The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 43
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb
public schools. He had already convinced the University of Texas to
help close this gap by establishing a program at the school with a grant
from the Ford Foundation. Webb chose an old friend, Dr. James Tay-
lor, chairman of the history department at Southwest Texas State Teach-
ers College, to study the problems of teaching history in Texas. Taylor
spent one year conducting the survey. Webb hoped Taylor would join
the faculty to serve as a liaison with the teachers in the state. When UT
offered him only an associate professorship, Taylor returned to his
chairmanship and full professorship at Southwest Texas. Webb then
suggested that I be considered for the post. I had received my Ph.D. in
the department and I was a native Texan, a qualification the depart-
ment believed to be necessary for the position.
The opportunity was given me, and I moved to Austin in the fall of
1958. Webb insisted that I teach only one course the first year, a Mon-
day afternoon course on "Teaching History in the High School." When
I protested that I had never taught in the public schools, Webb brushed
this aside, vowing to teach me how to teach it. I could use the remain-
der of the week to visit teachers. Webb was right. It turned out to be a
most pleasant experience. Without his assistance and encouragement,
however, it could have been a frustrating time.
Dr. Webb's wife died in the summer of 1960. He asked that I be one
of the pall bearers, but later suggested that it might be too much of a
strain for me since I was still recovering from my own heart attack.
I never hesitated to approach Webb when I had a problem, and he
always took time to listen and to give advice. But I was hesitant to break
in on him just to chat during his office hours. The door was always
open and he appeared to be constantly working, so I was reluctant to
disturb him. Then one day Bert Barksdale cornered me during one of
his visits to the campus and asked why I had not been around more
often to chat with Webb. From that time, no matter how busy I thought
my former professor might be, I dropped by to talk about books, the
political situation, problems in the public schools, or ideas that he was
investigating.
Webb spent eighteen days in the hospital during early 1961 for sur-
gery on an aneurysm in his leg. That was a wonderful opportunity to
visit and laugh at a new story-he loved Texas tales. Shortly before he
returned to his office in February, my wife underwent an operation for
breast cancer. Following her recovery, they both laughed about their
experiences and their scars. (When my wife died in 1962, Webb was a
source of great comfort.)
During the summer of 1961, while doing research in New Mexico, I
received a letter from a colleague informing me about Dr. Webb's court-
ship of Terrell Maverick. When I returned to Austin, Dr. Webb asked
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989, periodical, 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101212/m1/70/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.