100 Years of the Texas State Historical Association, 1897-1997

By: Dr. Richard McCaslin
Forward by J. P. Bryan

At the Heart of Texas book cover Description: "On St. Valentines's eve, 1897, 'a number of gentlemen,' brought together by a concern for the Texas heritage, gathered on the hilltop at the north edcge of Austin known as the University of Texas campus to discuss organization of a state historical association. A few days later Francis R. Lubbock, a former governor; John H. Reagan, a former United States senator and Postmaster-General of the Confederate States of America; George T. Winston, a highest honor graduate of the United States Naval Academy whose career was blighted by chronic nausea, a former president of the University of Norht Carolina, and current president of the University of Texas; Dudley G. Wooten, a historian-lawyer primarily responsible for the University's being located in Austin; Archibald J. Rose, worthy overseer of the Texas State Grange and doughty fighter for free textbooks and trained 

teachers; and George P. Garrison, Texas' first historian to win national attention — unusual citizens all — circulated a letter to 250 persons inviting them to meet on Texas Independence Day, March 2, 1897, in the office of the Commissioner of Insurance, Statistics, and History to organize a proper state historical association."

From this beginning has grown the remarkable intitution whose first century is celebrated in At the Heart of Texas, which, in telling the story of the people and the achievemnets of the Texas State Historical Association, leaves an appreciation for how much thought and energy and commitment have gone into the guidance and stability of the state's oldest historical organization.

The text is organized in chronological chapters by the tenures of the seven directors, Gearge Garrison to Ron Tyler, all of whom were professors in the history department at the University of Texas. The book is profusely illustrated with photographs, and sidebars — many culled from past issues of the Association's journal, the Southwestern Historical Quarterly — complement the main text and give an immediacy to the past and a sense of the variety of accomplished people who have played a part in shaping the TSHA. A brief epilogue brings the history to the present day.

Available from Amazon.com
ISBN13: 978-0-87611-216-8
ISBN10: 0-87611-216-5