New to the AHC - Austin History Center Association

Austin Remembers.
AUSTIN HISTORY CENTER ASSOCIATION
“COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF AUSTIN & TRAVIS COUNTY”
“If you give us a chance, we can
perform. After all, Ginger Rogers
did everything that Fred Astaire
did. She just did it backwards
and in high heels.” So said Ann
Richards at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 making the point that women can be
just as effective in politics as
men but have needed grit and
determination to get into elected
office. The exhibition Backwards
in High Heels: Getting Women
Elected, 1842-1990, which runs
from February 25, 2014 to October 5, 2014, is the Austin History Center’s look at the local women who have played a significant
part in politics in Texas’ capital
city. Covering a span of about BY NICOLE DAVIS
150 years, the exhibit highlights many of the female “firsts” in local
and state politics. With conviction and effective strategy, women went
from being disenfranchised to holding the highest office in the state.
From the city’s earliest days, local women have influenced the
politics of the city and the state despite not being able to hold office or
vote. In the 1840s when the city was just a small town and its status as
capital was highly contested, a fiery Angelina Eberly changed the city’s
fate. She played a vital role in the Texas Archives War which foiled
Sam Houston’s attempt to move the capital elsewhere. The exhibit begins with Eberly’s story and then continues with a chronological series
of biographies of numerous other women who have helped shape the
political scene by campaigning for women’s right to vote, lobbying to
New to the AHC
Beginning with this issue of the newsletter, we will start featuring new collections at the Austin History Center.
Every month we bring in new research
materials on a wide variety of subjects.
We are also busy processing recent
acquisitions, cataloging them and
making them available to researchers.
What follows are some highlights of
our recent acquisitions and newly processed collections.
SPRING 2014
help pass legislation on women’s
issues, and eventually running for
and winning elected office.
Other early female political pioneers made their voices
heard in Austin after Angelina
fired her cannon. Martha Bickler
eschewed traditional women’s
employment such as teaching or
domestic work and became the
first female employee of the state.
Rebecca Jane Fisher was so devoted to the state and its history
that she earned the nickname,
“The Mother of Texas.” A young
woman named Lucille spat at
Governor Edward Clark to show
her disagreement and disgust
with him when he signed the Ordinance of Secession in 1861.
In the early 20th century, Austin was a hotbed for woman suffrage activism. Jane McCallum was at the forefront of the local movement. She was president of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association,
wrote columns for the Austin American, gave suffragist speeches,
and, after women had gotten the vote, lobbied for women’s rights.
She later was appointed Secretary of State. McCallum worked closely
with Minnie Fisher Cunningham who was originally from Galveston
but moved to Austin to establish the headquarters for the Texas
Equal Suffrage Association. Cunningham remained politically active
after the passage of the 19th Amendment, running for U.S. Senate
in 1927 and then for Governor in 1944. BACKWARDS... PAGE 3 �S
PICB 19746. Ann Richards was elected as the second female governor of Texas in 1990.
RECENT ACQUISITIONS—
The AHC recently acquired a portrait of Walter E. Long, the first secretary-manager of
the Austin Chamber of Commerce as well
as an historian of all things Austin. The AHC
owns a substantial collection of Long materials (Walter Long Papers, AR.Q.002), approximately 100 boxes of materials related
to the early work of the Chamber and hundreds of Austin history topics. His grandson
made the donation and reconnected the
family with the AHC.
Also, a local antique and ephemera dealer made a sizeable donation of Austin relat-
PICB 05233, Austin History
Center, Austin Public Library.
Walter Ewing Long, SecretaryManager, Austin Chamber
of Commerce.
This image shows Long when
he was a younger man; the
portrait we acquired shows him
later in life.
ed material. The donation was a hodgepodge
of items, including rare Austin stereoviews
from the 1860s and 1870s. Local photographers H. B. Hillyer and William Oliphant
created and sold sets of stereocards, and
this donation filled holes in the sets owned
by the AHC. NEW TO AHC... PAGE 6 O
From the Archivist
Austin History Center Association, Inc.
