View source for Texas State Historical Association

{{short description|American nonprofit educational organization}}{{Not to be confused with|Texas Historical Commission}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox organization
| name = Texas State Historical Association
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| status = Non-profit
| purpose = Promoting and preserving the [[history of Texas]]
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| headquarters = [[Austin, Texas]], U.S.
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| origins = March 2, 1897
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The '''Texas State Historical Association''' ('''TSHA''') is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the [[history of Texas]]. It was founded in [[Austin, Texas]], United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the TSHA moved its offices from Austin to the [[University of North Texas]] in [[Denton, Texas]]. In 2015, the offices were relocated again to the [[University of Texas at Austin]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 8, 2015 |title=University of Texas Welcomes Texas State Historical Association Back Home to Austin |url=https://news.utexas.edu/2015/05/08/university-of-texas-welcomes-tsha-back-home-to-austin/ |website=UT News}}</ref>

== History ==
On February 13, 1897, ten persons convened to discuss the creation of a nonprofit to promote Texas state history.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McDonald |first=Archie P. |title=Texas State Historical Association |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vtt06 |access-date=June 8, 2022 |website=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> [[George Pierce Garrison]], chair of the [[University of Texas]] history department, led the organizational meeting establishing the association on March 2, 1893.<ref>Taylor (1929), p. 1.</ref> The TSHA elected [[Oran Milo Roberts]] as its first president. In addition to Roberts, TSHA charter members included [[Guy M. Bryan]], [[Anna Pennybacker]], [[Bride Neill Taylor]], and [[Dudley G. Wooten]].<ref name=":0" /> About twenty or thirty persons attended the charter meeting.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=1}} One of the founders was [[John Henninger Reagan]].

This first formal meeting of the TSHA included men and several women who became charter members.{{Sfn|Grider|Rodenberger|1997|p=56-57}}

At this first meeting, George P. Garrison advocated that [[Archive|archival]] material about Texas needed to be preserved.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=2}} Officers were chosen during the meeting, and controversy over what [[John Salmon Ford]] called "lady members" caused Ford to storm out of the meeting.<ref name=":0" /> Ford wanted to amend the TSHA constitution to replace "members" with "lady members" when the participants were women.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=4}} Garrison opposed the change, and eventually Taylor spoke up and agreed that there was no need to change anything.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=4}} Ford could not be placated and after yelling at Taylor, {{qi|Madam, your brass may get you into the association, but you will never have the right to get in under that section as it stands,}} his amendment to create "lady members" was unanimously defeated by the others at the meeting.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=5}} The other charter members viewed Ford's departure as detrimental, counting on his political influence to help support the group.{{Sfn|Taylor|1929|p=6}}

The first president was Oran Milo Roberts, with Wooten, Bryan, [[Julia Lee Sinks]], and [[Charles Corner]] elected as vice presidents.<ref name=":0" /> Membership dues were $2 a year in 1897.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1897 |title=State Historical Association |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/galveston/galveston-daily-news/1897/06-13/page-3?tag=bride+neill+taylor&rtserp=tags/?pep=bride-neill-taylor&ndt=by&py=1890&pey=1899 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 27, 2016 |work=Galveston Daily News |via=Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

The TSHA held annual meetings in Austin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1928 |title=Baker Lectures on Texas Revolution |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/austin/austin-daily-texan/1928/04-01?tag=texas+state+historical+association&rtserp=tags/?pep=texas-state-historical-association&psb=date&page=3&ndt=by&py=1920&pey=1929 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 26, 2016 |work=Austin Daily Texan |via=Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The first annual meeting was held on June 17, 1897.<ref name=":1" /> Topics included "The Expulsion of the [[Cherokee]]s From [[East Texas]], "The Last Survivor of the [[Goliad Massacre]]," "The Veramendt House," "Thomson's Clandestine Passage Around [[Nacogdoches, Texas|Nacogdoches]]," and "Defunct Counties of Texas."<ref name=":1" /> There was also a group business meeting.<ref name=":1" />

By 1928, the TSHA had 500 members.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 11, 1928 |title=State Historical Ass'n Opens Today |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/taylor/taylor-daily-press/1928/04-11/page-7?tag=texas+state+historical+association&rtserp=tags/?pep=texas-state-historical-association&psb=date&page=3&ndt=by&py=1920&pey=1929 |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 26, 2016 |work=Taylor Daily Press |via=Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

