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The East Texas Historical Association by
Archie P. McDonald | |
The
tag at the end of each "All
Things Historical" article, whether written by my colleague Bob Bowman or
this correspondent, says that is it a service of "the East Texas Historical Association."
Likely many readers do not know much about this organization, so for your information....
Dr. George L. Crocket, Episcopal minister in San
Augustine and Nacogdoches
and the first teacher of history at Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College,
founded the first ETHA in 1929, but it became a victim of the Depression.
In
1962, SFA President Ralph Steen, his history department chairman Dr. C.K. Chamberlain,
and attorneys F.I. Tucker of Nacogdoches
and F. Lee Lawrence of Tyler
created a second ETHA at a meeting on the SFA campus. By leaving charter membership
open for a year, they enlisted over 400 lay and professional (teachers) historians.
That lay-and-teacher aspect has been carefully nurtured, and the Association's
presidents, who serve a one-year term, alternately come from each group.
The
Association publishes a Journal twice yearly. Each issue contains four
to six articles on the history of East
Texas, a news column, and reviews of approximately 40 books of interest to
members.
ETHA also holds two meetings each year, including our Annual Meeting
in September, always in Nacogdoches,
and a Spring Meeting elsewhere in our region late in February. In recent years
the Association has held its Spring Meeting in Beaumont,
Marshall, Huntsville,
and in 2008 at Tyler
and in 2009 in Paris—Texas, of course.
The Fall meeting commences with the annual Georgiana and Max Lale Lecture
on a Thursday evening, followed by many sessions on Friday and Saturday at which
members present the yield of their historical research on Eastern Texas topics.
Spring meetings are held only on Friday and Saturday. |
| ETHA
publishes the Ann and Lee Lawrence East Texas History Series, or site-specific
monographs on such topics as Betty and John Oglesbee's Reminiscing The Road:
El Camino Real, and the Bob and Doris Bowman East Texas Series, on longer
studies such as Bill O'Neal’s “War In East Texas: Regulators v. Moderators” and
“The Devil’s Triangle” by Jim Smallwood, Kenneth Howell and Carol Taylor. | |
The
Association is custodian of the Ottis Lock Endowment, which annually recognizes
outstanding achievements by an East Texas educator, the author of the "Best Book
on East Texas" published within the year, and awards grants to assist researchers
of Eastern Texas history topics.
For more information, write ETHA at Box
6223, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX 75962; call 936-468-2407;
email amcdonald@sfasu.edu; or see our website at www.easttexashistorical.org.
©
Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical
8-11, 2008 column
A syndicated column in over 70 East
Texas newspapers
(The East Texas Historical Association provides this
column as a public service. Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association
and author of more than 20 books on Texas.) |
| Books
by Archie P. McDonald - Order Here |
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| Primary Source
Accounts of the Civil War | |
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