810 Guadalupe
Austin, Texas 78701
512.974.7499
www.austinhistory.net
Mailing address
P. O. Box 2287
Austin, Texas 78768
The mission of the Austin History
Center Association is to help the
community value our past and build
a better future - by supporting the
Austin History Center to achieve
excellence in its efforts to serve as
the collective memory of Austin and
Travis County.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Evan Taniguchi - President
Robert Sullivan - First Vice President
Ken Tiemann - Second Vice President
Terrell Blodgett - Treasurer
Jena Stubbs - Secretary
Beth Fowler - Member-at-Large
Ann Dolce - Immed. Past President
DIRECTORS AT LARGE
Charles Betts - Cindy Brandimarte
Liz Bremond - Linda Bush
Lynn Cooksey - Brooks Goldsmith
Becky Heiser - Mary Ann Heller
Kathleen Davis Niendorff - Charles Peveto
Patsy Stephenson - Candace Volz
Anne Wheat - Geoff Wool
Mike Miller, AHC Archivist
AUSTIN HISTORY CENTER
ASSOCIATION STAFF
Jeff Cohen - Executive Director
Allison Supancic - Office Manager
Becca Thompson - Accountant
Austin Remembers.
Beth Fowler - Editor/Creative Director
Clutch Creative - Layout & Design
Geoff Wool - Public Relations
Anne Wheat - Photo Coordinator
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Because
of the vagaries of printing, as you read this
you will likely be enjoying the wonderful early
Spring weather, but as I write this, we are recovering from a recent deep freeze that left
streets covered in ice (well, the bridges anyway) and “dusted” Austin in snow. The weather made me think of all the great snow pictures we have in our collections, such as the
ones below. One picture, taken on Valentine’s
Day 1895, shows the Capitol grounds, looking
south, covered in snow, with visitors making
their way up and down the main sidewalk. The
second image captures a man walking in the
snow on the grounds in the 1980s. Why do we
have so many snow pictures? Well, because it
is so rare here, and people are always taking C01618, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
pictures during the rare snow event. We have numerous images of the 1895 snow as well as
documentation of heavy snow fall in March 1947, February 1949, January 1963 and 1965,
February 1967, and January 1973, to name just a few significant snow falls in Austin’s past.
One of the interesting things about the snow pictures, from an archival standpoint, is that
they are easy to identify and date. With the rarity of snow in our area, it becomes a “mark your
calendar” event, and snow images are often well documented, at least by date, with notes
on the back of the photo. Sadly, this level of documentation is a rarity with photos that are
donated to the archives. More often than not, we get photographs that have no identification
at all, leaving us to wonder who the people are and when or where the picture was taken.
These kinds of pictures also litter antique shops across small town America. In fact, I was in a
small antique store in Buda that
advertised these unidentified
pictures as “Instant Ancestor $5.00.” The moral of the story
is – make sure your photographs
are identified, including who,
what, when, and where. Most of
us have piles of personal photographs (or hundreds of digital
files), and someday, no one will
be around who can answer those
questions. And if unidentified,
they may end up lost forever. But
if identified, they may one day
end up in a research center such
as ours, available for future generations to better understand
their past and our present. So,
I hope to see some (identified)
photos of the Great Ice Storm of
2014 in the archives someday!
PICA 28940, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
2
PICA 11669. White women in Travis County earned the right to vote in primary elections in 1918. Shown here is a group in front of the courthouse registering for the first time.
�S ...BACKWARDS Jessie Daniel Ames
was a Georgetown woman who also worked
for woman suffrage in Texas and went on
to become the first president of the Texas
League of Women Voters.
Around the same time that McCallum,
Cunningham and Ames were active, Texas
had its first female governor in Miriam A. CO2912. Elected in
1924, Miriam A. "Ma"
“Ma” Ferguson. Ironically, “Ma” Ferguson Ferguson was Texas' first
was not a women’s rights advocate but ran woman governor.
for the position in order to vindicate her husband, Governor James “Pa”
Ferguson, who had been impeached. She was the first woman elected
to a governorship in the U.S., though when she was sworn into office
in 1925 it was only a couple weeks after Wyoming had inaugurated its
first female governor.
