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News From the Director
Welcome to the brand new newsletter from the East Texas Historical Association. It is our hope that our newsletter will allow us to make a better “connection” with our members, as well as keep Association members more up-to-date on events, happenings, and items of historical interest in our vibrant area. Our hope, at this point, is to distribute the newsletter once a quarter, but such a delivery may soon change to once a month. I am sure that there will be some “bugs” to work out as we move along, but the format should be ideal for all of us to stay in touch and build excitement and new members for the Association. Some of you may have to adjust your computer settings to read and receive the newsletter; if you are having trouble viewing it in its entirety, contact Deanna in the office (deanna.smith@sfasu.edu or at 936-468-2407) and she can try to help you make the necessary adjustments or at least find out how to get it done. This is also your newsletter and your forum; if you know of something that we should include, send it to the office at sosebeem@sfasu.edu and we will make sure it is included in the next edition.
The Association's next issue of the East Texas Historical Journal will be mailed to members the first week of August. Make sure you run to your mailbox to once again receive our seminal publication. You will be much better informed after reading than you were before!
Included with the Journal , as always, will be the registration materials for our Fall Meeting in Nacogdoches. Once again we will gather at the Hotel Fredonia (notice the slight name change), this year on September 24-26. Jeff Guinn will deliver the Georgiana and Max Lale Lecture, and Program Chair Milton Jordan and his committee have put together a sterling program consisting of twenty-nine sessions with more than one hundred and ten participants! Make your reservations and complete your registrations as soon as you can.
While it is still summer, we should all begin to think about the historic joint East Texas Historical Association/West Texas Historical Association Spring Meeting in Fort Worth on February 25-27, 2010. We will gather at the DFW Marriot Resort at Champion's Circle adjacent to the Texas Motor Speedway. The Marriot has extended us a fabulous $89.00 per night rate, which is a real bargain for this 4-star facility. The meeting area is quite impressive, the food service is first-class, and there is even a championship golf course for all of you who hope to improve your game. Plans for the meeting are currently on-going, and will include an “early-bird” reception and dinner on Thursday February 25 and a historic tour and dinner in Fort Worth on Saturday afternoon/evening for those that wish to remain for Saturday night (the hotel will extend the $89.00 rate for a Saturday stay-over) If you wish to propose a session (three presenters and presider or two presenters and presider/commentator) please send your electronic proposal to sosebeem@sfasu.edu. This meeting promises to be one of the most significant in our history and one that you will not want to miss. If you have not recently attended a spring meeting, this is the one you will want to put on your “to-do” list! |
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Member News
Association President Theodore Lawe was one of the recipients of the South Dallas Business and Professional Women's Club's “Trailblazer of the Year” Award. Ted was cited for being the first African American President of the East Texas Historical Association. When you see President Lawe, offer your congratulations.
Light Cummins was appointed by Governor Rick Perry as the Texas State Historian in May. Dr. Cummins is professor of history at Austin College in Sherman and you can learn more about him in our “Member Spotlight” section. Such an appointment is quite the honor for a Texas historian. Way to go, Light!
Mary Jo O'Rear's book Storm Over the Bay: The People of Corpus Christi and Their Port was recently published by Texas A&M Press. Mary Jo, one of our most active members, is an adjunct professor of history at Del Mar College and Texas A&M University — Kingsville .
Secretary/Treasurer Deanna Smith has been named the Vice-President of the University Professional Women's Club at Stephen F. Austin State University .
UNT Press recently published Seventh Star of the Confederacy: Texas During the Civil War . Kenneth Howell edited and contributed to the work and the authors of the included essays reads like a “who's who” of the Association, including Archie McDonald; James Smallwood, Linda Hudson, Mary Jo O'Rear, Donald Willett, Edward Cotham, Charles Spurlin, Charles Grear, Gary Joiner, Ken Hendrickson, Jr., Bruce Glasrud, Carol Taylor, and the late Bill Stein.
Anyone who has any news they wish to be included in the newsletter should
send the information to Deanna Smith at deanna.smith@sfasu.edu |
Member Spotlight
This issue's “spotlight” is Light Cummins of Sherman, who was recently named the Texas State Historian. He is the Guy M. Bryan, Jr. Professor of American History at Austin College . Among his seven books are A Guide to the History of Texas , Texas: A Political History, and Austin College: A Sesquicentennial History, 1849-1999. His book Spanish Observers and the American Revolution received the Spain and America Prize from the Spanish government, awarded to him by King Juan Carlos I. He has recently completed a biography of Emily Austin Bryan Perry, the sister of Stephen F. Austin and the daughter of Moses Austin. Entitled Emily Austin of Texas , 1795-1851 , this biography was published in April of 2009 as part of Biography Series from the TCU Press. His textbook, United States History to 1877 , was published in July of 2006 by Harper Collins for use as a textbook in high school Advanced Placement and college survey courses. He is the author of several dozen scholarly articles dealing with various aspects of Texas history, along with a dozen book chapters, several review essays, and numerous book reviews.. Cummins has received the Alumni Achievement Award from Texas State University at San Marcos in March, 2008. He was named a Minnie Stevens Piper Professor in 2006. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas State Historical Association. It will be easy to spot Light at our meetings—he is always the man with a big smile on his face! If you do not know Light, make sure that you make his acquaintance. |
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Featured Article
In this space, the newsletter will continually feature a short article of historical interest with a particular focus on figures and places associated with East Texas history. If you wish to submit an article for consideration, the standard length is 500 words and should be written in a journalistic style. Please make submissions to sosebeem@sfasu.edu
For our inaugural issue, I asked former Executive Director Archie P. McDonald to recommend a list of ten “interesting” books on East Texas . Dr. McDonald happily complied and what follows is his list, in alphabetical order. His one caveat was that he excluded anything that he had written, for obvious reasons and that he makes no claim that these are the “best,” only that each qualifies as an interesting book. So, here is Archie's list:
George L. Crockett: Two Centuries in East Texas : A History of San Augustine County and Surrounding Territory from 1685
F.E. “Ab” Abernathy: Tales of the Big Thicket
Bill O'Neal: War in East Texas : Regulators vs. Moderators
Stiles, Linsley, Walker, Rienstra,: Giant Under the Hill: History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont in 190l
Randolph Campbell : A Southern Community n Crisis: Harrison County , Texas , 1850-1880
Thad Sitton: Backwoodsman: Stockmen and Hunters Along a Big Thicket Valley
David McComb: Galveston : A History and a Guide
William Owens: This Stubborn Soil: A Frontier Boyhood
Ben Procter: Just One Riot: Texas Rangers in the 20 th Century
Robert Maxwell: Whistle in the Piney Woods: Paul Bremond and the Houston East and West Railway |
About the ETHA Journal
The constitution of the East Texas Historical Association stipulates that "The Association shall publish at least once a year a historical journal of high quality, to be known as the East Texas Historical Journal , and may publish other items on occasion when judged by the Board of Directors to be worthy and appropriate. Pursuant to that stipulation, the Association publishes the East Texas Historical Journal biannually.
Potential articles should be submitted electronically to Scott Sosebee, editor at sosebeem@sfasu.edu as well as a hard copy mailed to East Texas Historical Association, PO Box 6223 , SFA Station, Nacogdoches , TX 75962 . Ideally, they should be 25-35 pages in length, endnotes cited in The Chicago Manual of Style format, and be on any aspect of East Texas history, broadly defined.
The Journal is a peer-reviewed publication and a research-based publication. If you wish to receive a copy of the style sheet or have any questions, direct all communication to sosebeem@sfasu.edu |
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