Texas history
The civic side of a habit that started in an archive
Bronze plaques in county courthouses, a historical society in Dallas, a botanical garden with a family connection, and a room full of historians. What each one is and what he does in it.
- Alamo Letter SocietyCo chair and founding member
- Dallas Historical SocietyTrustee
- Dallas Arboretum FoundationFounding member
- Texas State Historical AssociationPresenter, annual meeting
- Texas SenateSenate Resolution 520, 89th Legislature
The Alamo Letter Society
On February 24, 1836, William B. Travis wrote from inside the Alamo to the people of Texas and to all Americans in the world, and signed the letter Victory or Death. The society he co chairs, and helped found, casts that letter in bronze and places it in county courthouses across the state, one county at a time, with a dedication in each. By the time the Texas Senate took note of his work the plaques stood in 23 counties, and further dedications were planned. The idea behind the project is simple. A document on a courthouse wall is read by people who would never open a book about the Alamo, and it is read in the building where the county keeps its own record.
The Dallas Historical Society
He serves as a trustee. The society holds one of the larger collections of Texas material in the state and interprets the history of the city and the region for the public. For a writer whose book was built from paper, a seat on the board of an institution that keeps paper is a natural place to be.
The Dallas Arboretum Foundation
He is a founding member of the foundation that supports the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, an institution that generations of the extended Coke family have stood behind. The connection to the subject of his book is not a coincidence, and it is part of why the garden appears in his writing as a place rather than as a cause.
The Texas State Historical Association
He has presented his research on Richard Coke at the association's annual meeting, which is the room where the state's working historians gather. The presenter listing is on the meeting's site.
Senate Resolution 520
The Senate passed it in the 89th Legislature on Senator Hall's motion, without objection, and with every senator listed as a co author. The Coke biography was the stated reason. It is recorded here because it is a public fact about the work. It is not recited in the essays.
Objects as well as paper
He collects Texas historical memorabilia, and he fishes and hikes. The collecting is the same instinct as the archival work turned toward objects: a thing made in the period tells you something a letter about the period leaves out.