banner image for department blog

Exhibition’s Final Days — Houston History: Archives, Magazine, and Oral History

Exhibits, Houston History Archives

hhm_dec_2015_0004Now is your last chance to catch the exhibition, Houston History: Archives, Magazine, and Oral History on the first floor of the M.D. Anderson Library.  Scheduled to close on December 18, 2015, staff will begin striking the exhibition any day now as we make way for a new installation, Encuentros en Literatura | Encounters and Discoveries in Literature, scheduled to open late January 2016.

The exhibit, now ending a successful six month run, explores the impact of the Welcome Wilson Houston History Collaborative (formerly known as the Houston History Project) on research and scholarship related to Houston’s history.  Dr. Tomkins-Walsh, curator of the exhibit and Archivist for the Houston History Archives, explains that in 2003 Dr. Joseph Pratt helped migrate the Houston History magazine from the Houston Public Library to the University of Houston and, in doing so, established an archive and repository of oral histories to complement the publication and help spur future research.

Attendees of the exhibit's opening were able to meet with authors and discuss their research.

Attendees of the exhibit’s opening were able to meet with authors and discuss their research.

The Houston History magazine, published triannually, is the most prominent and publicly visible organ of the Welcome Wilson Houston History Collaborative.  Students help support the day-to-day work of publishing the magazine but, even more importantly, students find a vehicle for publication of their research, often conducted in the archives and oral histories of the Houston History Archives.  Dr. Tomkins-Walsh’s exhibition features prime examples of this type of student research and contributing authors even attended the exhibition’s opening, allowing them to highlight their research to a different audience and in a different context.

The Oral Histories from the Houston History Project are produced throughout the year by faculty and graduate students and prepared for online and global access by researchers via our Digital Library.  The resource is constantly growing as new oral histories are produced and introduced into the existing collection.  Included among the oral histories are interviews related to the energy history of Houston, the construction of the Houston Ship Channel, as well as the fallout from natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.  The Houston History exhibit is able to showcase the under-appreciated and under-publicized role of the oral history interviewer.  Through the Center for Public History, graduate students are able to train in the skills, tools, and processes needed to research, prepare for, and conduct successful oral history interviews.

The exhibition Houston History: Archives, Magazine, and Oral History is now in its final days.

The exhibition Houston History: Archives, Magazine, and Oral History is now in its final days.

Finally, the paper archives that comprise the Houston History Project are also showcased.  Representing a variety of research disciplines, highlights from the archival collections that make appearances in the exhibit include the Foley’s Department Store Records, the Thomas R. Cole Desegregation Papers, and records covering the production of the documentary film, This is Our Home, It Is Not for Sale.  A number of other collections like the Bayou Preservation Association and the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (CEC) provide a window into the peculiar push-pull relationship that developed over the years in Houston between disparate environmental groups and those interested in furthering business development.

However, all good things must come to an end, and time is running out for Houston History: Archives, Magazine, and Oral History.  Be sure to catch one last glimpse of this exhibition, while you still can!

Comments are closed.