Heritage, Volume 6, Number 3, Fall 1988 Page: 4
38 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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FROM THE EDITOR
On April 18th, 1836, the Army of
the Republic of Texas came to an
important crossroad, the famous fork
in the road near present-day Conroe,
Texas. By turning north at this crossroad,
Houston would have left Santa
Anna and his army far in his wake, and
the opportunity for combat remote. By
turning right as he did, he ensured a
contest with the Mexican Army and
the resulting victory and freedom for
Texas.
In April of 1986, the Texas Historical
Foundation found itself at a similar
crossroad. It had two choices: disband
an organization that for over 30 years
has been the leader in historic restoration
and preservation in the state of
Texas; or affiliate itself with another
organization that could provide the
research, resources and staff support it
sorely needed. Sam Houston's army
found its precarious position brought
about by a rather prolonged retreat
across the surface of Texas. The Texas
Historical Foundation's dilemma was
brought about by a retreat of a different
sort. A decision in 1981 by the Attorney
General led to the separation of
the Foundation from its long-time ally
and leader, the Texas Historical
Commission. There are some who say
this was more than a political separation;
it was a separation of personalities.
But whatever the causes, it had a
severe and immediate impact on historic
restoration and preservation in
Texas. The major fund raising arm for
Commission-designed projects had
now been severed. The Foundation
found itself leaderless and without its
important resource of the Commission
staff. For five years, the Foundation
struggled unsuccessfully to establish its
own separate identity and organization
apart from the Commission. This was a
nearly impossible task for at least threereasons. It was difficult to raise money
for preservation and, at the same time,
support the overhead required for a
separate organization to function in
statewide preservation. Without the
close and regular affiliation with the
Commission, the Foundation was
denied easy access to research on important
projects that were worthy of
restoration. The separation from the
Commission meant it was necessary
for the Foundation to develop and
maintain a separate constituency.
There were dark hours for the Foundation
but, as swiftly and surely as the
Texas victory at San Jacinto, came the
answer. Through the wisdom and foresight
of Gordon Echols, Clifton
Caldwall, Frank Vandiver and Donald
Sweeney, the Foundation merged its
activities with the Center for Historic
Resources a year ago. The Foundation
is now firmly settled on the Texas
A&M campus, and is serving as an
alter-ego in its fund raising efforts with
the Center. The initial hope, which is
now proving to be a working reality,
was that the Center would research
important projects worthy of preservation
and the Foundation would once
again begin its trademark activity of
raising funds for those projects. The
major overhead for the Foundation is
now paid by the directors, who contribute
annually to the Center, freeing
all additional funds to support the
magazine and preservation activities.This relationship promises to duplicate
the relationship that prevails between
the Texas State Historical Association
and the University of Texas.
That organization has been housed for
some 80 years on the campus of the
University. The relationship has preserved
a wealth of written history for
all future generations of Texans. The
Foundation, in its new agreement with
the Center for Historic Resources,
promises to mirror this effort in the
area of historic restoration and preservation.
This is a partnership that Texans
of all persuasions can applaud with
enthusiasm.
We are embarking on an important
program called "Save Texas Heritage"
that will be part of a public broadcast
appeal to raise funds for specific sites
worthy of preservation. Identified and
already approved by the board are important
historic sites that definitely
need to be saved or enhanced, which
are the El Paso Mission Trail Commission
project the LBJ Ranch Planning
Project phase two, and Washingtonon-the-Brazos
State Park Project. We
will also work on developing an effective
lobbying program to increase state
funding for the Texas Historical
Commission. The Foundation's goal is
to provide seed support for these
worthwhile projects statewide.
If you wish to contribute to this
effort, simply send a check to "Save
Texas Heritage", Texas Historical
Foundation, Texas A&M, College of
Architecture, College Station, Texas
77843. This is an investment in both
your past and your future.
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 6, Number 3, Fall 1988, periodical, 1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45436/m1/4/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.