The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 166

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Building to the south and the second State Office Building to the
northwest will be completed soon.
These buildings are sound financial investments. It has been
estimated that the agencies in the State Office Building alone would
be paying $560,000 a year in outside rentals for the same amount of
space they now occupy. At this rate, the building will have paid
for itself in eight years, and that is the case with most of the office
buildings.
With the completion of this building, the Texas State Archives
have their first adequate housing in more than a century. Since
1842, their location has been a matter of some controversy. Dr.
Dorman H. Winfrey, our State Librarian, has written and spoken
rather extensively about the Archive War of 1842 in which General
Sam Houston was thwarted in efforts to remove the archives and
the seat of government from Austin.
In spite of the fact that in subsequent years the archival ma-
terials have been stored in closets, basements, warehouses, attics,
barns, and obscure corners of various state departments, they have
been used to great advantage by scholars and historians.
With these materials now adequately housed and more readily
accessible, they offer even greater opportunities for writers and
researchers.
It is only natural that those of us whose families helped to settle
Texas should have an abiding interest in the history and heritage
of our state.
The important thing, however, is that San Jacinto, the Alamo,
Goliad, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Travis, Bowie and Crockett
are names which inspire people everywhere who know the story
of Texas history, regardless of their ancestry.
Many who are in this great state of ours by choice and not by
birth are among our most patriotic citizens. And others who have
never lived here at all are lifted to greater deeds and a deeper
understanding of the principles which made this country what it
is today by simply reading the events of Texas history and by visits
to our historic shrines.
One of the greatest needs of our state and nation today is the
unselfish devotion of patriotism in the blood stream of this genera-
tion. Nothing can furnish the transfusion so successfully as bringing
to life the heroic deeds of the past. If this and future generations
are to succeed in preserving life, liberty and happiness under free-
dom and self-government, they must have knowledge and appre-
ciation of those people, places and principles which constitute our
historical heritage.
Thomas Jefferson had this in mind when he said: "History, by
apprising men of the past, will enable them to judge the future."
Macauley put it this way: "A people who take no pride in the

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