouraging the reinstatement of state funds. Pointing out that the THC accomplishes more than any other state historical commission in the U.S., Kreisle emphasizes that the THC courthouse preservation project is the envy of the nation. He hopes to secure private funding and to launch exciting new programs, such as the preservation of venerable school buildings, or perhaps old movie theaters. Kreisle's proposed strategy and tactics were artfully presented, and by the end of the retreat I was far better informed and optimistic about the Texas Historical Commission.



I'm with author Bill Neal and Cindy Wallace of
the Amarillo Public Library.

 A few days later I was in Amarillo for the Public Library's Second Annual Open Book Festival. Sponsored by Friends of the Amarillo Public Library, the Open Book Festival was held in the Heritage Room of the Amarillo Civic Center, across the street from the Public Library. From 9:30 until noon the vast Heritage Room featured book-laden tables manned by more than 50 authors. Patrons paid $15 to sample a breakfast buffet, visit with authors, and buy inscribed copies of their books. During the afternoon a Trivia Contest was held, with each team paying $50. That evening a Books to Broadway Gala took place, as participants paid $50 each to participate in a Silent Auction, Dinner, and a show based on Broadway Musicals that had been adapted from books. It was a delightful day, and all proceeds went to the Amarillo Public Library.



Gladewater Rotary Club

 On Thursday, November 1, I delivered a program on Texas Country Music at a noon meeting of the Gladewater Rotary Club. Most groups I address are history organizations, with audiences that have strong historical interests. But members of a community service club are businessmen and civic leaders who have only a passing interest in history, and when I address such gatherings I consider it important to present an entertaining program which will engage the audience while demonstrating that history can be fun and informative. I spoke on "Texas Country Music," a popular story that I try to tell with humor, and the audience was quite responsive.




Entrance to the Bob Bullock Museum

 

David Denney leading the Bob Bullock conference

On Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3, I was part of a "Scholars Advisory Committee" which met in Austin at the Bob Bullock Museum with Joan Marshall, Museum Director, and David Denney, Director of Special Projects, along with several members of their staff. Although the Bob Bullock Museum has been open only for a little more than a decade, the staff is in the process of rethinking the organization of exhibits and the storyline concepts of this flagship of Texas history museums. 



David Denney, Frank de la Teja (the first State Historian),
Bill O'Neal, Joan Marshall

 Such a major reorganization ordinarily would not take place within 20 or more years of a museum's opening. But in 2013 the preserved remains of La Belle, a 17th century French ship which has been recovered from Matagorda Bay, will be placed in the Bob Bullock Museum. An archaeological and historical treasure, La Belle and its artifacts will take up a great deal of the museum's ground floor. The subsequent rearrangement of exhibits has provided an exciting opportunity to restructure the museum while inserting topics that were not initially included.



Presenting at TACRAO

From Austin I drove to Dallas to attend the annual meeting of TACRAO, the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The president is Dr. Berri O'Neal Gormley, and for months I've had reservations to hear my daughter's presidential address on Sunday night. Three weeks ago Berri called me with the news that a presenter had withdrawn from an eight o'clock slot on Monday morning, and I readily agreed to provide a program on "A History of Education in Texas." A record crowd of more than 850 attended the TACRAO meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas, and I was pleasantly surprised that a roomful turned out for my early morning program. I also was pleased to encounter three or four of my former students among the TACRAO attendees.


Entrance to the TSHA office suite

On Monday afternoon I arrived in Denton for a meeting at the headquarters of the Texas State Historical Association. The TSHA offices are housed on the campus of North Texas State University. The TSHA is a private organization founded in 1897; by contrast the Texas Historical Commission is a state-funded entity, created by the legislature in 1953. The oldest learned society in Texas, the TSHA promotes scholarship and knowledge of the rich history of the Lone Star State. The TSHA publishes the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the Texas Almanac, and the Handbook of Texas. No other state has a similar publication which rivals the six-volume Handbook, and now the Handbook of Texas Online has made this encyclopedic publication far more accessible. The TSHA Press has published more than 150 books. Student programs include Texas History Day, the Junior Historians of Texas (in public schools), and Webb Historical Societies (in colleges). To improve and expand such programs, the TSHA has launched a $10 million fund-raising campaign.

It was my pleasure to meet with TSHA Executive Director Kent Calder, Chief Historian Mike Campbell, Director of Educational Services Steve Cure, and former TSHA President Larry McNeill. Larry was instrumental in creating the office of State Historian, and he drove from Austin to Denton for the meeting. Many people around Texas still are unaware that there is a State Historian, and we discussed ways of raising awareness. I learned details of upcoming activities of the TSHA, and I volunteered my services in any way they might be needed.

L to R: Larry McNeill, Bill O'Neal, Kent Calder,
Mike Campbell, Steve Cure

For more information, see
www.thc.state.tx.us
www.TSHAonline.org
www.TheStoryofTexas.com
www.amarillolibrary.org
www.tacrao.org