Once voting rights had been secured, more and more women started campaigning for and winning elected office. Some early office
holders featured in the exhibit are Annie Webb Blanton, Elizabeth
Howard West and Emilie Limberg. Blanton was the first woman in
Texas elected to statewide office, becoming the Superintendent of
Public Instruction in 1918. West, appointed as State Librarian in
1918, was the first woman in Texas to head a state department. Emilie Limberg was Travis County’s first female clerk, holding the position from 1934 to 1970.
PICA 00136.
Austin History
Center, Austin
Public Library.
Emma Long,
Austin's
first City
Councilwoman,
speaks at
a Council
meeting with
Travis LaRue,
Lester Palmer,
Ben White and
Louis Shanks.
Austin City Council got its first female member in 1948 with Emma
Jackson Long. Long was a popular councilmember as she helped improve the city by getting streets paved, making utilities more affordable,
and promoting the integration of libraries, parks, and swimming pools.
She served on Council until 1969. The council did not see another
woman elected until 1975. That year three women, Emma Lou Linn,
Margret Hofmann, and Betty Himmelblau, were elected. Sally Shipman then served in the late 1970s and 1980s. During the late 1970s
Austin also elected its first female mayor, Carole Keeton McClellan.
She later went on to hold statewide office as Railroad Commissioner
and Comptroller of Public Accounts.
During the 1970s, women also made inroads into the state Legislature. Sarah Weddington became the first woman representing Travis
County in the Texas House of Representatives when she was elected
in 1972. She also made headlines when she successfully argued Roe
v Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court, securing a woman’s right to have
an abortion. Wilhelmina Delco joined Weddington in the Texas House
in 1974 and was the first African American woman to serve there.
Mary Jane Bode was also elected to the House serving Travis County
in 1977, and Lena Guerrero won a seat in 1984 as the first Hispanic
woman from Travis County in the Legislature. The exhibit also features
Barbara Jordan who was Texas’ first black senator and then the first African American from Texas in the U.S. House. When Jordan returned to
Texas from Washington, D.C., she lived in Austin and taught at the LBJ
School of Public Affairs at UT. ...BACKWARDS... ENDS ON PAGE 6 �S
PICA 16817.
Austin History
Center, Austin
Public Library.
Minnie Fisher
Cunningham
was an active
suffragist and
was also the
first woman
from Texas to
run for the U.S.
Senate, 1927.
3
John Street, Ron Oliveira, Art Mata, Beth Fowler, Judy Maggio & Mike Buls Monica Benoit Beatty & Maggie Kennedy Robert Godwin & Jim Innes
Leah Baxter
Danny Camacho
Lee Ann Calaway & friend
Mandy Dealey & Virginia Nokes
Allen Green & Jill Rowe Beth Fowler, Liz Bremond, & Becky Heiser
Sheri Gallo & friend, Cassie Gallo, & Charles Betts
Rob & Becky Heiser
Virginia Nokes, Terrell Blodgett, B.J. Andrews & Mary Bohls
Roy & Linda Bush, Peter Sebert
Carolyn Osborn & Kathleen Davis Niendorff
Carol Castlebury, Patsy Stephenson & Nancy Toombs Charles Pevto & Carole Keeton Lloyd Lochridge & Friend
Lynn Cooksey & Lloyd Doggett Sue Price, Clift Price, Sally Bowman, Clift Bowman
George Shelley, Linda & Roy Bush & friend
Andrew & Mary Ann Heller
Gordon Derr & Toni Thomasson
Sheri Gallo, Suzy Lindeman Snyder, Anne Wheat
Tamara Eichinger & Rosalind Brinkley Robert Sullivan Guest with Joe Osborn, & Jim Cochran
4
Jeff Cohen, Ann Dolce, Janet & Nick Grandinetti, Leonard Dolce
Geoff Wool, Mike Miller, & David Gracy II
Rachel Bryson, Joe Bryson
These Pulitzer and
award-winning journalists
brought to life when
‘Austin, Texas’
became ‘AUSTIN.’