== Notable members ==
* [[Ben H. Procter]], president from 1979 to 1980
* [[Merline Pitre]], president from 2011 to 2012
* [[Florence Warfield Sillers]]

=== Selected TSHA fellows ===
* [[Paul H. Carlson]] (1992), Texas Tech [[professor emeritus]] and a specialist in Texas and the American West
* [[A. C. Greene]], book critic, historian, poet, journalist, and essayist

== Publications ==
The organization produces four educational publications:
* ''New Handbook of Texas'', a six-volume multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, culture, and geography. In addition, the ''Handbook of Texas Online'' is provided by the TSHA for historical internet research of Texas.
* The ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' (initially the ''Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association'') is the oldest continuously published scholarly journal in Texas. The journal features 16 articles per year, covering topics in a range of appeal.
* ''Riding Line'' is a quarterly newsletter featuring news and current information on state historical activities.
* The ''[[Texas Almanac]]'' is a biennially published reference work providing information for the general public on the history of the state and its people, government and politics, economics, natural resources, holidays, culture, education, recreation, the arts, and other topics. The TSHA acquired the ''Texas Almanac'' as a gift from the [[DallasNews Corporation|A. H. Belo Corporation]] on May 5, 2008.

== Educational programs ==
* Educational Department: Founded in 1939, it promotes the teaching of Texas history in the state's schools.
* Junior Historians of Texas: An extracurricular program for students in grades four through twelve.
* Texas History Day: Provides an opportunity for students to develop their knowledge of history in an annual state-level history fair for students in grades six through twelve.
* History Awareness Workshops: Helps educators develop teaching strategies for informative content and practical classroom applications.
* Heritage Travel Program: a one-week traveling seminar dealing with a specific subject in Texas history held in the summer.

== List of presidents ==
A list of presidents of the TSHA:<ref>{{Cite web |title=President |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/about/positions/board-president |access-date=June 8, 2022 |series=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref>
* Oran M. Roberts (1897–1898)
* Dudley G. Wooten (1898–1899)
* John H. Reagan (1899–1905)
* [[David F. Houston]] (1905–1907)
* [[Alexander W. Terrell]] (1907–1912)
* Zachary T. Fulmore (1912–1915)
* [[Adele Briscoe Looscan]] (1915–1925)
* T. F. Harwood (1925–1929)
* Alex Dienst (1929–1932)
* W. R. Wrather (1932–1939)
* Harbert Davenport (1939–1942)
* L. W. Kemp (1942–1946)
* Pat Ireland Nixon (1946–1949)
* Earl Vandale (1949–1951)
* [[Herbert P. Gambrell]] (1951–1953)
* Claude Elliott (1953–1955)
* Paul Adams (1955–1957)
* Ralph W. Steen (1957–1959)
* Merle M. Duncan (1959–1962)
* Fred R. Cotten (1962–1964)
* George P. Isbell (1964–1965)
* J. P. Bryan, Sr. (1965–1967)

== See also ==
{{Portal|Texas|History}}
* [[West Texas Historical Association]], based in [[Lubbock, Texas]]
* [[List of historical societies in Texas]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeF7WAdIOAUC&q=%22bride+neill+taylor%22&pg=PA64 |title=Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780890967652 |editor-last=Grider |editor-first=Sylvia Ann |editor-last2=Rodenberger |editor-first2=Lou Halsell}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Bride Neill |date=July 1929 |title=The Beginnings of the State Historical Association |journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |jstor=30237205}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |title=TSHA Online |url=https://tshaonline.org |access-date=April 21, 2008 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}
* {{Cite web |title=Southwestern Historical Quarterly |url=https://tshaonline.org/shqonline |website=TSHA Online}}
* ''Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association''. Fulltext [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/00978954 via HathiTrust], various dates

{{Texas}}
{{U.S. state historical societies}}
{{Southern U.S. historical societies}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Texas State Historical Association|*]]
[[Category:State history organizations of the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1897]]
[[Category:Historical societies in Texas]]
[[Category:University of North Texas]]
[[Category:History of Texas]]
[[Category:University of Texas System]]