—Evan Taniguchi,
AHCA President
AHCA President Evan Taniguchi & moderator Ron Oliveira
Replica of Angelina Eberly
statue at 6th & Congress Ave.
Angelina Eberly Luncheon: Jan. 31, 2014, Driskill Hotel
Journalists Monte Williams, Ken Herman, Judy Maggio, and Cathy Conley Swofford
AHCA President Evan Taniguchi enjoys panel Frank Cooksey
Suzon Kemp
Q&A Session
Chris Riley
John Locy
5
Gripping program
Judge Bob Shannon
O...NEW TO AHC
The donation included assorted other photographs, vintage music
posters (a rare early 1960s Twink’s Playhouse
poster among them), and materials from the
Hirshfeld family.
Mexican American Community Archivist
Gloria Espitia has conducted a number of oral
history interviews and secured donations of
photographs and other documents as part of
her “In the Shadow of the Live Music Capital
of the World” project. This project documenting the history of Latina musicians in Austin
will culminate in an exhibit in the Holt Photo
Gallery in April.
One interesting collection that was donated recently was the records of the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan executive committee. This collection consists
of all the notes, meeting minutes, and other
records of the group responsible for creating
the Plan, originally prepared in 1996, that
is still in use today to manage the lands and
endangered species in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
NEWLY PROCESSED COLLECTIONS—
AR.2013.036. Texas Blind, Deaf and Orphan
School Drawings.
The Texas Blind, Deaf, and Orphan School, a
state institution for African American children,
was located on a hundred-acre tract on Bull
Creek Road between 38th and 45th streets in
Austin, Texas (now 4104 Bull Creek Road). It
was established as the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind
Institute for Colored Youth in 1887 by the
Texas Eighteenth Legislature. The collection
contains eight sets of drawings for additional
buildings or improvements to the campus and
three plot plans dating from 1929 to 1972.
Inventory online at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
taro/aushc/00381/ahc-00381.html
AR.2012.015. PODER (People Organized in the
Defense of Earth and her Resources) Records.
Founded in 1991 by a group of Chicana/o
East Austin activists and community leaders,
PODER (People Organized in Defense of the
Earth and her Resources) seeks to redefine
environmental, economic and social justice
issues as basic human rights. The collection
consists of correspondence and administrative records, reports, newspaper clippings,
event fliers, grant proposals, video and audio
recordings, radio programs, oral history interviews, and other documentation relating to
PODER and their mission dating from 1972
�S ...BACKWARDS... A small section of the exhibit nods to some of
Texas’ First Ladies who have called Austin home and gotten involved in
politics in their own way, from Lucadia Pease in the 1850s to Rita Clements in the 1980s. Lady Bird Johnson, the Hill Country’s beloved own
First Lady is also featured. In her later life she helped beautify Town Lake
(later renamed for her), PICB 07906. Austin History Center, Austin Public
started the well-used Library. An illustration depicts Angelina Eberly firing
a cannon during the Texas Archives War that saved
hike and bike trail, and Austin from losing its status as the capital.
founded the Wildflower
Research Center. Some
of the organizations
that have promoted
women’s active role in
politics, such as the
League of Women Voters and the Texas Women’s Political Caucus,
are also featured.
The exhibit culminates with Ann Richards’ election to the Governor’s Office in 1990. Richards got started in politics by managing campaigns for Sarah Weddington and Wilhelmina Delco. She then became
the first female Travis County Commissioner in 1976 and was the
first woman in 50 years to win statewide office when she was elected
as State Treasurer in 1982. Finally in 1990 she won the election for
governor, becoming the second woman in that position and the first
elected in her own right, not as a package deal with her husband.
to 2012, including information relating to the
close of the Holly Power Plant, the Tank Farm
shut down, BFI Recycling Center relocation
and other environmental accomplishments.
Inventory online at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
taro/aushc/00374/ahc-00374.html
AR.1996.008. Appraisal Associates of Austin
Records.
Appraisal Associates of Austin was an Austin,
Texas, real-estate appraisal and consultant
business. The collection contains real-estate
appraisals on individual Austin properties, as
well as several urban-renewal projects dating
from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. In
1962, the City of Austin delegated responsibility for neighborhood redevelopment to
the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of
Austin. Appraisal Associates was one of the
firms hired to appraise the properties in the
designated urban-renewal areas. The Kealing
Urban Renewal Plan, the first project by the
agency, was approved in 1964. This project
was followed in the late 1960s by the Glen
Oaks Project, the Brackenridge Project, and
the University East Project.
Inventory online at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
taro/aushc/00368/ahc-00368.html •
COA-77-137-01. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Austin's first female
Mayor, Carole Keeton McClellan, was inaugurated into office in 1977.
The Austin History Center’s collections include the papers of many
of these political women and organizations. Drawing on these collections, the exhibit features photographs, campaign materials such as
bumper stickers, buttons and posters, manuscript materials including
diaries and correspondence, and video and audio clips in order to represent the biographies of these remarkable women. A large illustrated
timeline will contextualize the biographies with significant events related to women in politics at local, state, and nation levels. An in-gallery
activity for families will be available to help children enjoy the exhibit.
A companion online exhibit will allow visitors to spend more time reading the text at their leisure. Several events are planned that will explore
the ever-evolving landscape of women in politics. •
6
Happy
175
th
Birthday, Austin!
In December this year, Austin will celebrate its Septaquintaquinquecentennia. The city was officially incorporated by the Republic
of Texas Legislature on December 21, 1839. This map, drawn by
William H. Sandusky, shows the nascent town, with its blocks laid
out in the familiar grid pattern, and the surrounding environs shortly
after the city was laid out. Just west of town, where the Colorado
River runs north-south, is the site of the homestead of the city’s
namesake, Stephen F. Austin. Austin died before he could occupy
this land, and it is now the site of Laguna Gloria. Sandusky was an
artist and draftsman who arrived in the area in 1838. He assisted
Edwin Waller, Austin’s first mayor, in surveying the site of the new
capital, and his survey work resulted in this map. Sandusky later
served as a draftsman at the General Land Office and secretary to
President Mirabeau B. Lamar. Stay tuned to future issues of the
newsletter for more about the city’s founding and an upcoming exhibit at the AHC about the city’s birthday. •
Map L-2, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
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You Need to Get Out More
BY GEOFF WOOL
If you didn’t get the chance to experience the opening of “Backwards
in High Heels,” the Austin History Center’s exhibit celebrating Austin
women elected to public office, you missed a lot—six-term Travis
County District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza speaking about her
experiences in local politics; refreshments created by Chef Gregory
Dishman of the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, which included Gov.
Miriam “Ma” Ferguson’s chili and Gov. Ann Richards’ grits, cornbread
and yogurt cake; and an informative and engaging exhibit highlighting
the success of Austin women in the political arena over the past 148 years.
The good news is, you still have time to see this exhibit, which is free
and open to the public, in the lobby of the Austin History Center. The
exhibit runs until Oct. 5. •
SAVE THESE DATES
MAY 14
AHCA Annual
Meeting includes
reception.
MAY 17
Author Ricky Stein
talks about Sonobeat
Records, a 1960s
Austin record label.
2:00pm.
Austin History Center Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 2287
Austin, Texas 78768
Return Service Requested
www.austinhistory.net
Travis County District Clerk
Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza
Adam Friedman explores
the “Backwards in High
Heels” exhibit “Campaign
Headquarters.”
AUSTIN HISTORY CENTER (AHC) - 810 Guadalupe (at 9th)
Open Tue.–Sat. 10am – 6pm & Sun. 12pm – 6pm
JUNE 11
Women in Politics
panel discussion, with
Carole Strayhorn &
Wilhemina Delco,
moderated by St.
Edward’s professor
Paula Marks, 6:30pm.
JULY 19
Screening of Austin
Revealed and film
discussion. 2:00pm.
AUGUST 16
Screening of
Intimate Portrait:
Ann Richards.
2:00pm.
SEPTEMBER 3
Beer Garden Social
at Sholz Garden.
Time TBD.
Non-Profit Org.
U. S. Postage
PAID
Austin, Texas
Permit No. 1545